Land Rover Discovery 1: Front Brake Job

I've been having a recurring whining noise coming from the front of my Disco1 for a while now.  It would come and go without reason.  Also, when the noise would show its ugly face, I could change the pitch of the noise by turning the steering wheel. This lead me to believe that the noise was related to a bad wheel bearing.  I ended up changing my wheel bearings and seal on the drivers side front hub.  I didn't hear the noise again, so I assumed that the problem was solved.  Oh, how I was wrong. :)  At the time I did the bearing job, I visually inspected the brake pads and there was plenty of pad left on both sides.  I did notice that the pads were worn unevenly but figured that since there was plenty of pad left, I could make the trip to BC and back without an issue.  Again I was wrong.
About halfway through the Whipsaw Trail, I noticed a harsh metal on metal sound from the front of the vehicle as I would brake.  As Peter can attest, this sound was pretty horrible.  Because of the salty roads in the Chicago area, the pistons in the brake calipers got corroded and pitted and wouldn't retract properly.  I think what happened was that on the one side of the caliper, the caliper held the pad on the rotor and wore the pad down in no time at all.
Since I was planning on off-roading a few days later, I made a few calls locally to source some calipers, pads, and rotors.  I ended up buying everything from B&B Autoparts in Renton. 
Take a look at these bling calipers:

I was a little hesitant to buy remanufactured calipers, but these were the same type of Lockheed calipers that were originally on the vehicle from the factory.
Complete Brake Job (these directions probably contradict the procedure in the workshop manual, so use at your own risk)
Parts needed:
Calipers
Brake Pads and associated pins and springs
Rotors
4 Wheel Bearings - RTC3429
2 Hub Seals - RTC3511
2 Lock Washers - FTC3179
Bearing grease
Red Locktite
Blue Locktite
Zip ties
rubber gloves
2 cans of brake cleaner: to please the greenies, use the non-chlorinated type; it comes in a green can :)
2 quarts of brake fluid.  I used Castrol GTLMA
Tools Needed:
3/8" and 1/2" Ratchets
Assorted 3/8" and 1/2" extensions
13mm socket in 3/8" and 1/2"
14mm socket, 1/2"
8mm allen socket (assuming that you upgraded from the factory crapola bolts to the nice grade 12.9 bolts; this is the subject for another blog entirely)
Hub nut socket - 52MM (http://www.discoweb.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18617)
1 1/16 socket for lugnuts
11mm, 3/8" socket
11mm stubby wrench
Large Disposable screwdriver
Small Sledge Hammer
Circlip Pliers
Brass Drift
Hardened Steel Drift
Needle nose pliers
Jack stands
Jack
Vice
Large Channel Lock Pliers
Brake Bleeder (http://www.motiveproducts.com/02bleeders.html  I have the European bleeder)
Procedure:
1.  Jack up the truck and set the vehicle on jack stands & remove both wheels
2.  Remove the rubber cap on the axle flange.
3.  Using circlip pliers, remove the circlip on the end of the axle.  Remove the 2 small spacers on the axle as well.

4.  Using the 8mm allen socket, remove the nice 12.9 hex head bolts from the axle flange and then remove the axle flange.

5.  On the back of the caliper, remove the 2 bolts that secure the caliper to the axle.  These are 12 point, 13mm bolts.  If this has never been done on your truck before these bolts will be a challenge to remove, so a breaker bar might be needed to get the bolts moving.  In the tools list, I included 3/8" and 1/2" sockets because there isn't a lot of clearance so it makes sense to have a few options.
6.  Using the needle nose pliers, remove the clip that fastens the brake line to the swivel housing.
7.  Zip tie the caliper to the spring to get it out of the way.
8.  Using the screwdriver and hammer, fold the crease in the lock washer flat.

9. Using the hub nut socket, remove the hub nut.  Remove the lock washer.  Remove the second hub nut and then remove the spacer right behind it.
10.  Remove the hub & rotor assembly and set down on a workbench with the rotor facing upwards.  The outside wheel bearing is loose so it will come right out.

