2005 Front Rotors - What Was Ford Thinking??
 

My 2005 2WD SCREW doesn't get much use. It's right at 35K miles now, mostly weekend driving with the family. I took it for an alignment last week, and the technician mentioned that the brake pads were looking thin. So, I picked up a set of Wagner ceramics on the way home. When I pulled the wheels, I discovered the rotor on one side had a narrow groove cut in it. It's the kind of thing that might happen if a grain of sand or dirt was stuck in the pad for awhile. At that point, I realized I wanted to have the rotors turned, and that's when the trouble started.

What I discovered is that Ford has created a new way to attach the rotor to the spindle. The two basic rotor/hub designs that have proven reliable and serviceable for several decades are a thing of the past. The design philosophy for this was apparently - counter to all common sense - to make the rotors as difficult to remove for routine service as possible. First, the rotor is part of the hub. You can't simply tap it off the hub as with many designs. Second, the wheel bearing - which is now also built into the hub - uses straight, non-tapered rollers. Rather than a castle nut that you tighten by hand, then stake with a cotter pin, the large, flanged spindle nut is torqued to almost 300 ft/lbs. Removal needs a 3/4" breaker bar and 6-point, 36mm socket. Reassembly also needs a 3/4" torque wrench, because 1/2" wrenches don't extend past 250 ft/lbs or so (my Snap-On clicker doesn't go even that high). As if that isn't bad enough, the nuts are not reusable (stamped "Do Not Reuse"), so in addition to several hundred dollars for tools that I shouldn't need for a job like this and won't use for anything else, there's another $50 down the drain. Finally, because I only use U.S made brake parts, and because the rotor is now much more complex than it needs to be, a pair for the front - if I choose to replace them - will cost $500. Seriously, $500 for two front rotors is insane. For a guy like me, doing it at home in my spare time, this should be a two-hour job with a total price tag under $250, including U.S. made pads and turning or replacing the rotors.

I realize this has probably been discussed to death on this forum, but I've been away for awhile. If anyone has anything to add to this, maybe something I've overlooked that makes this job easier to deal with, it would really be helpful. The thing is, I'm close to abandoning Ford as my manufacturer of choice. I really appreciate the fact they've kept so much production in the West (rather than China), and that they refused the government bailouts of several years ago. Nevertheless, engineering changes like this aggravate me no end, and I don't have any good reason to put up with it. (Don't get me started on the spark plug fiasco or the chronic premature failures of this model's similarly expensive power window actuators.)

Any words of wisdom on this issue will be appreciated.

Look into the Centric two piece conversion. I'm doing it on mine this Summer. I hate the stupid issues with these trucks, too many IMO. I've had nothing but brake issues and steering issues for 2 years now.

I don't have a problem with the front rotors at all. I knew I needed to get the centric hub conversion and I could use the 4wd rotors and forget about it. No fuss.

Thanks guys, I didn't know about Centric. I looked up the parts at Rock Auto, and it's less than $300 to convert both fronts with separate hubs and premium rotors. Of course, having a U.S. name doesn't necessarily mean these parts aren't imported, so I've sent an e-mail to ask where they're manufactured. Tomorrow, I'll also call a local repair shop that I trust to see what the cost would be to remove the existing rotors and turn them. I'll make a final decision after I have all the info.

Don't know where you were getting your pricing from, but I replaced both front rotors (had bearing problems) for about $300. This was prior to Centric's development.

As for turning, most shops do not have the machine required to turn these rotors. Some dealers do and if I remember correctly, they are turned while on the truck.

rotors aren't made in the USA or Canada anymore.

Are you sure? What about Wagner? Their top-end line is priced like US parts. :confused:

The Raybestos I bought about 3 years ago were US made for $148 each. They had a China made cheapie for $86. They were junk.

Our shop has the machine to turn the rotors while on the truck and it is a PITA to use!

Yeah mine are junk, too not even 20k on them. One had a bad pulse ring and was replaced by ford with mc.