When do the brake pads need to be replaced on a 2013 Ford F450 Bucket Truck?

When do the brake pads need to be replaced on a 2013 Ford F450 Bucket Truck? - 1

When they wear out.

When one of them approaches 2mm in thickness. 1mm is the minimum but 2mm is safer.

Inspect them and when they are worn down replace them. They should last at least 40,000 miles.

When they wear out…

How long that takes depends on how the truck is driven. Cruising along the level highway doesn't really wear the brakes AT ALL, so a truck could do a huge mileage before they wear out. Or you could be an aggressive driver, drive a lot in city traffic, or on hilly roads, and the brakes could be worn out in a year.

Basically you need to inspect the brakes periodically, and see how worn they are.

Just before they reach minimum thickness. How soon that is varies immensely depending upon whether you drive in a city or out on open roads, your driving style, and the loads you carry.

Beat in mind that the discs (rotors) are also consumable items. Typically front discs need changing with every alternate pad change and rear rotors (if fitted) typically need changing with every third or fourth pad change. If the discs have deep scores on them then they'll need to be refaced on a lathe or replaced regardless.

Most brake pad life would depend on how you drive as mostly highway usage hardly would wear out the pads as a lot of city driving or drive in moutainous areas can quickly wear out the pads. Many brake pads are built with a wear indicator as when the pads are worn almost to the bonding material they create a nails on a chalkboard sound to let you know its time for a brake job as all you would be doing is a pad change. If you ignore the sounds you could be looking at replacing the rotors as well. Every 60k miles you would need to pull the wheels off to inspect the brakes as its an opportunity to do a tire rotation.

When they are worn down to about 2mm