2014 Ford F-150

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TireSmoker
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Re: 2014 Ford F-150

Post by TireSmoker »

76,800 -- new rear brakes, new parking brakes (ugh) , oil change, new wipers.

This job just kinda sucked from start to finish. All the lug nuts came right off, which should've been my sign it wasn't going to go well, because right after that I couldn't get the wheels off the truck. After lots of donkey kicking to no avail, I spayed some WD40 into the lugs holes, tried dropping it from the floorjack, tried dropping onto a piece of wood on the inside edge of the tire, DROVE up and down the driveway with the lugs loose.. A few days later, I crawled under it and kicked the tires from the inside with both feet at once. Only took a couple kicks that way.

The brake calipers came right off on both sides, without any issue. The first rotor took a lot of beating, sorta damaging the parking brake drum hardware. After finally loosening the star wheel (which moved easily, surprisingly), it came off. I got smart on the 2nd side and tried loosening it first. It worked great, the rotor basically came right off -- and the shoe material for the parking brake fell right to the ground from both shoes. So now I get to do 4 brakes, including a pair of drums, instead of just an easy pair of discs. I hate drum brakes.

Some of the youtube videos for doing this job talk about popping open the diff and pulling an axle. Doing that would make this whole thing easier, but NO way I was gonna pop that open for a parking brake. 1 of the 4 pins that hold the drum brake shoes (the last one, of course) fought me tooth and nail. The first 3 were relatively easy. The last one, I dunno, just fought me forever.

All NAPA brake parts -- pads/rotors, emerg brake shoes + hardware.

Test drive complete, everything seems to be ok. I haven't tested the parking brake yet, though.

Mobil 1 5W30, Motorcraft FL-500S filter.
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Re: 2014 Ford F-150

Post by TireSmoker »

I started hearing a grinding noise up front and looking into the wheels, I saw this..after barely 18 months and 9k miles, my front brake rotor is junk:
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These are Napa 'premium' brake rotors. And they won't do anything for it.
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Re: 2014 Ford F-150

Post by Maverick »

Is that the only bad one? Could be the caliper is junk.
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Re: 2014 Ford F-150

Post by TireSmoker »

I guess I'll find out this weekend.

I also bought a set of coils and spark plugs. This thing has a mis-fire/stutter under heavier load. Surprisingly, no engine codes. I've read some people are replacing plugs/coils every 40k miles.
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Re: 2014 Ford F-150

Post by TireSmoker »

80,059 miles. Front brakes are done. For basically the same money as Autozone parts, I was able to get Motorcraft Rotors & Pads from Nick Mayer Ford in Mayfield Hts. Still need to install my plugs and coils.
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Re: 2014 Ford F-150

Post by Basement Paul »

FYI, I still get employee discount at Classic in Mentor. My employee number is 9690. But it sounds like they have you some dealer rate anyway.

-BP
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Re: 2014 Ford F-150

Post by TireSmoker »

80,067. Plugs and coils are done. All said, it was a pretty painless job. It would've been easier with a spark plug socket that has the rubber insert, but I just used a short piece of fuel hose to retrieve the plugs out of the hole, and a piece of vacuum hose over the tip to re-install.

The old plugs have a Ford logo on them, so they are likely original. New NGK LTR6IX 94374 plugs with Delphi GN 10638-11B1 coils. A short test drive confirmed that it no longer misfires under heavy load.

I found a K&N (yeah, K&N) air filter (33-2385) on ebay for $36, so it's on the way. It was $65 at Autozone.

Just to recap --
70,915 -- Front brakes, New NAPA SilentGuard pads/rotors, Oil change + filter, Mobil1 5W-30 and STP gold filter. Cooper Discoverer AT3 S4 tires.
76,800 -- Rear brakes, incl parking brake, wiper blades, oil change w/ Mobil 1 5W30, Motorcraft FL-500S filter.
80,057 -- Front brakes, Motorcraft pads/rotors, new NGK plugs, Delphi coils, K&N air filter

I think I'm going to get the cooling system flushed, put a new belt on it and call it good for quite a while.

I still love this thing. It's capable and comfortable. I hope its around for many more years.
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Re: 2014 Ford F-150

Post by TireSmoker »

The K&N arrived this weekend and I installed it this morning. The previous filter was from June 2020, 63K miles.

In the 150+ miles I've put on it since the plugs/coils, the mileage has definitely improved. In all around driving, I'd struggle to get 14.7-15mpg, now I'm at 16.5. I haven't done any freeway yet.

I have an appointment for Thursday at Don's CARS for a coolant flush/fill.
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Re: 2014 Ford F-150

Post by Basement Paul »

Yeah, K&N!

-BP
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Re: 2014 Ford F-150

Post by TireSmoker »

~81,000 miles

A couple weeks ago, I started getting a bad/weird vibration in the Tiresmoke TurboTruck while taking the dog to the vet. It was bad enough that I pulled over to see if there was a big stone stuck in the treads or something. Didn't find anything. I made it home with only minor vibration. I went for a drive later that evening and it was completely fine. ???

The next morning, I came out and saw the tailpipe hanging. It wasn't rubbing anything, it couldn't have caused the vibration. But still needed to be fixed -- the factory hanger's weld corroded/failed. Paul said he could weld it up for me. Last Wednesday 9/6, I drove up to his house and the vibration came back. We could just feel heat radiating from the LR wheel that didn't exist on the RR wheel. Probably a hung caliper.

Paul was able to get my tailpipe hanger all welded up and solid. On the way home, I stopped at Autozone to pickup a caliper. By the time I got home, it was around 9pm and I was pooped.

The next day, Thursday, is a regular day in the office, so I'd have to replace it as soon as I got home from work -- I already had a load of tires and such for Mid-Ohio, so it had to get done. I was super-stressed, because not only did I have to fix the truck, there was a mix-up with my cousin on dog-sitting for Mid-Ohio weekend. Crippled truck, no dog-sitter, all 12 hours before I had to hit the road. I called Chris to see if he'd come over, just in case I ran into problems.

Chris arrived and I was glad -- I couldn't get the wheel off, much like I had experienced last time I did the rear brakes. There were several failed attempts of donkey kicks, laying under the truck on my back and kicking with both feet (worked last time) and even a baby sledge with a board on the wheel. I had to start it, brake torque in Drive, again in Reverse, and once more in drive. After that, it finally came off with a light kick. Yikes.

After that, the caliper swap was actually pretty quick and painless. Pads looked a little thin, IMO, for only 2-3k miles.

We bled it and Chris added a slathering of NeverSeize to the hub face area on brake rotor. Wheel back on and everything seemed to work fine.. Whew..

Check out the caliper piston.
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