If not for bad luck I'd have no luck at all! I just cant win!
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Veteran
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 385
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From: Maryland
If not for bad luck I'd have no luck at all! I just cant win!
Well, I have posted a few times about my ongoing ordeal with my 04 Ram. Here is a recount of the antics...
1. I needed new front brakes so I bought some ceramics and got ready to do the job on Saturday. I got the passenger side front done without a hitch in about a half an hour. Great, the next side should be the same....
2. After taking the pads off the driver side, I used a c clamp to compress the two pistons and in the process, the rubber boot rose above the piston and I was afraid that the pad would breack the rubber boot so I lightly pressed the brake pedal. One of the pistons slowly rose just a little but the other popped up really fast. I bent the c clamp trying to compress this piston and I thought I busted the caliper. After some advice from some guys here, I took the caliper off (unscrewing the banjo bolt (the bolt that hooks the fluid line to the caliper)). I took a rubber mallot to the piston and it popped back in no problem. I thought all was great....
3. After putting the caliper, pads ect. back on the last thing was to screw the banjo bolt into the caliper to attach the brake fluid line. It flet a little funny, but I knew I wasnt striping it. After a few very slight cranks the head of the banjo bolt popped off. WTF! To make matters worse, Dodge parts was already closed! I searced every parts store in the whole town and nobody had the bolt. So, I had to wait till parts opened on Monday. My truck would have to sit out of commission for over a day.
4. I call my local stealership Monday morning and more bad news. They dont have the bolt. In fact, not one dealership has one in my area and they couldnt get one for a day or two. No junk yards had one either. The closed dealership that had one was an hour away. Crap! So here in go driving the family minivan to get a part.
5. I get home and have the bolt on in less then 5 minutes. My nanny comes out and helps me bleed the caliper. We're good to go! So I thought.
6. I really need a brake fluid flush and to be honest, I really dont have the time so I let Pep Boys do it for less then 80 bucks. I drop it off at a slow, less then busy shop at 1500. I finally get the call at 2030 hrs to pick it up and when I get there they say they have some bad news. They broke the release valve off the top of the bleeder valve on the passenger side front! WTF! Then they asked what I did to it before I dropped it off as if I did something to it. They accused me of striping it.....a bleeder vavle I didnt even touch. They said they will fix it which is great, but I have to bring it in before 1700; I dont get off till 1700. They said, "sorry, our tech leaves at 5". So, I may just fic the bleeder valve my self.
So, after thinking my front brake job would take an hour or two on a Saturday took over three days and is still not done because of the broken bleeder valve. Sorry for the long post, but I just had to share my bad luck with you all.
1. I needed new front brakes so I bought some ceramics and got ready to do the job on Saturday. I got the passenger side front done without a hitch in about a half an hour. Great, the next side should be the same....
2. After taking the pads off the driver side, I used a c clamp to compress the two pistons and in the process, the rubber boot rose above the piston and I was afraid that the pad would breack the rubber boot so I lightly pressed the brake pedal. One of the pistons slowly rose just a little but the other popped up really fast. I bent the c clamp trying to compress this piston and I thought I busted the caliper. After some advice from some guys here, I took the caliper off (unscrewing the banjo bolt (the bolt that hooks the fluid line to the caliper)). I took a rubber mallot to the piston and it popped back in no problem. I thought all was great....
3. After putting the caliper, pads ect. back on the last thing was to screw the banjo bolt into the caliper to attach the brake fluid line. It flet a little funny, but I knew I wasnt striping it. After a few very slight cranks the head of the banjo bolt popped off. WTF! To make matters worse, Dodge parts was already closed! I searced every parts store in the whole town and nobody had the bolt. So, I had to wait till parts opened on Monday. My truck would have to sit out of commission for over a day.
4. I call my local stealership Monday morning and more bad news. They dont have the bolt. In fact, not one dealership has one in my area and they couldnt get one for a day or two. No junk yards had one either. The closed dealership that had one was an hour away. Crap! So here in go driving the family minivan to get a part.
5. I get home and have the bolt on in less then 5 minutes. My nanny comes out and helps me bleed the caliper. We're good to go! So I thought.
6. I really need a brake fluid flush and to be honest, I really dont have the time so I let Pep Boys do it for less then 80 bucks. I drop it off at a slow, less then busy shop at 1500. I finally get the call at 2030 hrs to pick it up and when I get there they say they have some bad news. They broke the release valve off the top of the bleeder valve on the passenger side front! WTF! Then they asked what I did to it before I dropped it off as if I did something to it. They accused me of striping it.....a bleeder vavle I didnt even touch. They said they will fix it which is great, but I have to bring it in before 1700; I dont get off till 1700. They said, "sorry, our tech leaves at 5". So, I may just fic the bleeder valve my self.
So, after thinking my front brake job would take an hour or two on a Saturday took over three days and is still not done because of the broken bleeder valve. Sorry for the long post, but I just had to share my bad luck with you all.
Thread Starter
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Veteran
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 385
Likes: 0
From: Maryland
would have but they are 150 new and 80 used. i just wanted to save it till all hell broke loose.