1G Front axle, brake pad, rotor, caliper replacement on an early 92 Talon Tsi AWD w/ABS

Front axle, brake pad, rotor, and caliper replacement on an early 92 Talon Tsi AWD with ABS.

I'm posting this article here because the main goal was to replace the axles. The rotors and calipers were just something that was discovered along the way. Moderators, feel free to move this or separate it into sections if you feel it needs to be done.

Before beginning this project, make sure you have a service manual handy for any questions that are not answered by this article. Mechanical ability and patience are two key things you will also need. I purchased new axles, rotors and brake pads to begin this project. I ended up also buying two front calipers from a 91 Eclipse GS 2.0 to replace mine.

Here is a short list of the tools needed to complete this project:
PB Blaster, High-Temp Anti-Seize,10mm socket, 12mm socket, 14 mm socket, 17mm 6-point socket, 19mm socket, 24mm socket, 32mm socket, various extensions, 9/16” wrench, 11/16” wrench, 17mm wrench, 14mm wrench, 10mm wrench, vice grips, small crow bar, breaker bar, long handle chisel, torque wrench, die grinder, ½” electric drill, 3lb sledge.

 

[jbillakdsm]

First thing to do is to soak down every bolt that’s going to be loosened with PB Blaster before-hand. Also before you begin, take out the transmission drain plug with the 24mm socket. Make sure you have the pan ready to catch this as it came out quickly for me. I started with the driver’s side since it is supposed to be the harder side and I figured I might as well get it out of the way first.

Jack the car up and put some jack stands at the ends of the front frame brace. Pull your jack out because you will be using it for other purposes later on and it gives you a little more room under the car to move around.

For pulling the calipers, first loosen the two 17mm bolts that go through the rubber boots and pull the caliper off the rotor. Tie it to the spring with a strong piece of string and be careful that you don’t kink your brake line. If these two bolts come out with no problem, check them to see how much grease is on them. If they are dry, put some more grease on them or go to the local Ford dealership and buy some of their brake grease. It’s around $14 a tube, but the stuff is waterproof and works really well. If these bolts will not come out, this is a good sign that your caliper may not be working and you might want to replace it. My driver’s side worked, but I found my passenger’s was seized. Try to remove the other two 17mm bolts that hold the caliper brace onto the hub and remove the entire assembly. Take your time with these, but don’t be afraid to use either a breaker bar or a hammer to tap on the wrench to get them loose.

 

[jbillakdsm]

Next we move on to the rotor, check and see if your rotor has two 10mm bolts that hold it onto the hub. I’m not completely sure if this was on all cars, but mine had it so don’t worry if you do as well. My replacement rotors didn’t use these bolts so you don’t have to worry about them too much. Mine came out pretty easy once I used a small screwdriver to clean off around the heads. Once these bolts are out, it’s time to remove the rotor. There should be two empty tapped holes in your rotor to help you gain the leverage to get it off. Take two screws and run them in till they feel resisted and take turns turning them around a ¼ a turn each to push the rotor off the hub. Depending on the shape of your rotor, this may just push your rotor right off or you may have to do some persuading with a hammer. After pounding on mine for about 3 hours with a 3lb sledge, it wasn’t moving. I proceeded to use a drill and a die grinder to weaken the front of the rotor and use a long handled chisel to break it off.

 

[jbillakdsm]

Once the rotor is off, you can start working on the axle nut. Make sure you buy axles that come with the nut. I didn’t do this and it was a pain trying to find them elsewhere and it wasn’t that much cheaper in the end. The cotter pin that was supposed to be there was rusted on and the end of my axle was in bad shape so I had to use the die grinder once again to weaken the nut and use the chisel to break it off the end.

 

[jbillakdsm]

The next thing you have to do is make the end of the axle loose enough to pull the axle out of the transmission. I did this by removing the hub because there was no way I was going to get the axle out of the hub without putting it on a press. Loosen the sway bar (I think that’s what it’s called); tie rod, and lower ball joint. The sway bar was 14mm bolts and you need a socket and an open end wrench to get it loose, you can loosen either the top bolt or the lower, whichever comes loose for you easier. The tie rod is a 9/16ths I believe and this was another tough one to get off on my car, be careful with it b/c mine felt like it was going to snap. You’re also going to have to get another cotter pin for here. The lower ball joint was an 11/16ths and the only thing that fit in to get at the bolt was an open-end wrench. Once the bolt is off for the ball joint, tap the arm with a hammer till it slides out the bottom of the fitting. Be careful with the sway bar and the ball joint that you don’t rip the rubber boots by the bolts; otherwise you have to replace these. Finally, you will have to take out the two bolts that hold the shock onto the hub. After this, the hub should be completely loose and you will be halfway to getting the driver’s side axle out. The last thing you need to do to remove the hub completely is remove the speed sensor from the back, there are three small bolts back there holding everything in place, you only have to remove two of them (see bottom pic) to pull the sensor.

