In this episode I was planning on changing out the front brakes on this 2006 Ford Explorer Sport Track, but upon closer inspection I found there’s nothing wrong with the brakes at all.
When I asked the owner of the pickup truck she, said she went to the dealer and they told her that she needed new front brakes and a laundry list of other things. Unfortunately trusting that they had her best interest in mind she said to go ahead and do the other things. But the price they quoted her for the front brakes seemed even to her, like she was being ripped off. So to save a 
few bucks she brought it to me. Where as you can see in the video I found that they still have lots of brake pad left.
To start this job you have to remember that your working on the brakes so the first thing you want to do is chalk your wheels because you don’t want to get squished. Second is to break the lug nuts free on wheels. Then lift up the truck and put it on jack stands, again because we don’t want to get squashed. Now finish taking off the lug nuts and then the wheels.
Now for the brakes there are 2 x 17 mm bolts holding the caliper on. Both bolts are on the back side, one on the top and one on the bottom. These bolts have the ability to give you a little trouble. First thing to remember is the blots are now facing the other direction and righty tighty, lefty loosey no longer applies. So stop and think about which way your turning or your just going to twist them on harder. That brings me to the other problem, these have a tendency to need a little extra persuasion. In the video I give a quick tip on getting a little extra needed leverage. 
Getting the caliper loose at this point can be a little tricky. If you take a small pry bar or screw driver, you can use it to pull the top of the caliper away from the rotor and then lift the bottom of the caliper until it clears its cradle and can be pulled clear. At this point you want to have something to set it on or hang it from because you don’t want to just let it hang from the brake hose. I probably don’t have to mention all the bad things that could result from that. It just so happened that
the perfect sized box for me was a new toolbox I just received from “Ladyjestersurfer”. 
So a big shout out and thanks to you “Ladyjestersurfer”.
You may now slide the brake pads off. There is one on the front and one on the back. Both are in cradles and must be slid off, either by pulling the top toward you or with the one on the back side, pushing the top away from you.
After all that work you can see in the video that there is plenty of brake pad left. Good for the owner, irritating for me. If however I did have to change the brake pads this is were we would do it. Start by checking the rotor to determine if it needs to be cut to a smooth surface, replaced entirely or just left alone. If it needs to be cut, most brake shops can or will do it for you if you just carry them in. I’ve even taken a few in to O’Reilly Auto parts or other big national chain parts shops.
Put the brake pads back on the same way they came off but remember to put grease or any anti-seize lubricant liberally on the back side of both pads. I like to even put some on the upper and lower cradles as well. To get the caliper back on you have to make room in the caliper pistons. If your caliper has more than one like almost all do these days you have to squeeze them both at the same time. A neat trick someone taught me once was to place the old brake pad in front of both pistons and then use a clamp to compress them at the same time. Before you do any squeezing though, all that brake fluids got to go 
somewhere. We can handle that too. Open the hood and take the cap off the master cylinder reservoir then squeeze the cylinders. Don’t forget to put the cap back on when your done.
This has been Mason Thehowtokid and remember if I can do it you can do it!
Congratulations you now know how to change the brake pads on a 2006 Ford Explorer Sport Track. Most other rotor style brakes aren’t much different from that. Put it back together and put your tools, away we are all done here. If you didn’t get it all, you can watch me do the whole thing in my video on Youtube.
Thanks for reading my post you can follow me on facebook and twitter and if you enjoyed this video you should check out my sisters channel and visit her website @ www.Haileythehowtogirl.com
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