I recently picked up a 2008 Sahara that has only 42000 miles on it. Now I'm starting to think this JK spend at least 20000 of those crossing rivers. Hopefully when after this week all will be well again. When I was younger I owned a 68 Kaiser Jeep with a Buick V6. It was a great ride for back then being young and crazy.

This 08 has original tires and brakes. The rear brakes and park brake were bad so I decided to do them all. I went ahead and ordered one of the Stop Fast kits. After pulling the front wheels I discovered a sloppy u joint on the passenger side. Then after looking closer I see dampness in the axel tube.

So I start tearing it down and I break one of the wheel sensors. At this time I've had new u joints pressed in. I've pressed in new seals and waiting for new wheel bearing assemblies to arrive from Rock Auto.

So today I decided to get the rear brakes out of the way. I figured quick and easy. These things were a mess. Everything rusted solid and the star adjusters not budging. After a sledge, and 7 ton puller I have them off. 2 hours to pull 2 rear drums just took the fun out of this job.

I've never had such a hard time pulling brake drums.

Brian

 

Drums?

They have Rotors, at least my 08 Sahara does.

 

X2 with Enzo

 

The rear is drum for park brakes and disk for stopping. It was new to me. The last one I had was a CJ that had a drum on the drive shaft.

 

Drums

 

In case we're missing it....the drum he refers to is the parking brake drum....so yes, there is a 'drum'.

 

It's also known as a rotor hat, The parking brake rides inside the hat. So yes we technically have a "drum"

 

I also spent a bit of time soaking and running a wire wheel over the lever and actuators. You would have never known they were suppose to move.

I found that this 08 spent its life in north Canada, and even has a block and battery heater. This could be the source of brakes rusted so bad. They were still original as I had to pull all the clips holding the rotors on. The frame and control arms all look good. Just the cast iron shows signs of rust.

It appears to have been built in Ohio, then imported to Canada, then a repo and auctioned back to the states. It shows no records of ever having an accident and single owner.

I changed all the oils to Amsoil and the axle gears looked good. I also wanted this one because it's a 6 speed manual. It gives me something to do and mostly stay out of trouble. ;-)

Brian

 

Northern Canada! That is defiantly the problem