Replacing pads and discs Ducato 2011 (1 Viewer)

[DanielFord]

Thought I'd post this up. My van got an advisory on the MOT, discs worn and rusted. Did a search on YouTube and google, and I was amazed that there were no instructions, so here goes:

First the tools you will need 14mm hex bolt, 6mm hex bolt, 17mm socket, 21mm socket, hose clamp, impact wrench, long reach 12mm socket, 11mm ring spanner, piston rewind tool, brake bleed kit, cable clamp and a bloody big hammer. In addition to this, I needed a 4 foot breaker bar (frozen bolts).

Now you have the tools (and hopefully the replacement parts) you are good to go. Incidentally, I ordered my parts from brakeparts.co.uk half the price of EuroCarParts, and the pads came with a fitting kit for free!!!

1. First job obviously slacken the wheel nuts using the 21mm socket, I used the breaker bar for this, and it was still hard work. I think the last tyre fitter went a bit mental with the air wrench!
2. Jack the vehicle up, make sure that the wheel is clear of the ground, and then employ a secondary support mechanism, axle stands, or in my case another jack, you don't want 4tonnes of van landing on your head!
3. The callipers are at the front of the wheel on the Ducato, so turn the wheel out at the front that you are going to work on, and remove the wheel. As a tertiary backstop I always put the removed wheel under the sill. Can't be too safe.

You should now be looking at something like this:

This is a very rusty example, but you get the idea! First job is to remove the calliper. If like me you got a fitting kit, you can pop off the rubber end caps and throw them away. Underneath are the 12mm hex bolts, slacken the top bolt, it shouldn't be too tight, and remove the lower bolt. Now apply the cable clamp to the brake fluid hose, attach the brake bleed kit and open the bleed nipple (11mm spanner). Using a tool like a screwdriver, force the pads away from the disc in a way that causes the piston to compress, only a small gap is needed. Close the bleed nipple, and using a pry bar lift the calliper up to reveal the pads.

I jumped ahead in this photo and totally removed the caliper and placed it on top of the assembly. It is important that you do not allow the calliper to hang on the hose, you will damage it! Also, if you have a pad wear sensor, you need to unplug it and feed the wire back through the calliper.

You can now go ahead and reattach the bleed kit (with the cable clamp in situ) open the bleed valve and rewind the pistons (sorry I forgot to take a picture) next picture does shows the cable clamp applied though, so bear with me. Next job, and it is a big job, removing the calliper carrier!

It is absolutely certain that you bolts will be frozen solid, providing you are replacing both discs and pads I advise a good drowning in WD40 and taking a good coffee break at this point. When you have consumed your tasty beverage, you now need the 3 foot breaker bar and the 14mm hex bolt, the carrier is held on with 14mm hex bolts. In this photo you can see my hex bolt adaptor on the top bolt (also the fact the I have used a generous dose of WD40):

With the calliper carrier removed, place it to one side. There are two disc locator bolts on the discs, these will also be frozen solid, get the long reach 12mm socket and impact wrench to undo these. If you have these tools, I don't need to explain how to use them. After you have removed the retaining bolts, the disc will need considerable convincing to come off, use the hammer! You should end up looking at the bear hub:

Now time for a bit of elbow grease, using a wire brush, clean up as much of the rust as you can on the hub. Next apply a good dollop of copper grease to all of the thread holes (it may help for next time).

