By Rob on Tuesday, April 10, 2001 - 05:57 am: Edit

Does anyone have or know where to find (on the net) step by step directions for changing brake pads and rotors on the Disco - with pictures. Seems like it would be a good thing to have posted in the tech section.

By pk on Tuesday, April 10, 2001 - 06:27 am: Edit

Hi,

Pads are easy to change but I don't know where on the net to see it. Wait! I think Al Hang might have it on his website...

Why change the rotors?? Was one of them somehow damaged? They don't generally wear out for the first million miles or so. Anyway... check them first because they must be expensive.

pk

By WVA (Vince) on Friday, April 27, 2001 - 12:17 pm: Edit

My front left rotor was scored and had to be replaced. I had learned that you don't machine rotors like other cars. I can see why! you have to take off the hub assembly. And I read that changing rotors was a snap!!! WoW, bad advice. it's taken us 4 hours to do the job! if i had contacted the board, maybe could have shaved some time off...!

By Leslie on Friday, April 27, 2001 - 01:55 pm: Edit

I'll talk you through how mine went, but first let me split it up into pads and rotors, two separate issues.

For the pads: VERY simple. First, securely get it up and get the wheel off (duh!). Look at the top of the caliper, and you'll see two long pins running from the outside to the inside, also going through a pair of little springs, and then with cotter pins on the inside end to keep the long pins from backing out. Pull the cotter pins out, then pull out the long pins, and the pads will lift out. Open your brake master cylinder cap, and compress the 4 caliper pistons to put them back inside the calipers. Slide in the new pads after getting the pistons pushed in out of the way, and slide in the new pins (note, put in the new springs on the pins), and put the new cotter pins in. Close up the cap; after starting the vehicle realize you won't have brakes at first so you'll need to push and hold the brakes, pump it and then it should feel right.

Rotors: This is a bit more involved, because I didn't know what I was doing, but I got it done and back on the road fine... so you should be able to do so too (don't sue me, though, if you don't!)

Pull off the rubber hubcap. You'll see a circlip with a couple of spacers behind it. You'll need a special pair of c-clip pliers to go into the two little holes and then open up the circlip. After removing the c-clip and spacers, then unbolt the drive member (5 bolts). With it off, youll see two large nuts with a captive washer. Gently unfold the captive washer, and remove the two nuts. NOTE: notice that the second nut isn't real tight against the hub... don't overtorque when replacing. You'll see the bearing race behind there... it'll come out once you pull (but you need to get the caliper off first). On the back side of the caliper are several bolts, but you specifically want the two bolts that are down low on the back. Once they're removed, the caliper will lift up. DON'T move it ANY further than neccesary or you WILL break a brake line... WATCH IT! (I would recommend removing the old pads first, but then leaving the new pads out until after the new rotor is in place). Grab the rotor/hub assembly and gently pull towards you, catching the bearing before it falls. Once the assembly is off, look at the back side of the rotor... 5 bolts hold the hub and the rotor together. Remove them, and pull the hub and rotor apart. When putting the new rotor on, it'll be a tight fit. Gently place the bolts into the rotor holes into the hub, so that they'll act as guides when you sit the rotor into place onto the hub. Once the hub and rotor are mated together and aligned, pull out the bolts again and apply some loctite. Now, bolt it down. Slide the assembly back onto the axle end, and put the caliper back over rotor (WATCH THOSE BRAKE LINES!!). Insert the bearing. Replace the first nut, then the captive washer, then the second nut. Bend the captive washer back into place. Scrape the old gasket off the back of the drive member, and install the new gasket, and rebolt the drive member into place. Put the spacers and the circlip back into place, and also the hubcap.

Now, put the new pads in. Reinstall tire, and let it down. (Don't forget to tighten your lugnuts!)

http://catalog.roversnorth.com/catalog/large.taf?id=110frontdisc (Note the rotor is the same, but the pads are a little different on this pic), and http://catalog.roversnorth.com/catalog/pdfs/Drive.pdf , on p. 38, shows what the hub bits look like (the bottom assembly in the pic, from item 35 to 46).

Just pay attention to how things come apart, and put it back the way it was....

It took me about 2 hours on the first one, w/o ANYTHING as a guide to go by. Once I figured it all out, the second one took about 30 minutes.


Hope that helps.

-L

By Leslie on Friday, April 27, 2001 - 02:22 pm: Edit

PS: Pads, if you shop around, ~$50. Rotors, AB has some vented ones for $99 that I would have bought and used if the catalog hadn't arrived THE DAY AFTER I did my brakes!!! I gave ~$125 each for my genuine rotors, aftermarket are less.

The tolerances on a new rotor are rather close to what is allowable, so if you've got 50,000 miles on a Disco, they wouldn't be turnable because they'll already be worn past their allowable tolerances.

I don't have any pics.... but if you surf around I think you can find some... hmmm... how about D-90.com? There's a lot of applicable tech-stuff there...

Lots o' luck....

-L

By WVA (Vince) on Friday, April 27, 2001 - 02:49 pm: Edit

thanks a lot, Leslie. that was the procedure we had figured out and are now in process of putting rotor back on. We had picked up a rear rotor instead of front one and that made a difference!! Also, for that gasket off the drive member, where can you get one? Can we get a generic gasket from Pep Boys or Trak and shape it? thanks

By Leslie on Friday, April 27, 2001 - 03:40 pm: Edit

RN has 'em, I'm sure most places can order 'em, too.... (Personally, I get ALL of my parts from the Thatched Roof Garage... a Series Rover specialty shop, but he does drive a classic Rangie, and there are several Discos and Defenders that hang out around there, too... )

Me, I used a little bit of blue RTV... Personally, I've developed a preference for "gaskets in a tube"... in almost all cases a properly selected tube of stuff will out-perform a paper gasket, IMHO, YMMV....

Best o' luck....

-L

By knebusch on Thursday, May 10, 2001 - 02:55 pm: Edit

Just changed the rear rotors and brake pads on my 96 Disco. The first one took some time but after doing it the second was a breeze. Thanks to all the posts on the board. They really helped out!

I recommend doing it yourself rather than paying what my dealer estimated at $700-$950. It took me around 4 hours after running to the store a couple of times, to do. Thanks Bill for the email and thanks Leslie for the post.

If anyone has any questions I would love to help while still fresh in my mind.

By Leslie on Thursday, May 10, 2001 - 03:50 pm: Edit

Glad it helped!


-L