Yeah, I only have the one C-clamp. I guess now I need to know if I need to pull the trigger on a new caliper. I guess I could start disassembling the other rear brake and try to compress its piston for comparison, and if it compresses as easily as my front brakes, then I can probably assume there's a legit problem with this caliper. Any thoughts on that?
Help, stuck in middle of rear brake job
- Thread starter jnaut
- Start date
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TAwesome
Pizza Pimp
did you decompress it with the brake pedal yet?
Yes I did. Thanks for that tip, but the exact same thing happened.
Pressed brake pedal, piston extended back out. Put c-clamp back on and compressed exactly back to where it was, and piston stopped.
I gave up and had to put all my tools away. Put old hardware back on. I've been out in the rain for hours doing this. Tomorrow I'll take the left side off and see if it behaves the same way. If it behaves the way it should (or at least I expect it should based on my front brake job where the piston compressed fairly easily) I'll probably conclude the caliper or piston is bad. I can get a remfd one at Napa for a decent price so I may go pick one up.
Rain?In Seattle? Your caliper is bad,rust,whatnot,won't allow piston to retract.Just replace caliper,might check other side,save a trip to parts house later. Bleeder screws are available that will let 1 person bleed brakes,very handy.
About to get back to it today. Gonna do left side first. I'll report back to the thread to let everyone know if that one is different. I can't imagine these pistons are supposed to be that hard to compress. I literally bent a large c-clamp out of alignment trying to compress that stupid piston. I was even using a 2" breaker bar on the cclamp handle to turn it down.
ptsb5a
Full Access Member
Really? Who makes 'em and from whom can I purchase said magical devices? Are they application specific or do they come with adaptors to run in a variety of brake calipers/wheel cylinders?
Bet they beat using a vacuum pump.
Update:
Kayyyy... took my largely bent and laughable C-CLAMP from yesterdays attempt, went to the left side brake, compressed the piston and it pushed so easily it almost took the fun out of. Yep, I gots me a bad caliper piston or some such nonsense on that right side.
And you know, this probably explains a 'brake moan' I've been hearing on and off on that right side rear for over a year. I chalked it up to my questionable e-brake drum.
Kayyyy... took my largely bent and laughable C-CLAMP from yesterdays attempt, went to the left side brake, compressed the piston and it pushed so easily it almost took the fun out of. Yep, I gots me a bad caliper piston or some such nonsense on that right side.
And you know, this probably explains a 'brake moan' I've been hearing on and off on that right side rear for over a year. I chalked it up to my questionable e-brake drum.
That is a bad caliper
I would replace the left and right as you can get a slight pull to the wheel or abs kick in on wet or snow covered roads if you use the old on one side and a new on the other also can get uneven front brake pad wear.
On emergancy vehicles this is a big no no.
You can do it but it will make a differnce.
I would replace the left and right as you can get a slight pull to the wheel or abs kick in on wet or snow covered roads if you use the old on one side and a new on the other also can get uneven front brake pad wear.
On emergancy vehicles this is a big no no.
You can do it but it will make a differnce.
TAwesome
Pizza Pimp
Sorry this wound up going the way it did. Good luck on getting her fixed up!
Yeah, I know it's not generally considered de rigueur to swap only one caliper as they should be done in pairs, but my check book is telling me "only one, today, grasshopper".
I figure I'll swap out the other in a few months.
What precipitated this whole thing was that my right side outer pad wore down to metal. I hit the brakes yesterday and it sounded like the Blue Angels were flying over. My left side pads had a fair amount of wear left, so that should have told me right there something was wrong.
The other rotor was in good shape so I deglazed it. But the worn (right) side I replaced the rotor. I want to replace the rotor on the left side but I was just trying to mitigate the metal on metal on the right side, with plans to get new rotors on both sides later.
TWAwesome said:
Yeah, me too. However, I learned a new golden rule on this job:
1. If you find you're having to use a breaker bar on your C-Clamp to compress the cylinder, you've got a bad caliper; don't waste time trying clever tricks to compress it.
Funny, I got the left side brakes done in something like 40 minutes.
And just for giggles, I thought I'd post a picture of the little friend that came by to see what all the commotion was when I was struggling with that bad caliper, last night. Little guy was about 4" long.
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Anyhoo. It's all done. New caliper on, brakes bled, and she stops. Plus the slight 'rightward pull' my vehicle has had over the last year is now gone. So many problems fixed by replacing the caliper.
Thanks for all the tips everyone gave me. Much appreciated.
Of course, this whole job reminds me of my Amateur Time Schedule for car repair.
The ones I have were Dorman brand,got them from the Help! section of autozone. It says Speed Bleeder,one person brake bleeder(built-in check valve),right at $10 for two.Worked like a charm,easiest I ever bled brakes.
valvestem
Full Access Member
Info A Little Late
I was thinking of your problem. If the pads are worn down enough, and the pistons are out a ways in their bores, sometimes water will collect in the low spot(s) and cause rust to develop on the inner wall of the bore below where the piston is. When the pads are removed for changing, and the pistons are trying to be pushed back in the bore this rust area will stop them cold from seating in far enough to insert the new pads. When you can get at the old caliper, pull it apart and look inside the bore. This was more of an issue back in the days of the DOT 3 brake fluid, that would literally suck the water/humidity from the air, because it's heavier than the brake fluid it seeks the lowest spots in the system.
I was thinking of your problem. If the pads are worn down enough, and the pistons are out a ways in their bores, sometimes water will collect in the low spot(s) and cause rust to develop on the inner wall of the bore below where the piston is. When the pads are removed for changing, and the pistons are trying to be pushed back in the bore this rust area will stop them cold from seating in far enough to insert the new pads. When you can get at the old caliper, pull it apart and look inside the bore. This was more of an issue back in the days of the DOT 3 brake fluid, that would literally suck the water/humidity from the air, because it's heavier than the brake fluid it seeks the lowest spots in the system.
Intereseting. The KJ wants DOT 3 brake fluid.