Time to reassemble, make sure your hands are clean (or change gloves) offer up the new disc to the hub, and align the holes. Insert and hand tighten the two retainer nuts after applying a little copper grease to them.
Take the calliper carrier and give all the mating surfaces a good workover with the wire brush, try to remove all evidence of brake dust. Reattach the carrier and make sure the bolts are very tight. Again in my case I had a fitting kit, so at this point I inserted the new pad guide springs. Take your new pads out of the box. If you have a wear sensor wire, it is the one that goes closes to the piston in the calliper. Insert the pads into the carrier, a bit of wriggling may be required, they are a very tight fit. Now insert the top calliper bolt and swing the calliper down, again, a bit of wriggling may be needed, you have brand new components, it will be a tight fit. Also, if you have a wear sensor, you need to thread it through the calliper, it is extremely tight to get it through! Insert the lower calliper bolt, tighten both calliper bolts, but don't go mental, they only need to be tight, not stupid tight. Reattach the rubber caps over the end of the bolts. Plug in the wear sensor (if fitted) Your assembly should now look like this:

If it does, congratulations, you have finished, reattach the wheel and lower the vehicle to the ground, then start again on the other side

 

[Mikeco]

Alternatively you could take it to a garage.

 

[DanielFord]

Alternatively you could take it to a garage.

Where's the fun in that? Also, I have a perverse satisfaction in replacing discs

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[Techno]

Rear and front
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/foru...x250s-and-fitting-guides.126084/#post-1780530

 

[Abacist]

Well done! Great write up and pictures! Many thanks.

 

[DanielFord]

Rear and front
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/foru...x250s-and-fitting-guides.126084/#post-1780530

I hunted, but did not find that
Oh well, my rears are fine for now, I'm sure I'll have that fun next year

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[Techno]

I hunted, but did not find that
Oh well, my rears are fine for now, I'm sure I'll have that fun next year

I did my fronts at the fixit floggit and feckit meet two years ago besides fitting a solar panel and a microwave. That's value for money!!
E&P jacks make life easy

 

[DanielFord]

I did my fronts at the fixit floggit and feckit meet two years ago besides fitting a solar panel and a microwave. That's value for money!!
E&P jacks make life easy

LOL! I can see that E&P would make life easier, but not sure I can convince the wife I need to spend £10K on getting them!

Just read your thread, I got my front discs and pads from BreakParts (no that really is how they spell it) for £104 delivered next day, and the was ferodo parts! Half the price of EuroCarParts!

 

[pappajohn]

No protective film on the discs ????

Or did you forget the bit about copiously spraying the disc with brake and clutch cleaner and wiping thoroughly with clean rag or paper towels.

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[Techno]

I found the German seller very cheap and the discs were out of stock so they sent me ones listed at twice the price at no extra

 

[Techno]

No protective film on the discs ????

Or did you forget the bit about copiously spraying the disc with brake and clutch cleaner and wiping thoroughly with clean rag or paper towels.

Please sir! I did
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/foru...and-fitting-guides.126084/page-2#post-1955664

 

[DanielFord]

No protective film on the discs ????

Or did you forget the bit about copiously spraying the disc with brake and clutch cleaner and wiping thoroughly with clean rag or paper towels.

Yes, forgot to mention it, largely I suppose if one is under taking the job one might already know that bit. But yes, paper towels (the Jaun Sheet variety) were employed in this case

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[DanielFord]

I found the German seller very cheap and the discs were out of stock so they sent me ones listed at twice the price at no extra

Nice

 

[Techno]

Yes, forgot to mention it, largely I suppose if one is under taking the job one might already know that bit. But yes, paper towels (the Jaun Sheet variety) were employed in this case

Anyone attempting this will have done brakes before so no need to state the obvious in great detail. I simply said degrease just in case a less than experienced had a go

 

[DanielFord]

Anyone attempting this will have done brakes before so no need to state the obvious in great detail. I simply said degrease just in case a less than experienced had a go

I remember doing my first set of pads on my car (Peugeot 104) got it all refitted, and then set off on the road. Forgot to read that bit in the Haynes manual about pumping the brakes up again! Nearly went up the back of the X4 bus!
Oh well, lessons learned

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[Techno]

I remember doing my first set of pads on my car (Peugeot 104) got it all refitted, and then set off on the road. Forgot to read that bit in the Haynes manual about pumping the brakes up again! Nearly went up the back of the X4 bus!
Oh well, lessons learned

Been there

 

[Lofty1]

I find it much simpler to remove the brake fluid cap and force the caliper pistons back before removing the caliper, then fasten the caliper out of the way with a cable tie, no need to risk hose damage with a clamp or getting air in the system

 

[Flatlander]

Why is the write up in american English?

