Some time ago I noticed the front passenger side brake caliper was sticking. As it is almost 22 years old at this point I guess it is time to replace them. I bought new calipers, pads brake lines and DOT #3 brake fluid at the local parts store. The cost was not very high. We planned on doing the work in Aimee's sister's garage, so I loaded up the Blazer with all the tools I thought I would need and some I hoped I would not need, and headed for the Record family garage.



We found the Blazer to be too tall to fit with the roof rack. We could have aired the 31 inch tires down to fit but as it was a nice spring day, opted for the driveway.



The first thing I did was to jack the Blazer up, secure with jack stands and remove the tire. The drive way is not ours so I decided to use caution with the jack stands and made a base board from a 1 foot by 1 foot piece of 3/4 inch cdx plywood. This will distribute the force from the jack stand and will keep the sharp edges of the jack stand from cutting into the tar and leaving impressions.



I first removed the brake calipers and pads with a 3/8ths Allen head socket and a 3/8ths ratchet following the repair manual's instructions. It went very smoothly. I left the rubber brake line attached to the caliper and removed the rubber line from the brake line at the frame rail. I was careful to use plenty of rags The rubber line is removed from the bracket on the frame rail by prying the backing clip straight up. Save the clip you will need it with the new line. The passenger side worked nicely following this route while the drivers side hose fitting was totally rusted to the steel brake line. The brake line snapped off at the fitting.



While I had new fittings on hand I opted instead to take a ride into town and replace the whole line. At this point we discover the truck to the parts chaser has a flat tire. (Of course!)



While we were at it, I got out the compressor and aired up the other tires. All but one was really low. I chided my brother-in-law about it. So this week he replaced all the tires.


The cost of the new line was less than 3 dollars with out gas and 11 dollars with gas. (I should have bought the lines while at the parts store the first time.) The front drivers side original line was 37 inches long. I did not dare to go with a 36 inch and the next size up on the premade lines was 40 inches. This is the one I purchased.

Back at the Blazer I bent the new line to follow the same path as the old line. It was easily done in just a few minutes time with just my hands. With the new steel line in and routed to the frame rail bracket that holds the rubber end, I started on the calipers again. I laid the old calipers down next to the new ones and carefully compared the parts. The differences between the passenger side and the drivers side is very small but very important. The new rubber brake lines are also side specific so I compared these as well.



The only part I had to reuse was the bolt with the hole thru it for the brake line to the caliper. If I have to do this job again I will buy 2 new bolts at the store before I start. I noted the position of the brake line fitting on the caliper and then removed the bolt, discarding the old copper crush washers. New copper crush washers came with both the hose and the caliper so now I have a spare set for each side of the Blazer. Slide a new copper washer onto the bolt, slide on the new brake line, add the second copper washer, and position the combination as it was on the old caliper.



Tighten the assembly. Get the new pads out, with the new pad retainer and head for the rotor. I then installed the new calipers, pads and rubber hose.







I bled the brakes the easy way by doing the following. I first filled the brake reservoir to the top. I then made sure a hose was attached to the bleeder nipple. The hose went into a liter bottle with an inch of clean brake fluid. Making sure the hose remained covered in the brake fluid, I had my wife slowly pump the brakes with the bleeder just slightly open. When all the bubbles stop coming from the hose in the brake fluid, I tightened the bleeder, and removed the hose from the bleeder. Bleeding brakes this way is much cleaner, quicker and easier than not using a hose. There is no fumbling with a wrench while someone is trying to hold the brakes either.

With the brakes bled, I scuffed the rotor's braking surface with some 80 grit sand paper. I then put the tire back on. I tightened the lug nuts with a torque wrench to 95 ft-lbs per the manual.



I then took the Blazer for a ride. The new brakes worked superbly.