The Ranger is the smallest truck made by the Ford Motor Co., and as such, you can more easily perform routine maintenance and repairs on them than on the larger trucks in Ford’s fleet. Performing a brake job on a Ford Ranger can be accomplished in half a day if you have the right equipment and replacement parts. The Ranger is equipped with disc brakes in the front and drum brakes in the rear, so it is best to work on one axle at a time.
Set the parking brake and chock the rear wheels. Working under a vehicle can be dangerous, so make sure the Ranger stays put for the entire procedure.
Put on a pair of safety glasses, and use a lug wrench to loosen the lug nuts on the front wheels. Do not take the lug nuts completely off; loosen them just enough so that you can remove them by hand once the tires are off the ground.
Place the jack under the right front frame and lift the Ranger carefully. Once it is high enough, place a jack stand under the frame next to the jack and slowly let the Ranger down until it rests on the stand. Repeat this on the other side.
Remove the lug nuts and wheels by hand. You should now have easy access to the brake rotor and caliper.
Remove the caliper bolts that hold the caliper to the spindle, using a socket wrench. Pull the caliper away from the rotor by hand. In some cases, the rotor will slip off the spindle. In others, you must remove the wheel bearing assemblies. If you remove wheel bearings, set them someplace safe for reassembly. Slide the old pads out of the caliper.
Install the new rotor and pads in the reverse of how you took them off, then reinstall the brake caliper. Clean the caliper slides, then lubricate them with white lithium grease. Tighten the caliper bolts securely with the socket wrench.
Reinstall the wheel, and repeat Steps 1 through 6 on the opposite side of the Ranger.
Remove the jack stands, and put the truck back on the ground by lowering the jack. Tighten the front lug nuts. Chock the front wheels so the vehicle cannot roll.
Loosen the rear lug nuts with the lug wrench, and use the jack and stands to safely raise the rear of the truck in the same manner in which you raised the front.
Remove the rear brake drum by hand to access the shoes. Remove and replace the shoes and hardware, using white lithium grease to lubricate the contact points of the hardware.
Install the new drums, then replace the wheels and set the truck back on the ground.
Tighten the rear lug nuts, and remove the chocks from the front wheels.
