Tips on replacing calipers & flushing brake fluid.

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Hrocks

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Low Post...First and foremost and with all due respect to some of the well meaning members, under any circumstances, DO NOT USE SILICONE BRAKE FLUID. For a street vehicle that's not used in any competitive events, a high quality brake fluid is fine. I used to use the stuff Ford had packaged for their SVO division for street use, and ATE Super Blue in my Corvette set up for track day events. I found the Mity Vac type hand pumps would be fine for a regular simple bleeding job, but a waste of time and $$ if you wanted to purge your system. The following options are the type that you would find in a good shop. If you have a compressor, a vacuum brake bleeder is best and is available from SnapOn or much cheaper at Griot's Garage. If you do not have a compresser, the unit from Capri Tools would also be fine. These units suck the old fluid totally out of your system. Unless you have a right hand drive car, always bleed in the following order: RR, LR, RF, LF. (Obviously from the furthest to the nearest to the master cylinder.) Oh and BTW, for a street vehicle, I wouldn't use SS brake lines. They are not "set and forget". All things being equal, unless you have a VERY educated foot, you will never feel a firmer brake pedal after installation due to the SS lines. What indeed you will likely feel, is a firmer pedal from a simply properly bled system using stock heavily reinforced rubber lines.

Just a general note regarding brake fluid...It is hygroscopic. (a substance tending to absorb moisture from the air.) Most people rarely if ever, totally change out their brake fluid. Over time it can attract up to about 5% of moisture (water). Many people will say that their brake fluid "boiled". (If you've ever experienced your brake pedal going to the floor under extreme braking conditions, you would know exactly what that means...OH SH!###!!) Actually it's the water attracted to the braking system that boiled. (water boils at 212*F, minimum boiling point for brake fluids are above 400*F)

In any case, it's a very good practice to totally change out your brake fluid every two years. when I was teaching driving schools, I would bleed them on my track car daily, and totally change it out every season. If you ever see a brake reservoir with dirty fluid, you can bet it's likely never been changed and is an accident waiting to happen. Hope this helps!
 
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lowpost99

lowpost99

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center the proportioning valve with a good diagnostic scan tool like a snap-on solic or a GM Tech2. its a simple process that only requires you to start the process on the scan tool and press and release the brake pedal one or 2 times. really this can solve a lot of common 'old school' brake issues.
I took the truck to a couple of shops to see if they could do this and they all had no clue as what you meant. Two shops mentioned that you can recycle the ABS module but that it took quite a while not a quick process, another said its just bleeding the ABS module which I have seen on Youtube but I'm not certain about either of these. Was this task something you did personally or did a Chevy dealer describe this as something they did for you? Thanks!
 

IZZY_BRITTON

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I do it personally on all my trucks now and again. Let me look at my scan tools to see what exactly what snap-on calls the process
 

Rocket Man

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I do it personally on all my trucks now and again. Let me look at my scan tools to see what exactly what snap-on calls the process
I thought the proportioning valve only gets tripped to the front or back if you have a catastrophic brake system failure in either the front or rear system, in which case it flips the plunger to close off that part of the system so the other half still works and you can come to a stop without losing all pressure. I don't believe it's anything you need to mess with unless a system failure, and all I've been able to find out from alldatadiy is that when it happens, the valve is replaced. At least on ABS vehicles- maybe different on older systems?
 

IZZY_BRITTON

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I know that I have a 2001 2500 HD that had a fubar brake system when I bought it. I literally relaxed everything in the brake system with the exception of the abs unit (which I bought) and still had a brake issue. After doing the centering process, problem fixed. Because of that little tid bit of info and that minor process (which could have saved me fist fulls of $$ and weeks of headache) I will perform the centering process inn every one of my NBS gm's. I will see what they call it as soon as I am able.
 

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