Posted by John G. from NC on February 05, 01 at 06:19:30:
Howdy all. I've followed this board since early '99 when I was researching prior to the purchase of my '99 K2500 (7.4L, 3.73 locking rear diff). I've got 45,000 miles on it now and love it.
Many thanks to the regular contributors -- you've helped me immensely, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Here's the deal -- I'm considering becoming a little more of a DIYer (do-it-youselfer) by doing regular brake work myself (pad and shoe replacement as well as rotor removal and replacement).
My prior experience includes changing oil & filters, transmission pan removal and filter replacement, greasing chassis zerks, rotating tires. I've done spark plug replacements on other vehicles, too. I have a decent floor jack and jackstands. I've done all that listed above for many years, but have never tackled brakes, even though I've looked at them a lot and understand the basic concepts and mostly what I'm looking at. The only exception -- with the help of this board I can now manually adjust my rear brakes if needed. I usually remove the drum for cleaning and to inspect shoe wear.
I'm an electrical engineer, and understand most things mechanical if given the chance to look it over.
With this level of experience in mind, I would like suggestions/comments on my plan to work on these things myself. I would like to be able to replace pads, to remove rotors to have them resurfaced at a shop, then be able to replace them. Also, I'd like to be able to replace shoes. Needless to say, if I can do all that, I'm probably planning on going the Praise-Dyno route with my next replacement pads/shoes/rotors.
My mom works at a bookstore and I'm having her search for a good DIY brake maintenance and repair book. Any suggestions in this area would be helpful, too, in addition to suggestions on special tools I may need.
Thanks!