My nephew has an 03 Ram 1500 short bed with about 80,000 miles. He uses it mainly to tow a 20' boat n trailer with no brakes. His brake pads are worn and also the front rotors. He got a quote of $700 to replace all pads and rotors. He could not tell me what brand pads and rotors he will get. I was wondering if this sounds like a fair price for decent quality parts. if he goes for premium quality pads what price range would that be? I know there is not a lot of specifics here. Just looking for a price range on decent and premium quality parts. Thanks for any info provided.

 

Labor charges is why I learned how to fix my own cars.
From seeing other peoples bills...USUALLY...you can take the cost of the parts and that would be your labor cost.

I just replaced the front rotors and all the pads on my 07 ram 1500 with quality ceramic pads and premium rotors for about $300
So $700 isn't out of the ball park... but then again if they are installing the cheap parts....

 

You could replace the entire braking system on a ram for less than that including 4 new (reman'd) calipers, 4 new rotors, pads, hardware kits, and tons of fluid to bleed it out (I know cause I've done it). Thats a lot of d*mn $$$ for pads/rotors. I wouldn't pay someone to do it at all, but more than $200/axle is a rip.

 

With parts and labor charges, that's probably about right. As was said, it's the labor charge that kills you. Hopefully he isn't planning on changing them with the stock parts, because the stock brakes are terrible on these trucks, and the stock rotors are known for warping. A good aftermarket set of rotors and pads shouldn't set him back too much, and after watching all sorts of videos on YouTube, it doesn't seem like too hard of a job to do yourself. I'm actually getting ready to tackle this very thing this weekend, hopefully, if my new rotors get here.

 

I agree with everyone so far the price is kinda high but it's mostly labor charges so if it can be done by you or you nephew or even someone you know and pay them you could go all premium and throw whoever does them if you or your nephew don't a $100 you would still be well under the $700 range

I just replaced my rear rotors and pads with premium and I paid around $200 or so and did it myself

 

Agreed.. learn to do them yourself.. That is one of the easiest things to replace on these trucks.. if you were near my town I'd do them for free!

 

Get some Brakemotive rotors and pads. They are drilled&slotted and come with Ceramic pads. For both front and rear axles is only $225shipped. Nobody can touch that price.
I've had them on numerous cars. Great product! They are a Sponsor here as well so they are reliable and trustworthy
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/vendor-...ml#post2772696

The only "hard" part about doing brakes is unbolting the caliper and squeezing in the piston with a u-clamp. The rotors themselves are oonly held in place by the caliper. Once you unbolt it and take it off for the pads, the rotos falls right off. The rear needs to have the ebrake line unclamped, but other than that, its the same procedure.
There's a write-up in the FAQ section you can follow.

 

Sounds a little high to me. Say at most $400 for parts, that leaves $300 for labor. Say $85/hour for labor that 3.5 hours of work. There is no way its going to take 3.5 hours for a garage with all the right tools to replace pads and rotors.

 

Although from what I've seen it should take faaaaaar less, the literature included with my Hawk pads state an average of two hours per axle, I believe (which would equal out to an hour a corner).

 

Hey thanks for the info. My nephew is not handy at all. He has to get the work done. I can do the job but my shop and tools are in Texas and his trucks is in Florida. I was just checking on the price for him. I will see if I can find out what brand parts will be used and go from there. Thanks again.