Ford Crown Victoria Brake System

For today's project, all four brake calipers on a 1998 crown victoria are going to be replaced because they are corroded and it is suspected that the bleeder valves are seized. Due to the age of the vehicle, four new brake flex hoses are also going to be installed.

The first part of this project is to acquire some bare remanufactured front calipers.

Motorcraft BRC-50-RM
Ford Service Part Number: F8VZ-2V120-AARM

Motorcraft BRC-49-RM
Ford Service Part Number: F8VZ-2V121-AARM

Pink colored sticker with a warning about the core return procedure.

A note included in the brake caliper box about lubricating the slide mechanism of the floating calipers

The front driver's side and front passenger's side brake calipers on this car are nearly identical except for the location of the bleeder valve. A passenger's front brake caliper will install onto the driver's side of the car, and vise versa. But you won't be able to properly bleed the brakes due to air rising into an area that doesn't have a bleeder valve.

Click here to view a marketing brochure about ford motorcraft brake parts.

The two rubber boots are to replace the existing caliper slider boots on your car. You will also need some dielectric grease to insert inside the caliper slide mechanism to keep out water that would corrode metal parts.

Here's the other brake caliper

A pair of semi-loaded dorman CA10547LR calipers were acquired for the rear brakes. In the rear, the driver's side of the car uses the same brake caliper as the passenger's side of the car. So two identical brake calipers are needed for the rear.

Click here to view a marketing brochure about brake calipers from dorman.

The instruction sheet that was included with the caliper kit

You can install calipers with metal pistons onto a car that originally came with phenolic plastic caliper pistons or vise versa as long as you install brake pads with the appropriatetly sized rosebud retaining clip. The mounting hardware and hydraulic flex hoses are the same on cars with phenolic & with metal rear caliper pistons.

However, there are two different banjo bolts used between the two different calipers. Rear calipers with phenolic pistons use a "fine thread" M10x1.0 banjo bolt. Rear calipers with steel pistons use a "coarse thread" M10x1.5 banjo bolt. The diameter of the banjo bolt hole drilled in the two different calipers is the same, it's just the thread pitch inside the banjo bolt hole that is different.

So, to minimize the possible complications during rear caliper installation, you might want to acquire a couple new banjo bolts ahead of time and make sure that they fit properly into your new rear brake calipers.

Note that the new rear brake calipers being installed use brake pads with the large 1-3/4" rosebud clips. Here is a picture of a 2001 crown victoria with rear calipers that accept the small 1" rosebud clip brake pads.

(Picture courtesy of Chevyguy on www.crownvic.net)

Here's where the brake flex hose would attach. And also where the brake bleeder is located.

To install brake pads, first insert the pad that clips onto the piston

There is insufficent space to install new brake pads into the caliper if the outside pad is first inserted

To help keep brake caliper internal parts from rusting, the brake hose connection point on the caliper has a rubber plug with grease inserted into it. Also, the copper crush washers are placed on this plug so that they do not get lost during transit.

The silver colored dot inside the brake hose connection hole is the back of the caliper piston

Here's a closeup of the brake bleeder cover, the temporary plug for the hose connection hole, and the two banjo bolt washers

These semi-loaded calipers came with new slider hardware too.

The replacement bolts have 13mm head. The original equipment bolts on the 1998 crownvic had 10mm heads.

Some crownvics use rear caliper slider bolts with inverted torx heads instead too.

The bolts are 10.9 hardness grade

The semi-loaded rear calipers did not include new brake pads. So a pair of duralast semi-metallic brake pads was acquired from autozone. Autozone carries a lifetime warranty on brake pads, and they probably do not intend for people to keep their cars for several years like some of us do.

These pads use the large 1.75" rosebud piston retaining clip

Here are a couple pictures of crown victoria rear brake pads with the small 1.00" rosebud piston clip for comparison

(Picture courtesy of larryo340 on www.crownvic.net)

(Picture courtesy of larryo340 on www.crownvic.net)

Next part of the project is to acquire 4 new brake flex hoses.

For this car, aftermarket dorman brake hoses were used. Part numbers: H620007 H381141 H381072 H381285

The front hoses

The rear hoses

Now that all of the needed parts have been acquired, it's time to begin the installation

First support the vehicle under the frame and remove the wheels.

