This past weekend was the weekend for rear brakes on both vehicles. The fronts on the truck were fine, and the fronts on the car were really ready, so I figured the rears needed attention too. Wrong.
On both vehicles the rears were >50%, <75%, so I left them. I must say the pad removal routine on the truck is very straightforward. Only two split pins (and gravity) hold the pads in place in the caliper. No bleed nipple to negotiate (of course, since I wasn't putting in thicker new pads I had no need to retract the caliper piston; not a completely fair comparison), no parking brake cable bracket, no "be sure to support the (ten pound) caliper from the mechanics wire and not the brake line" bs. Very slick.
Once in a while you work on something that just has the feel of having been designed by somebody who knew what it was like to work on them too. This is not always the case. For example, on the car, the rears are disc brakes too and the pad removal routine involves a 10 mm wrench for the bleed nipple, 12 mm for the bolt that holds the brakeline to the caliper, and 13 mm for the bolt that holds the parking brake bracket to the caliper. I forget the size of the bolt that holds the bottom (away from the hinge pin) end of the caliper in place, but it was probably 7/16ths. Please. You could hide all these bolts with one business card, they're all so close together. Should the engineers responsible for designing these systems be permitted to hold shares of Craftsman tools? I think there's a conflict of interest here. :grump:
So, I broke the seal on the bleed nipple. I backed off the bolt that holds the brakeline to the caliper. I removed the bolt that lets the caliper swing upward on the hinge pin. I swung the caliper up--ooof. Let's try that again. Upsy--damn. Couple of love taps on that hunk-o-iron that is the caliper to wake up the rust. Froze solid. Damn, I just parked the thing, it can't be completely ossified. It can't be. Unless you forget to release the parking brake.
Rats, I hate wasting good cuss words.
Of course, after that little brainstorm it was a piece of cake. Only to find they're in great shape. Oh well. Everything went back together, with no parts left over (which is always nice, doncha think?).
Next week, finding a way to stop the oil leak at the filter on the top of the engine. I'm open to suggestions. I have a new filter, whose seal was lubricated with oil at installation. I have verified I don't have an old seal stuck in place so I'm not trying to use two seals where only one goes. I have used my strap wrench to crank it down as tight as I dare. And yet, after a couple of deliberate, meticulous cleanings, I find a small puddle of oil on the top of the engine directly underneath the oil filter. It's pissing me off.