Well the exhaust order got put off AGAIN. Had a nasty surprise on 7/30/11 on my recently acquired 2007 Supercrew Lariat 4wd, front right rotor was smelling hot and appeared grinned badly. Been through this before with the old truck, twice... seized & cracked caliper piston. So I bought brake components immediately and did my upgrade a bit earlier than I would have preferred to have. I only did the fronts for now since I did not want to fund out the expense for the rears yet but since the fronts do the most work it feels fine. But the rears will not go un-attended as the pads are looking low on remaining life.

Ordered new Motorcraft calipers from the dealership since after core price it would have only been $30 more than Rock Auto's price, and Power Slot slotted rotors + Hawk LTS semi-metallic pads through Summit Racing for $294. Rock Auto had the rotors for $98 each, Summit had them for $137 each. I called and asked for a price match and they did it and added the pads in. I enjoy Summit Racing's service. I ordered them on Monday Aug 1st and received them Wednesday Aug 3rd. The right rotor and pads shipped from the Ohio store ( closest to me in PA ) and the drivers side was only available in the Nevada store so they over night shipped it free + the free ship on the parts as is. Excellent service. The Install was a breeze and it brakes real nicely. Can't wait to do the rears once I am ready to fight the rear rotors.

I also painted the calipers + caliper brackets prior using the same methods and products I did when I did my previous truck, Tech thread here. I used silver paint as I plan black & chrome wheels and did not need to paint the drums of the rear rotors.

Motorcraft calipers part #s,
Drivers side #7L3Z2B121A
Passenger side #7L3Z2B120A


Power Slot slotted front rotors part #,
Drivers side #126.65100SL
Passenger side #126.65100SR

Hawk LTS Semi-Metallic pads part # HWK-HB455Y-785

Also, there are numerous write ups on changing this stuff out so I am not going to discuss how to do all of this. The most excellent tech article for changing these parts ( front + rear ) is Shanin's ( 07FX4Chick ) Technical thread ( view here ) from when she did her brakes on her 4wd. I used the same procedures as she did and the same grease & disk quiet.

Now for the photographic documentation.



The damage done.




Calipers installed the night prior to rotors since I needed help with the pedal pumping.


Caliper brackets painted.


Rotors Installed.


Pads in place.


Assembled and tightened up, looking fantastic.




After throwing the wheels back on and dropping it off the jack stands & jack I pumped the brakes about 8 times and had good pressure, went out and did the recommended bed in procedure and all worked fantastic. The braking is excellent. I hope to do the rears soon.

 

Looks good bro!! Do you plan on putting your monsters back on? or did you get rid of them?

 

Looks good!

Now do something with that frame!

 

Thank you. I do plan to, I keep saying when gas prices drop more but that isn't happening anytime too soon. I want to at least level first ( Rancho QuickLifts ) but funds are tight at the moment. I will probably throw them on in a month or so and set my PHP to canned level 2.

I would like to buy the 20"x8.5" XD Spys and get 34"x11.5 Nitto Trail Grapplers but that is way out of funding.

 

I know I know . I'm going to get some POR-15 on it soon don't worry. It was driven in 3 PA winters unfortunately. But the surface of the frame some.

 

Looking good Darren! Going to do a brake job with a mechanic that works at my campus in the shop. Why did you choose the Hawk pads over the Wagners this time? All the shop guys use are Wagner Thermoquiets and Moog suspension components which is good. I'm also debating on the rotors, just afraid of the slotted cracking

 

As long as you buy a good quality slotted rotor you shouldn't have any problems with them cracking. The cheaper ones are known to crack. You get what ya pay for.

 

I'm not gonna skimp at all parts wise, I want high quality breaks on the truck esp with my heavy 20s on for 3/4 of the year

 

I wanted to try something different and Hawk pads are highly reviewed to as much excellence as Wagner. Cost a bit more but its probably the Hawk name. The Wagners were great on my old truck but the outer shell shims rusted up. I am concerned if the Hawks will or not.

I too will do Moog replacements when the time comes for ball joints and such. And x2 what Matt said, buy expensive high quality rotors ( EBC, PowerSlot, Brake Performance.. ) and you will be set. Warranty and great performance.

 

Interesting to hear on the rusting, Darren. Shanin's write-up had reasonable prices from the place she got the brake components. Might give it another look over there

 

Those look great. I'm really impressed with how sweet the silver calipers look. Glad you like the components. Quick question, did you just choose the free ground shipping from summit and you got them in 2 days? I order exhaust parts from them and really wanted them when I got home from the vacation so upgraded to second day. Ordered them Friday morning at 2:00am and received them this afternoon.

 

Nice looking stuff.

 

Wow, looks great! I should have painted my calipers back in Dec when I had my brakes done.

 

I have the same setup waiting to get installed my stock brakes are just about done then they'll be installed. How you liking the stopping power does it seem better then when the truck had lower miles.

 

DAMN GUY! Great job. I went cheap on my brakes. Turned my stock rotors (still in good shape) and went with ThermoQuiet pads.