Next print out a copy of this chart to identify which dorman brake hose goes where. Similar brake hose application charts for raybestos and wagner are also avaliable.

Rear driver's side

Rear passenger's side

Front passenger's side

Front driver's side

The rear pads on this car are really worn and badly in need of replacement

New sliding hardware is going to be installed on the rear calipers, although the current hardware was in serviceable condition and not really in need of replacement.

You will have to jack up the rear axle some on the passenger's side of the car in order to get the caliper retaining bolts out. This picture was taken at an angle and does not accuratetly reflect the limited clearance in between the watts rear lower control arm and the brake caliper bolt.

For the brake line->brake hose junctions, you'll want to use a 13mm flare nut wrench. And you'll also want to use a pair of pliers or adjustable wrench to hold the brake hose->frame bracket stationary.

In this particular case, the brake line fitting seperated from the hose connection block without damage. But if the nut twists the metal line, you will likely end up cutting the damaged metal line with a tubing cutter and then splicing in a new section of metal brake line. Note that the fitting on the end of the brake line is a metric bubble flare rather than a 45 degree double flare like you'll find on some older cars.

Here's a closeup of the rear brake hose with the oddball curvature to it. This design is needed to pass around the watts upper control arm fastener.

The rear brake pads on this side are really worn down too.

Brake fluid eats paint off of metal. So be careful where the brake fluid drips after the caliper and hose are removed.

Note the muffler jack being used to raise the rear axle assembly

The new caliper can now be installed

The rear brake rotors on this car are solid. Starting in 2003, vented rear rotors were used.

Now it's time to install the driver's side rear caliper

You do not have to jack the rear axle to install/remove the driver's side rear brake caliper like you do on the passenger's side rear.

Now it's time to install the passenger's side front caliper

And the driver's side front caliper

Finally, all 4 new brake calipers and hoses have been installed. And it's time to add fluid to the master cylinder reservoir and bleed the hydraulic lines. Removing all 4 brake calipers from the car introduced a large quantity of air into the brake lines. I ended up running over a liter of brake fluid through the system to get a firm pedal. And fortunately, everything sealed up good and no brake fluid leaks where the new parts connected.

For bleeding purposes, an empty 2 liter bottle of soda and 3 feet of vacuum hose were used. The fluid that came out was amber color with noticeable black particles in circulation. But for some reason, the picture shows the fluid as being solid pitch black.

The next part of the project will be to install a new master cylinder because the rear seal on the old one is leaking. But the seized brake caliper bleeder issue had to be dealt with before the master cylinder could be replaced.

Notes:

-1998 crown victorias could be ordered with 3 different brake options: without antilock brakes (ABS), with 3-channel ABS without traction control, with 4-channel ABS with traction control.
-on the 3 channel abs systems without traction control, the two front brake hoses were fed individually from the antilock brake controller. the rear brake calipers were fed with a single line to the back of the car, and the hose connection split into two at the driver's side hose assembly.
-on the 4 channel abs systems with traction control, each brake caliper was fed individually from the antilock brake controller.
-on stripped down cars without abs, the master cylinder fed the drivers side front brake hose which had an output port to feed the passenger's front caliper hose. a single brake line was run to the rear which connected to the driver's side rear brake hose, the metal portion of the brake hose had an output port which fed the passenger's side rear caliper hose. see below for a picture of the front brake hose for 98-02 crownvics without abs.
-obtaining the proper brake hoses for a 1998 crown victoria can be confusing and some parts store counter employees might order you the incorrect hoses for your car. so make sure to visually compare your new hoses with the old ones that are currently installed on your car before beginning this project.

Here is the driver's side front brake hose used on 1998-2002 crownvics without antilock brakes. Take note of the two ports on the metal portion.

Here is the driver's side rear brake hose used on all 1998-2002 crownvics except on the cars with traction control. Many service technicians let the brake caliper hang from the flex hose like this, but this is a poor servce technique that places a lot of stress on the hose and can cause premature failure.

Here is the driver's rear caliper flex hose assembly from underneath the car. Also visible in the picture is the drain hose for the fuel fillter nozzle area and the fuel filler neck that connects the gas cap to the fuel tank.