Is you truck 4WD?

 

yes, 2004 chevy silverado z71

 

Just a suggestion....Check the torque on the axle nut and the 3 wheel bearing bolts. This should make sure that your wheel hub is sitting where it should be as long as nothing is damaged. Another thing is to make sure there is no corrosion on the hub or rear of rotor (if not new).

 

I was going to suggest the same. If the hub isn't sitting correct here the rotor will be off.

 

I took it apart today and I am pretty sure that the caliper is straight, its just off maybe 1mm to close to the hub so the outside brake pad is contacting when its fully extended. I mounted just the rotor with 3 lug nuts tightend somewhat and looked closely at the mount on the spindle and the pads contact.

If it was crooked like I first thought then the pad contact on the rotor would not be full since its at an angle. The pads were flush so I know this wasnt right. I noticed if I loosened the bolts holding the caliper bracket to the spindle just barely, maybe a quarter turn, then I could get the rotor to rotate like It should. I put a light under the caliper and looked down and noticed there was a tiny, tiny gap, <1mm between the rotor and the pad.

So basically, I need to move the caliper out maybe 1mm to fix the problem. I am afraid to use aluminum washers since I think they might get too soft when I use the rotor and eventually loosen up, which would be bad.

Any ideas?

 

So you are saying that your caliper is not sitting like this in the picture now....Correct?
They are steel shims that cam with my SSBC Force-10 brake kit. I don't think you are going to have a problem with aluminum though.
I would first make sure there is no corrosion build up on your wheel hub face (around the lug nuts) and the back of the rotor. Make sure they are clean mating surfaces. I would use a wire brush on it.

 

And...If you ever had your front wheel bearing off like in K's picture, that front and inner surface on the spindle should have been cleaned before re-installing the bearing (along with the bearing itself if not new).

 

Heres a picture to correpsond with my post above.

 

My above posts apply then. Shims would work, but I don't know why you would need them with the OEM parts. I would think there is something causing your brakes to be misaliged. I would check for corrosion build-up like I mentioned above as long as everything else appears to be undamaged.

 

I have a superlift knuckle lift, so its possible there was a slight machining error when the spindles were cast. The problem is so minor, thats probably what it is. Could you be more specific by "shim"? or do you mean that as a verb and just use a washer or something?