11. Using the 12point, 14mm socket, remove the 5 bolts that fasten the rotor to the hub.  These might be a pain as well.  I used an impact wrench.
12.  Now for the fun part: removing the rotor from the hub.  Fasten the hub into your vice.  Using your small sledge hammer, beat the living hell out of the rotor until it flies off.  Please keep anything valuable like pets, children, wives out of the way.  As I hit on the rotor, I vary the point of impact around the rotor to get it off evenly.
13.  Using the channel lock pliers upside down, pry out the seal and then remove the other wheel bearing.
14.  Now for another fun part: removing the bearing races.  Using the hardened steel drift and sledge, punch out the races.  Again, change the point of impact to get the races out evenly.
15.  Clean everything up inside the hub.
16.  Install the new races.  Lightly grease the outside of the races and then drive them in with the brass drift.  Make sure to keep the wheel bearings organized so that you keep the races mated with their original bearing.
17.  Grease the bearings.  I use rubber gloves and take a glop of grease and roll the bearing onto the grease until the bearings are fully greased.  They will take a surprising amount of grease.
18.  Install the inside bearing and install the seal.  I like to grease the race as well.  Too much grease is better than not enough.  I use my hub nut socket to press the seal into place.  The seal I recommended is a double lip seal that is better than the original seal for keeping things out.  Make sure to recess the seal a few mm into the hub to help accurately set bearing preload later.
19.  Clean the portion of the hub where the rotor attaches. 
20.  Using the brake cleaner, spray down the rotor to remove any gunk.  Do this in a manner that catches the run off.
21.  Using the red locktite on the bolts, attach the new rotor on the hub.
22.  Wipe down the stub axle.
23.  Install the hub on the stub axle.
24.  Push the other wheel bearing into place.
25.  Reinstall the spacer and first hub nut.
26.  Torque down very tightly.  This will properly align the races and bearings in place.
27.  Back out the hub nut a half turn or so.
28.  Set bearing preload.  I'll be sure to get flamed here, but this is how I do it and it was worked fine so far. Loosen the hub nut right to the point where you can move the hub in & out.  If you tighten the hub a hair it should remain completely solid.  The reason I do it this way is that later on when you tighten the second hub nut, it will snug up the first hub nut a little.
29.  Install the new lock washer and screw on the second hub nut so that the nuts align.
30.  Using the screwdriver and sledge, fold over the lockwasher over the first hub nut.
31.  Torque down the hub nut down fairly tightly and bend the lock washer over the nut.  The tightening of the outside hub nut should turn the inside hub nut just a hair which should properly set the preload.  I welcome comments :)
32.  Reinstall the axle flange, spacers and circlip, rubber cap, and axle flange bolts using blue locktite. 
33.  Using the brake cleaner, spray down the brake pads.  On my calipers, the pads were already installed.
34.  Remove the brake line from the caliper, making sure that you have something underneath to catch the brake fluid.  Cut ziptie and remove the caliper.
35.  Wipe down the threads on the brake line fitting to remove any grit.  Install the line into the new caliper.
36.  Bolt the new caliper on the axle.


37.  Repeat on other side.
38.  Bleed Brakes.  Make sure to bleed the entire system, not just the fronts.  This is the sequence: passenger rear, driver rear, passenger front, driver front.
40.  Reinstall the wheels and remove the jackstands.  Done :)
Note: When I bled the brakes I ran a ton of fluid through the fronts to get them bled.  I drove the truck a few feet and they seemed really mushy.  I rebled the fronts and I got a ton of bubbles out.  After that it seems fine.

Comments after the fact:  I just went through my truck to inspect everything to make sure everything looked ok before a weekend trip and noticed that my hub bearing preload had loosened up.  After a conversation with my brother, we concluded that the installation of new bearings didn't properly seat the races even though I torqued down the adjuster nuts tightly to seat the races before actually setting the preload.  So, definitely recheck the hub bearing preload after driving the vehicle to make sure that the races are properly seated.

Copyright ©2006 Mike Rupp