I just had my 2001 2500HD D/A inspected and was told by the technician that my rear rotors were rusting away. In fact he claimed that they were so bad they failed the inspection.

For rusted rotor replacement I thought this would not be so bad as I have replaced rotors and pads on other vehicles in the past, however I just learned that because this truck has a semi-floating axle, the axle shafts must be pulled, the seals replaced etc just to do this job.

Needless to say I do not have the tools or the time to go to this extreme so I contacted a few places to see how much this would cost. To my surprise we are talking $900 - $1300 to replace the rotors, pads, parking brake pads, seals and labor. Ouch! Is this typical?

:help:

id like to know the answer to that too. thats a lot or work to just change the rotors

Rotors come off real easy. I haven't changed mine yet, but you have to remove them to change the axle seals, which I have replace.

Remove the wheel
Grab the caliper with your left hand
Grab the rotor with your right
Pull them towards you.

The rotor is held in place by the lug nuts and the wheel. The caliper just rides on guides and is held in place by the rotor. You shouldn't have any trouble.

As a matter of fact, I'm having all 4 rotors & pads replaced on mine today. Quote was $835. And they found a leaking rear seal as well.
Truck has 18000 miles and the rotors are toast (from corrosion). Thanks GM - taking the chromium out to save money was a great idea!!!

I have a 01 hd also, I have already replaced my rotors. They are expensive but they were fairly easy to change. My seals and parking brake shoes were ok so I did not have to change them. Remove wheel, there are 2 bolts holding the caliper, 2 bolts on the caliper bracket and then with a little persuasion from a hammer the rotors came off. Do not hit the face/ shiny part of the rotor. If it does not come off you can tap on the hub section of the rotor. Hope this helps

I just had my 2001 2500HD D/A inspected and was told by the technician that my rear rotors were rusting away. In fact he claimed that they were so bad they failed the inspection.

For rusted rotor replacement I thought this would not be so bad as I have replaced rotors and pads on other vehicles in the past, however I just learned that because this truck has a semi-floating axle, the axle shafts must be pulled, the seals replaced etc just to do this job.

Needless to say I do not have the tools or the time to go to this extreme so I contacted a few places to see how much this would cost. To my surprise we are talking $900 - $1300 to replace the rotors, pads, parking brake pads, seals and labor. Ouch! Is this typical?

:help:

Hell no you don't! They are not semi-floaters they are Full-floaters. Do them every day. All you have to do is back off the parking brake so you don't hurt it when you pull the rotor off. Remove two little retaining clips that are on two studs opposite of each other. ( if these are the original rotors and pads other wise they most likely have already been taken off and left off) Then take a hammer (Large) and hit them and as you turn it to get them off. Sometimes maybe hard to get off but a 3lb hammer always worked for me if I even needed that. The park brake adjuster is on the top on the pass. side and on the bottem on the drivers side. Turn counter clockwise to loosen. I don't know what the cost is but I know darn well they are full-foaters and the only reason to pull the axle is if the wheel seal is bad. even then you don't have to pull the diff. cover cause 8 bolts to pull the axle thats it. If you want to do it yourself its not hard. Tools needed is 22mm for wheel nuts, 1/2 beaker bar with 18mm short socket and posably(sp) a long pipe for breaker bar, Torx 55 socket most likely 3/8 with a rachet (3/8s is the biggest they make the Torx 55 in from what I have found) to seperate the caliper from mount and they a hard to get off too sometimes, pliers to remove retaining clips, drum brake adjuster tool with a ninty degree turn to get between the rotor and leaf springs to back off the park brake, hammer to get the rotor off and 3/4 in socket to get axle off if seal is bad. The only thing is you need a speical(sp) socket to get the adjust nut off the hub and back on and torqued to the right specs. which is 52ft lbs while spinning and back back off and then set to 0 preload. Put the square stock back in groove and snap ring. Also some of us at the shop found out the hard way that if you clean the bearings you must pour syn oil in the hub and bearings before installing cause it takes to long for the oil to get down the axle tubs and you'll burn the bearings up before the oil get to them. We work on company stuff so we at least didn't leave a costomer stranded some where. That I think is about it. Sorry for the book but if you want to do it yourself that is step by step how ya do it.:rant:

I have a 01 hd also, I have already replaced my rotors. They are expensive but they were fairly easy to change. My seals and parking brake shoes were ok so I did not have to change them. Remove wheel, there are 2 bolts holding the caliper, 2 bolts on the caliper bracket and then with a little persuasion from a hammer the rotors came off. Do not hit the face/ shiny part of the rotor. If it does not come off you can tap on the hub section of the rotor. Hope this helps

If your changing out the rotor it really don't matter if you scar up the rotor its junk anyway. If its rusty very much at all you can't turn them but if you can then yes use a large dead blow hammer and it will not harm the rotor. I like the 4 lb dead blow myself!:grd: yes sometimes you may not need to back off the parking brake just try carefully and if you can't turn it as your knocking it off then you will have to back it off to get it over that lip on the outside.:exactly:

Are you guys sure you have to remove the caliper brackets to remove the caliper? I am almost positive that the caliper will slide right off the guides. I don't remember having to remove the caliper mount when doing my wheel seals.

you don't have to to change out the pads but the mount raps around the rotor so I have no clue how you would get the rotor cocked around and off with the braket(sp) still on it. Never done it so don't know but IMHO I don't think you can.

Either way its not hard. I will pay more attention next time I take stuff apart back there and post.