Greetings,

This started off simple enough with grinding brakes in the rear. I figured worn pads and rotors, so I quoted the parts from Rockauto to replace the front and rear setup. I found a Firestone coupon to replace the pads and re-finish the rotors for the same price as the new parts. Since I work 12 hours a day, I figured I would let the shop save me the headache.

Well we took it in to Firestone today and the rear calipers are seized up and the parking brake shoes are shot. What grabbed my eye as funny was a $216 service charge to remove and replace both rear axle shafts.

I've owned a 2nd gen S10 Blazer, and a 1st gen S10, performed brake jobs on both, and never came across that in the procedure. What do you guys think, total BS?

Thanks for your time.

 

Well I guarentee they didn't replace both axle shafts for $216... They are more expensive then that... They are $117 each from RockAuto for your truck. Something already sounds fishy....

 

Axle shafts do NOT need to be removed to service the rear brakes. They do need to be removed to replace the axle shaft seals.

Each time the brakes are serviced, (pads & rotors) the calipers & brackets should be replaced. If not, you WILL have problems. The pistons are steel and the caliper is aluminum, corrosion will cause the pistons to bind in the caliper bore. The brackets are cast iron and the guide pins are steel, corrosion will cause the pins to seize in the brackets.

 

I thought that sounded absurd. I'm guessing all of the salt from MI winters sped up the galvanic corrosion, resulting in the stuck caliper piston. I'm looking at doing this myself because they're still asking $600+ for just the rear brakes.

 

Simple job with common hand tools, less than an hour per side. Your 1999 has ABS brakes which can make bleeding a challenge if not done correctly. When removing the old caliper, have the replacement ready to install so there is minimal fluid leakage during the swap. After caliper replacement, gravity bleed, (do not pump the pedal) each caliper separately, before final bleed, and make sure the master cylinder never runs dry of fluid.

 

Why gravity bleed as opposed to speed bleeding?

 

Is the calipers stuck or the pins on the bracket? My 99 had frozen pins wasted the inner pads and rotors. both wheel bearing where shot.

Once a year pull and lube the pins. saves a lot of headache.

 

Wow, I have never EVER heard this before! I must be very lucky - have original calipers and brackets on my 98 4x4 Blazer LS. Front and rear. We have salted roads here in Winter. Plenty of rain year round. Never seen any binding or corrosion. I do clean and lube the pins when I change pads. But I am not going through pads very fast either.

 

Must be a second gen thing, cause I just had to do the calipers on the first gen, only because the seal around the piston started leaking.
I am still getting annoying sticky brakes when first driving in the morning while its raining, quite annoying, could be me getting ****ty pads LOL

 

Yeah, I have the original calipers all the way around too. Never had a problem with my brakes; I change them usually twice a year and always grease the slide pins and replace the pin boots.