I'm getting ready to drive from Florida to Oklahoma next week, and I need to do some front brake work before I leave. My truck is a 1998 F150 with the 4.2 V6 and 5 speed trans. It's been years since I've done any brake work, and I'd appreciate some advice. I have all the parts I'll need, including new rotors, calipers, pads, 2 new hoses, wheel bearings & seals, and brake fluid. I want to install all of these parts, as well as bleed the system and replace the old brake fluid.

Should I bleed the system & replace the fluid first, before I install the new hoses, etc.? Any other advice would help, as I'm a little apprehensive about tackling this job. Thanks...

Dave

 

Dave, thats a big job and if you are nervous about it, some bad things can happen. Especially if you get air in that ABS module, assuming you have ABS.
If you are going to undertake such, I would recommend getting some line locks for the brake lines as to not get air back up into the system when you change them. Also, changing the fluid first would kinda be redundant, since you'll have to bleed the hell out of them after changing the lines. If I were you, I would probably pay someone to change the fluid, or get a friend to pump the brakes for a while and just keep bleeding them till you get it flushed.

Its gonna be a pain in the @$$ though