The brakes on your Dodge Ram perform a vital function. As hydraulic fluid is forced through steel lines, the fluid actuates a piston in a caliper mechanism that sits over a disc, called a brake rotor. This rotor is connected to the drive wheels and moves with them. When the caliper piston is forced outward, the pads inside the caliper clamp down on the rotor causing friction between the two components. The pad material begins to disintegrate in the process of turning motion into heat through this clamping process, which creates a lot of friction. Over time, the pad material will not have enough friction material left to do an effective job of slowing the vehicle down. This happens when the pad material is about an eighth of an inch thick. At that point, you'll need to replace the brakes on your Dodge Ram.
Instructions
1. Loosen all of the wheel lug nuts by turning them 45 degrees counterclockwise, but do not unseat the wheel from the wheel hub.
2. Jack up the front of the Ram. Place the floor jack under the vehicle and jack up on the front jack point, located rear the radiator.
3. Place jack stands under the front pinch welds and lower the vehicle onto the stands.
4. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for the rear of the Dodge using the rear jack point this time. Make sure that you place a jack stand under each of the rear pinch welds and lower the vehicle onto the jack stands.
5. Remove the lug nuts and pull the wheels off of all of the wheel hubs.
6. Remove the upper and lower caliper mounting bolts.
7. Pull the Ram's caliper up off the rotor and secure it to the coil springs above the rotor.
8. Remove the brake pads from the caliper using a small rubber mallet.
9. Press the caliper piston back into the caliper assembly. Place the face of one of the brake pads over the piston and force the pad against the piston with a C-clamp. The piston will collapse back into the caliper housing. Make sure that the piston boot on the caliper does not become disoriented, twist or rip.
10. Insert the new brake pads into the caliper assembly and reassemble the brake assembly. Tighten the caliper mounting bolts to the torque specifications set in your Dodge Ram's service manual. Different years may have different torque specifications according to the generation of the vehicle.
11. Spray the brake rotors, pads and calipers down with brake parts cleaner to remove any remaining brake dust, oil (from your hands) and grease.
12. Put the wheel back on the wheel hub assembly and tighten the lug nuts.
13. Lower the Dodge Ram to the ground and torque the lug nuts to 100 foot-pounds with the torque wrench.
Tags: brake pads, into caliper, your Dodge, back into, back into caliper
