Easy Blazer Brake Repair

[Jeff]

Easy steps to fixing your own brakes on Blazer.
1.Front brake locking up.
2.Tear a part and diagnose.
3. Not the caliper, not the slides.
4. Collapsed brake line is diagnosed.
5. Notice Brake fluid running out of back drivers side wheel.
6. Blown wheel cylinder
7. Purchase New front rubber Brake line, and new wheel cylinder.
8. Take rear wheel and drum off. Notice it looks bad in there.
9. Call up town for price on parts. 2 drums, shoes, new spring set and one more wheel cylinder.  $249 up town.
10. Call Mount pleasant. $111  there. All in stock.
11. Drive to M.P. Friday and get parts.
12. Drive to M.P. Saturday. Right part numbers. wrong boxes. Wrong Drums.  Get the right drums.
13. Tear down drivers side.
14. Bust up most of my knuckles and acquire several cuts trying to remove wheel cylinder circlip.
15. Bust up the rest of them installing the new circlip on new wheel cylinder.
16. Spend most of the day trying to figure out the right way to install the auto adjuster. turns out it is the wrong one and never did work.
17. Call and order new adjuster kits for both sides. won't be in until Monday.
18. Go to pick up parts Monday. Supplier sent one right side part, and one wrong left side part. Re order left side adjuster. Won't be here until Tuesday.
19. Come home, actually get the right rear together.
20. Tear drivers side apart.
21. Re-open knuckle wounds.
22. First wheel cylinder purchased won't fit.
23. Return to parts store. they swear it is the right one. I have the old one. They swear its the same.
24. I swear.
25. I ask for a different one insisting that the casting must be bad.
26. Guy rolls his eyes and entertains my request.
27. Go back home.
28. Call bak to auto parts store to say, nana nana na na. I was right. The casting was bad, new part fits.
29. Here I am, now waiting until Tuesday for the replacement adjuster kit for the driver side. What next?
30. Thinking about taking advantage of my newly discovered supply of Detroit Tiger bandaids and watching opening day game.

[red]

I hope the metal brake lines are ok ? and good catch on collapsed brake hose.

[submarinesailor]

Jeff,

Are you sure I wasn't there trying to help you.  Most of my brake/wheel bearing jobs go like that. : : : : : : : :  The front wheel bearing job on my diesel F250.......got the wrong set of bearings/hubs three times from 3 different stores.  Had to go to Ford to get the right ones.

Bruce

[WV Sawmiller]

   I thought I was the only one who had days like that. I feel your pain.

[Kbeitz]

I would have saved the "nana nana na na" untill you got all the right
parts... They still might have the last laugh...

[breederman]

I plum wore out a  blazer . It had disc brakes all around. The first time i changed them i found one of the rear calipers on upside down ! Someone had put 2 left side calipers on it and made it work !

[snowstorm]

The only difference between a rite and left caliper is the bleeder screw. You can bleed it at the hose if needed. It will work just fine

[thecfarm]

Well how about that. I always thought only Fords did steps 1-30.  ;D

[paul case]

Shore is Monday HUH boss?

PC

[WDH]

Having a good, honest mechanic available to leave it with, priceless  :D. 

[jwilly3879]

Sounds like any brake job I have done.

I feel your pain.

[Jeff]

UPDATE!

31. MY PART DID NOT C O M E  I N!!  ARGH...
So, now, the beat goes on for the 5th day, tomorrow being the 6th, when supposedly it will be here. At that time I should find out what the next step is in the FIASCO! :D

32.  Cut holes in the floor and change my name to FRED.

[Jeff]

I would have saved the "nana nana na na" untill you got all the right
parts... They still might have the last laugh...

I'm dealing with 3 different part stores. The one that sold me the defected cylinder, is all that they sold me. I got a new working one from them, and they are now dead to me. They are also the ones that gave me a quote $130 higher than the place I bought the rest of the parts.  The local NAPA  is where they can't get the adjuster part right.

[Jeff]

33. Parts arrived again.
34. Assemble.
35. adjust rears and bleed brakes.
36. Test drive. Pulls hard left, front right doesn't seem to be working.
37. Back into the barn.
38. Pull front right wheel that I never had off.
39. Has new pads just like front left has.
40. Go inside and ruminate. Thinking the right brake line may be collapsed as well.
41. Contemplating nap.

[snowstorm]

Try taking the fuse out for the anti lock brakeep. If everything works as it should then there is a problem in the anti lock valve

[21incher]

Nothing like a good nap to make problems go away. I had a brand new 89 chevy truck the brake lines  separated and were shot at 2k miles. The ball joints lasted 4k miles. 

[Jeff]

Try taking the fuse out for the anti lock brakeep. If everything works as it should then there is a problem in the anti lock valve

no abs on this 84

[Ox]

Can you crack the bleeder on that one while having wifey stand on the brake pedal to verify that fluid is being pumped over there properly?

[Jeff]

Got round to working on the brakes again this morning.  One of the caliper bolts is stripped. Pads cracked from twisting in the slides, and caliper chewed up from what looks like someones crooked c-clamp, plus the line is partially obstructed. So, I'm not going to do just one side. Calipers and pads for everybody! :-\

[sandhills]

Jeff, at least you can do the work, or at least that's the bright side I see with everything I own  ;).  I do wish for "nicer things" from time to time but don't mind a little elbow grease either.  My parts man and I have become very good friends   :D

[Jeff]

The saga continues. Tammy picked up the parts on her way home from work. I went out to put them on. They gave her all wrong parts.

[snowstorm]

i buy a lot of my parts from the dealer be it ford or volvo or ih. give them the last 8 of the vin and they know what that truck was built with. the quality is better and most of the time the price is less than napa and the others

[Jeff]

I just had a shouting match with a parts guy in Mt. pleasant auto-zone.   I called yesterday to have the parts ready for Tammy.  We took them all back this morning. There was 6 guys behind the counter.  I went to the one on the end. Put the parts up there and said "We need to find out why these were wrong. Last night I called and ordered these for an S10 Blazer and..."  At that moment, thesecond guy from the other end, who is dealing with his own customer pipes up. "You never said S10!  You just said Blazer" I said, um... Yes I did.  The guy starts to argue with me, and he's not even waiting on me. I asked him how many custemers he delat with yesterday. He says "hundreds!"   I said, "well I only dealt with one parts guy and I know exactly what I ordered."  It went back and forth and I AM *pithed!  Not about the wrong parts, but because this guy is i d-head.  Tammy knew I was about to really lose it and laid her hand on my side when I said give me my flippin money back and I'll go get my parts from another flippin parts place. I did not say flippin. The guy I was working with, calmly asked if I really wanted to do that or just buy the parts as he already had them on the counter through this.  I told him he needed to get that other guy out of my flippin sight first. The d-head turned around and took off somewhere and was gone up until Tammy and I left.   Tammy told me that when she got there last night, the parts had not been pulled, and the note the girl had that pulled the parts, said "S10 blazer written on it.

I hadn't been that angry in a long time. There were other customers in ther and they all just shut up. tammy thought I was going to go down and drag that guy over the counter. I was thinking about it.

[Corley5]

  I'm lucky in that the local Car Quest I do business with is very good.  We farm out 99.99% of our auto repair to a local shop so most of what they get for is heavy equipment related.  The shop we use is very good, fair and good friends now as well.  They get a lot of their parts from Car Quest too.  All that said has anyone ever used http://www.rockauto.com/  ? ???
  Good luck Jeff.  I don't have the patience to work vehicles anymore.

[Jeff]

I don't mind the working part. I actually enjoy the wrenching. Its the parts fools that are giving me the attitude!