So as the title says, I replaced the brake pads on my 2000 f-150 4x4 off road (4.6 L) with the help of a friend who is a mechanic about two months ago. Everything went smoothly and worked great. This past weekend I went camping/shooting and a had to kick her in 4wd on some of the roads, I noticed while I was up there that my brakes started to squeal a bit, they have continued to squeal and this is on normal pavement, the breaking seems a bit more rough and I haven't a clue what is wrong. I would have my friend come look at it but he is out of town and I would also take off the tires and take a look but my brother jacked my jack and stands when he moved to North Carolina.

 

did you just replace the pads? how many miles on the truck

 

I replaced all of the pads, I proably have 700 miles since I replaced them and overall I have 133,XXX miles.

 

thats your problem then. you replaced the pads only. you should have gotten the rotors machined so they were straight and true and didnt destroy the pads.

now your looking at redoing it all. you need to get the rotors machined and replace the pads and youll be set. when the rotors are warped they will cause the new pads to seat wrong and wear uneven and fast.

 

The thought just came to my mind, I just put a camper on my truck which weighs a bit, could it be that the rear brakes are just now getting enough weight over them to be worn down and fitted to the disk? This would be the first real payload I have carried since the installation.

 

could be a rock in your pads? Since you said you had to use 4WD, maybe you kicked up a pea size pebble and got wedged in between the pad and rotor. I'd pull the pads off and look for something or bad brake pads??
I had some dura-something pads from a well known place, and they squealed after about a month. Kicked those out and put on some car-quest Blues. Those hardly squeal in the 4 years i've had em on and they have well over 40K on them.
Hope this helps

 

nah im gonna bet my money on the fact your rotor are warped or worn badly and havent been machined for quite a while. the fact you put new pads on really doesnt solve the issues just buys you some time and extra expenses

 

My mechanic friend took a look at the rotors and said they were in good condition and they didn't need to be machined.

 

did he just look at them or actually measure them? how good of a mechanic is he.

no one no matter how good they are or how long theyve done brakes can just look at a rotor and tell its warped (unless its obviously worn from metal to metal contact and grooved etc)

 

I agree with almost everyone here, you have to do your rotors too, but this might not be the source of your brake noise. The most common problem I see with people doing brakes is they don't put new hardware on, you can buy a hardware kit from any Ford dealer for around 25 dollars and it covers both calipers, obviously there are different kits for the front and rear. Turning (machining) rotors is also kind of a dead practice, if you are going to take the time to pull your rotors and pay someone to turn them, especially on a high mileage vehicle, just replace your rotors with brand new ones, its usually just a few dollars more depending on where you go. Also make sure your using a good quality pad and not some JC Whitney knockoff. Good luck.

 

For that kind of mileage, rotor replacement or at the very least machining is to me a must. It's ok usually to leave the rotor if not warped but why not tackle that too. Squeeling though can be not enough or nothing like antiseize on the parts of the pad that contact the caliper and cal. bracket. Or, the anti-rattlers that the pads slide on have shifted. Each have tabs you need to fold so it doesn't slide into the rotor. Also, what kind of pad?

 

It's called Ford brakes.

You do not necessarily need rotors or machine them when you do the brakes. You can tell when your rotors are starting warp simply by driving it. If it shudders slightly when you brake then the rotors are warped. If it does not shudder then they are not. I am on my 4th set of pads and 3rd set of rotors everything from the best of the best to the cheapest of the cheap.

It's called Ford brakes. I have gotten used to it. If you take the pads to a grinder and knock off the edges it will most likely eliminate your problem. It's an old timer trick.

 

Wait for your friend to come back or take it into a pro to take a look at it.

 

I always include the rotors on brake jobs. OEM are about $60 (rockauto.com), cheap ones are about $20. Shops in my area (the really good ones), charge about $25 to turn a rotor. My 1998 gets the cheapos, my 2003 OEM all the way. Just depends on your needs. Btw, I once bought the Napa pads and they had so much metal in them, they squeeled no matter what I did. After a day I replaced them with a more expensive brand and everything was fine.

 

Question, are you sure the truck was meant to carry a slide in camper? The reason i ask is mine has the factory tow package,but as i was reading my manual it says my truck a (2001 extended cab -Triton 4.6l V8 - 4x4) I found out that it is not to carry a slide in camper,so maybe it was putting to much weight on your rear axle of your tow vehical ? Just a thought,yours may be capable of carrying a slide in but not all are,as in my case.My 96 Bronco acted similarly with the squealing brakes after i towed my hi-lo camper 200 mi. when i first bought it,the cause was no weight distributation hitch to ditribute the trailers weight evenly on my Broncos front and rear axel,but it stopped after detaching from the camper and driving a bit,i may have washed the rims/wheels too,but it stopped.