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Jeep brakes - a few surprises

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tshelfer

tshelfer

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Tim
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Shelfer
Today I did a front brake job on my '07 Grand Cherokee at 61K miles. It wasn't really about the pads; I've had a slightly warped rotor for a year and the squeak has been driving us crazy. Rotor warp is a major gripe on WK-series GCs. Anyway, there was a surprise, a problem, and a secret.

THE SURPRISE - At 61K miles, the pads had plenty of meat on them, about 3/8". Especially impressive since about a third of the miles on the Jeep have been driven while towing a trailer. These things could probably have gone another 25K miles safely.
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THE PROBLEM - The rotor wouldn't come off. I read all the how-to's, watched all the online videos, even got a friend at an auto parts store to check his sources. All info was the same: it should just come right off and if it doesn't, whack it with a hammer. Half an hour of whacking and prying did nothing.

THE SECRET - With a halogen light, I finally discovered a totally undocumented, and nearly invisible, rubber retainer ring.
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I used a tiny screwdriver to pull it loose and the rotor nearly fell off on my foot.
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File this away in your memory bank because the same trick probably applies to numerous larger Jeeps and Dodge trucks.
 
Good to know. I will watch for that if I ever need to do the brakes on my Cherokee.
 
Interesting. I don't think I've ever seen that. Wonder if it's the same on my Wrangler 4 door?
 
Reminds me of doing a brake job on my Subaru. I got a big honkin' C-clamp and tried to push the piston back for about an hour. Nothing! Finally I put the old pads back on and put it back together and took it to a shop. They put the new pads on, and when I was paying up, I told the guy I had not been able to push the piston back. He smiled and said, "On a Subaru, they screw in." :doh:
 
Had the same problem on my '91 Montero. Even the mechanic couldn't get 'em off, wound up turning the rotors in place.
 
RedPill said:
Reminds me of doing a brake job on my Subaru. I got a big honkin' C-clamp and tried to push the piston back for about an hour. Nothing! Finally I put the old pads back on and put it back together and took it to a shop. They put the new pads on, and when I was paying up, I told the guy I had not been able to push the piston back. He smiled and said, "On a Subaru, they screw in." :doh:
Click to expand...

About half of Japanese cars have rears that screw in. Autozone will lend you a tool that does that job very nicely.
 
Subarus have those on the front. You can do it with a pair of pliers, I found out later, although the right tool does keep you from marring up the surfaces.
 
Must been a newer Jeep/Chrysler thing. None of the Cherokees (94, 00, and 97) I've owned had that setup. The rotors would just come off.
 
I don't remember that on my '96 Cherokee, either. But the WK series Grand shares a lot of parts with Dodge Ram trucks.
 
Some vehicles have a snap-in retainer of some sorts to prevent parts like rotors from falling off between the plant that makes axles and the plant that assembles the vehicles. It is amazing how many components and subassemblies of some vehicles are manufactured elsewhere from where a model is actually built. Seems like trucking subassemblies and components all over North America is a lot cheaper than UAW labor.
 
Dang! I JUST performed a brake job on my '95 Grand Cherokee's rear brakes the other week. Wish I had known to look for that.

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Luckily, I got the right one off which had just started to score but was bad enough to have to be replaced...

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But likewise, I hammered and hammered on the left one trying to remove it to take it in to get turned but no luck. Since it was looking pretty smooth, I said the heck with it and put pads on as is. My Jeep is the family beater. It hauls the mulch, Christmas Tree, and family dog. I put the absolute minimum $$$ into it. I noticed in the process that it's been A LONG TIME since the parking brake pads had been touched...

15374469335_24a0635e61.jpg

:eek2::rofl: ...and they will stay that way. ;-)

On a different issue, yesterday I dropped it off at a local Jeep dealership to get my free trailer hitch. It's part of a recall to protect the PLASTIC gas tank from BLOWING UP in a low speed crash. They couldn't put it on cause the two they had in stock didn't fit! The receiver part of the hitch didn't sit low enough to clear the bumper. Seems I'm the very first owner to come in for the hitch and they didn't know the hitches were made wrong. :doh: Also funny, when I made the appointment the desk girl told me "they don't recommend the hitches for towing". :lol2: Not really a problem since I was only to use it from the hitch-mounted bike rack and my Jeep has enough problems hauling its own keester around.
 
RedPill said:
Subarus have those on the front. You can do it with a pair of pliers, I found out later, although the right tool does keep you from marring up the surfaces.
Click to expand...

Screw-in pistons are indicative of an integrated mechanical emergency/parking brake. Yes, Subarus apply the parking brake to all four corners.

First time I heard about that was in college on an XT.
 
dukey33 said:
Screw-in pistons are indicative of an integrated mechanical emergency/parking brake. Yes, Subarus apply the parking brake to all four corners.

First time I heard about that was in college on an XT.
Click to expand...

they don't do that any more :doh: well unless you count the electronic hill start assist thing where it will apply the brakes to keep it from rolling backwards.

GM when they switched to rear disc brakes started using the ratcheting caliper piston that has to be screwed back in, some others use this system. modern Subaru has a mini drum brake inside the rear rotors. Ford SUV and GM suv and trucks use the mini drum in the rear rotor for the barking brake.
 
a important bit of Subaru information is don't ever do parking brake turns with non STI models, you can screw up the center diff and it just doesn't work on all wheel drive vehicles. the STI has a trick uncoupler for the center diff that uncouples it when the park brake is pulled.
 
Hmmm, I did not know that. At any rate, ours is mainly a grocery getter, so I don't think it has or ever will see parking brake turns. It is good to know one way or another.
 
My Acura rears use the screw-in calipers. No idea, though, how my parking brake works. I pull a lever and something happens. :giveup:
 
tshelfer said:
'02 RSX.
Click to expand...


That car has the screw out piston and a little lever on the caliper, you pull the park brake lever and it shoves the rear pad against the rotor.

I don't know if Honda came up with a way for it to self adjust or not, cause a lot of these types rely on the use of the parking brake for adjustment.
Don't use the park brake and the rear brakes will quit working.
Very common on GM cars with rear disc.
 
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