Well, this past weekend on Saturday afternoon, this is kinda what happened -
, yup, the sh-- hit the fan. I was launching the airboat in the back down launch ramp at our camp in Slidell, LA. When backing down the launch with the brake applied, the pedal hit the floor and the truck kept on rolling back.
So, my first reaction was to throw the truck in drive and shoot out the launch. After I got the truck back on flat level ground, I saw brake fluid spewing from behind the right rear wheel and I knew this was not going to be good, especially trying to find parts on a Saturday evening. In the meantime, I was away from home with minimal tools and had to be back in Baton Rouge, LA the following evening.
So, I tore down the right rear and saw the carnage. It had chucked the inside brake pad and wedged it between the dust shield and the rotor. Then, with no inside pad, the caliper pistons were cracked and eaten up badly by the rotor.
I called all around, probably five or six different parts stores(Napa, O'Reileys, Autozone, Advance Auto, Carquest, etc.) and nobody around had a caliper in stock, they even checked their other stores. Keep in mind the Parts Dept at the Ford Dealers were closed. Then, I remebered TANK had a 2005 parts truck he got for axles and whatever else to keep as spares for his truck and I though I might get lucky with him having the caliper I needed. So, I called him up and HE HAD IT! He told me to come on by and we will pull it off the parts truck he had.
Now, keep in mind, I had never talked with TANK on the phone or even met the dude before, but I gotta tell ya, he's one of the nicest dudes you'll ever meet. He went out of his way to help me out while I was in a serious bind. TANK had to use some "ingenuity" to get into the place that he had his parts truck stored at because it was "after hours" and getting dark outside - TANK knows what I'm talking about here... I was back up and running by Sunday morning. Anyways, he saved me a huge headache and hassle in being delayed and waiting till possibly Monday or even Tuesday until I could find the parts.
Kudos to you TANK, Thanks for everything man, I really appreciate it, I'm looking forward to the Bash on the Bayou in a couple of weeks.
PICS of the Carnage:
The screwed caliper
The caliper from TANK's parts truck
Both calipers side by side: original on left, TANK's on right
I think it was time for new rear pads. This is what they looked like with only 50,000 miles on the truck. I'm pretty sure I utilized the full usefull life of this pad; there's practically nothing left on the backing plate.
This is the pad that got chucked and wedged between the rotor and the dust shield. I think those pads had a slight rust problem from the truck being owned up north for the first 20k miles of its life.
Anyways, there's my weekend of carnage...
-Brad
03-31-2009, 10:47 AM
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