The 2003 Chevy Silverado's are -ton pickups complete with four-wheel disc brakes. The Silverado brake system consists of the hydraulic master cylinder, brake lines, calipers, pads and rotors. While the master cylinder, lines and calipers should last the life of the Silverado, Chevy designed the pads and rotors to wear out as part of their role in stopping the truck. If your brake pads are below 3 mm thick, and you have basic auto-repair experience, replace them immediately. Otherwise, take the truck to a trusted mechanic to have the work performed.
Instructions
- 1
Loosen the front lug nuts with the lug wrench. Push the wheel chocks against the back and front of the right-rear tire to hold the truck in place.
2Lift the Silverado's front end with your floor jack. Lower it onto the jack stands. Take the lug nuts and wheels off by hand.
3Place the drip pan under the Silverado's left-front brake. Clean the brake dust off the caliper and rotor surfaces with brake cleaner spray.
4Remove the caliper mounting bolts with a socket set. Pull the caliper out of the mount by hand and then remove the brake pads from the caliper manually.
5Wash out the inside of the caliper using brake cleaner. Make sure to clean all the gunk and brake dust off the pistons and caliper slides. Lube the slides thoroughly with white lithium grease.
6Retract the caliper pistons with the caliper tool and then install the new brake pads. Drop the caliper back into the mount and bolt it in with the socket set.
7Move over to the other side and repeat steps 3 through 7 on the right-front brakes. Put the wheels and lug nuts back on the Silverado when done.
8Lower the truck off the jack stands, move the wheel chocks to the right-front tire and repeat steps 1 through 7 on the back of the truck.
9Use your torque wrench to tighten all the lug nuts to 140 foot-pounds.
