I just bought my Silverado K1500. I know it needs pads on it. I changed out the pads on my wife's car (Dodge Stratus), and on my toyota 4x4 with no problems.What I need to know is if there's any thing special about changing out these pads that I should know. Is it just to squeeze the caliper back, remove a couple of pins, and put in the new pads, orare there shims, misc. that I need to know about beforeI start the job?

 

Nothing special. Chevy brakes are as plain jane as it gets.

 

Just need a tire iron, a screwdriver, and a pair of needle nose pliers I believe. At least that's what I needed on my 94.

 

you got it, squeeze the caliper piston back some. remove the 2 caliper bolts and switch out pads, its not a bad idea to grease the sliders on the caliper tho.

 

You know when I worked at the VW dealership almost every tech in there tried to tell me you would destroy the mastercylinder by squeezing the brake caliper unless you opened up the bleeder valve first. I just don't see how that's possible. They all said loose dirt and debree from the caliper could get into the mastercylinder but that's not possible. It's not like the fluid in the caliper is getting to the master cylinder! If that was the case that would mean there is no more brake fluid in the caliper or lines! Try telling a "certified" tech of 20 years something that makes sense though.......... not gonna happen.

 

Oh, forgot. To push the cylinder back, a large C-clamp works wonders on disc brakes....

I usually also drain a little out of the brake reservoir before I start, just so it doesn't flow over if you've added some as the brakes were used.

 

if you have a lot of cylinder (oversized brakes for racing or something) then I could see enough having to be pushed back that it could get into the master cylinder. Otherwise, with the little cylinders on some of the cars I've seen, there shouldn't be a problem.

As for debris, brake fluid is akin to hydraulic fluid, so it shouldn't cause rust. If there is debris inside and you squeeze it slowly (with the brake line 'up') then you shouldn't get ti into the line anyway.

 

I guess its "good prevention" to drain the caliper before pushing it back...technicaly.

Do I do it?..no

 

I don't either, I take some out of the reservoir under the hood, where it feeds into the master cylinder. More than once I've pushed the piston back, and heard a pop as the top has come off of it and sprayed brake fluid everywhere (not in my current truck, but in an older vehicle).