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Originally Posted by Teacher97
Sorry for the basic question, but my 97 2WD Hardbody seems to have brake problems. With other vehicles I've driven, worn pads/shoes made a sort of grinding noise when you applied the brakes. This truck is making an intermittent, slight grinding noise when I'm driving and not applying the brakes. If I gently pump the brakes a couple of times, it goes away. I can't tell if it's coming from front or back.
Is this a normal sign of worn pads/shoes (which seems likely; they're the original ones and the truck has 97K miles), or do I likely have another problem?
And if it's the pads/shoes, what are the chances of me and my Haynes manual replacing them ourselves?
Thanks for any help.
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I had a slight grinding noise on my 97 Hardbody from the headshields dislodging from the back of the front brake pads and rubbing against the rotors. The heat shield are usually held in place by three or four tabs which bend around the metal backing plates on the brake pads. Since the heat shields are only thin metal, the tabs can rust and slide down against the rotors.
Bakes are easy to do; just follow the instructions in the manual. It might be a good time to also change the brake fluid in your truck while you have the wheels off. I usually get a pint-size plastic soda bottle and some clear hose from Home-Depot, drill a hole in the bottle cap and slide the clear hose though. I then change the brake pads, top off the master cylinder and start on the right-rear wheel. I put the hose on the bleeder, open it 1/2 a turn, then slowly push the brake pedal to the floor approximately 10 times, then fill up the master cylinder and repeat. It usually takes two or three times before the old fluid is pushed through the entire brake line. You will see only clean, clear brake fluid in the clear hose after this. Move to the left rear, right front and finally the left front. You will probably have to buy a quart of brake fluid to complete this process and be able to top off the master cylinder at the end of the process.