 

[jbillakdsm]

Now it is time to climb under the car and find the carrier bearing assembly. If you follow the axle towards the transmission, you will run into a bracket that looks like holds the axle to the frame, this is your carrier bearing assembly and there are two bolts above it that hold it in place. I pulled my down-pipe off and moved it out of the way so I had easier access. Remove these and the axle should be ready to come out. My inner boot was destroyed so when I pulled on the axle everything up to the carrier bearing came out with ease and the rest stayed. After a couple more yanks, the rest came out. Be careful with the carrier bearing assembly, as you will have to reuse this. Leaving the hub attached to the end of the axle made it easier to pull the axle.

 

[jbillakdsm]

If you have trouble getting the end of the axle out of the hub, try and give it a couple whacks with the sledge, but don’t get too overzealous about this. If it doesn’t come out, take it to a shop that has a press and they can press it out for usually a cheap price. Mine required 10 tons of force to get them out so hitting it with a sledge really was a waste of energy. You can also have the shop press your rotor off if you don’t intend to use it again. The other end of the axle should just pull out of the carrier bearing assembly.

 

[jbillakdsm]

Now that your old driver’s side axle is completely removed, it is time to get the new one ready to install. Install the carrier bearing assembly onto the inner end of the axle. Take a note of how far on the old axle was on so you know how far the new one has to go on. Make sure to grease the splines with a grease of your choice. I used Mobil 1 premium synthetic grease. Have one person under the car and one person pushing from the outside. Line the axle up with the transmission and it should slide right in. Put the bolts back in for the carrier bearing assembly. Begin reinstalling everything starting with the hub. My car had ABS and there is a ring that goes around the back of the hub for that sensor and it came loose when I took the hub off, don’t worry about getting it back on, it will work its way back on as soon as you start driving. I put the bolts back in for the shock first since they held it up and made it easier to install everything else. Watch when you are tightening the bolts for the sway bar, tie rod, and lower ball joint; sometimes the other end of these studs likes to come loose and you can’t seem to get enough torque on them. To solve this, I used my jack with a couple pieces of wood on top for the ball joint and tie rod. I raised the jack till it was applying pressure to the bottom of each and it held the stud in place so I could get enough torque on them. For the sway bar, I used a set of Vice-grips to hold it still. Everything should be back in place for the hub at this point and you are ready to put the rotor on. This is a simple slide on, but put some anti-seize on the back so that it will come off a little easier next time you have to pull it.

 

[jbillakdsm]

Now we move on to the passenger’s side. Removal is the same as the driver’s side with one exception. To get the axle out of the transmission, you have to remove a frame brace underneath the car instead of fighting with a carrier bearing assembly. There are 5 bolts that hold it in, but you only have to remove enough bolts to rotate it out of the way. The two bolts that are the furthest back are the hardest to take out.

 

[jbillakdsm]

Once you have this plate out of the way, I used a flat crowbar and a small hammer to lightly tap it in between the axle and the transmission. Be careful that you don’t hit this too hard, you will see the axle begin to slide out of the transmission. The new axle will slide right in; once again, make a note of how far the old axle was in the transmission. Reassemble in the order you took everything off.

The caliper replacement was pretty simple. Have a cup near you before you begin. Loosen the brake line either at the caliper or up where the soft line meets with the hard line. Be careful with these lines as you do not want to kink them. Once you get this loose, use the Dixie cup to catch the draining fluid. Wait till it slows and install line into new caliper. Bleed the line and you are ready for install.


If I think of anything else to add I will do so accordingly. Big thanks goes out to Mike and the guys at Slowboy Racing for pressing my axles out when I was in a pinch for time. I hope this is helpful to anyone who is thinking about doing their axles and gives a little heads up on what you are getting yourself into.

 

[jbillakdsm]

Just a side-note that I forgot from the guys up at Slowboy. If you are ever working on your car and you find out you have to move it somewhere, NEVER move it with the one end of the axle in the hub and the the other end out of the transmission, this increases the risk that you will twist the splines in the hub and you can either ruin it or make it damn near impossible to get another axle in later.