Hello. I need to change the front pads and rotors on my 99 dodge ram 1500. (I use this oldie for fun/work) But the labor I have to pay is quite high. They say the truck has the hub/bearings there and that makes the job much harder. I found someone to do it for $180 (cheapest plus he will do it at my place) and he told me to buy sealer for the brakes too. When I went to the parts store they said there is no such thing as a sealer to do anything with brakes.
But he then says “if the truck is 2wd the front rotors will will have the bearings as part of them and the inboards bearing will be held in place by wheel seal”
My question is, can a truck like mine have that hub with bearings and what sealer is he talking about?
Your truck has tapered roller bearings in the front hubs, there are grease seals on the onboard side of the rotor. You need to buy 2 new wheel bearing grease seals. Rock Auto lists them as “wheel seal”.
If you are only buying the wheel seals, it would be better to buy them at a local parts store. They are not an expensive part and the shipping charges would probably exceed what you would save at rock auto.
I hope he is cleaning and repacking the wheel bearings.
If he is talking about “sealer” he is most likely referring to gasket maker. You can use high temp Ultra Black or Ultra Grey…on the back of the pads instead of using the orange Brake Quiet product.
The Brake Quiet product is basically thin gasket maker…so using Ultra xx works just fine on the back of pads.
Front bearings for this van are really cheap. About $22 per side. If new rotors are installed, they come with brand new bearing races already pressed in. Why not spend an additional $44 for peace of mind?
I got this problem solved. The guy charged me a bit too much. $180 to install front brakes. It Took him 1.5 hours. With parts it cost me $400 sharp. But every other shop estimated between $500-600 total.