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[Gaston aires]

Super blog. The garage for me though, The thought of breaking my fingernails fills me with dread.
Phil

 

[Spanner]

I find it much simpler to remove the brake fluid cap and force the caliper pistons back before removing the caliper, then fasten the caliper out of the way with a cable tie, no need to risk hose damage with a clamp or getting air in the system

Clamping a brake hose with a proper clamp and opening a bleed nipple before pushing the pistons back is the safest and best method as long as the nipple isn’t seized.
Forcing brake fluid back up through the master cylinder can upset the master cylinder seals and that usually means a new master cylinder, it’s not worth the risk in my opinion.

 

[DanielFord]

Clamping a brake hose with a proper clamp and opening a bleed nipple before pushing the pistons back is the safest and best method as long as the nipple isn’t seized.
Forcing brake fluid back up through the master cylinder can upset the master cylinder seals and that usually means a new master cylinder, it’s not worth the risk in my opinion.

Perfectly correct, forcing the fluid into the master cylinder on a vehicle fitted with ABS is a big no no, you risk flipping the seals over and then it is either dismantle the master cylinder and replace the seals, or replace the master cylinder.

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[DanielFord]

Why is the write up in american English?

Two reasons, one I wrote the post using my netbook PC, and bloody auto correct kept changing things, and secondly, I was drinking wine to congratulate myself on a job well done and I didn't spot it!

 

[Landy Andy]

I’m surprised that the discs got warning. From the photo they don’t look that bad.

 

[Stealaway]

I’m surprised that the discs got warning. From the photo they don’t look that bad.

Me too - how many miles have you covered?

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[pappajohn]

Yes, forgot to mention it, largely I suppose if one is under taking the job one might already know that bit. But yes, paper towels (the Jaun Sheet variety) were employed in this case

Anyone attempting this will have done brakes before so no need to state the obvious in great detail. I simply said degrease just in case a less than experienced had a go

Then why bother to mention not to fit new discs to rusted hubs without thoroughly cleaning the rust off first ?

 

[Techno]

Pictures speak louder than words and I cleaned the mating surface before applying copperslip, why so critical? You can do a guide with revisions if you're that concerned or just give us marks out of 100

 

[pappajohn]

Not being critical Andy, making a point.
Anyone who has worked on brakes knows how they work and how to dismantle rebuild without a writeup but a complete novice could attempt a simple job like this quite successfully but not know about cleaning the discs first as it wasn't in the writeup or pictures.

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[Techno]

Not being critical Andy, making a point.
Anyone who has worked on brakes knows how they work and how to dismantle rebuild without a writeup but a complete novice could attempt a simple job like this quite successfully but not know about cleaning the discs first as it wasn't in the writeup or pictures.

I think it was in mine. The warning instructions with new discs usually say in case of any doubt

 

[DanielFord]

Then why bother to mention not to fit new discs to rusted hubs without thoroughly cleaning the rust off first ?

Should I put in a section on the health and safety concerning brake fluid also? I mentioned the brake dust because I have seen "professional" garages reassemble a brake assembly without removing brake dust.

I do apologise for not getting every single point of the process in the guide. You haven't picked up on the fact that I didn't mention environmental issues regarding the disposal of the pads, a glaring omission on your part?

 

[DanielFord]

I’m surprised that the discs got warning. From the photo they don’t look that bad.

Me too - how many miles have you covered?

Believe me, they are/were shot! the mating faces were totally ridged, and a big lip on the outer edge. On miles covered, I reckon it's done 30k since the last set of discs, but it's not miles travelled, the problem is that it stands still for prolonged periods, and the van is kept in Dorset, the salty air doesn't do good things to brake discs!

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