saltysteve

anyone ever rebuild a caliper?
do i need any special tools?
is it just worth it to buy a new one?
thanks for any info

onthetl

well i put about 7 hours on my old cars calipers, then just said screw it and bought new ones. but i have very limited patience

01tl4tl

which caliper?
its simple to replace the piston seal and outer dust cover, thats all thats in the 20$ kit.
rebuilt units at parts stores for basic calipers are $75-100 each
brembos would be way more than that and require a more skilled tech to assemble everything on a rebuild
If you have a leak or severe corrosion of the internals and damage to the piston,,say from never changing the fluid,,its better to replace

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

I've rebuilt many 4 piston and single piston calipers. Actually pretty easy, and inexpensive, using an air compressor to push out the pistons. If 4 piston, I use a block of wood down the center to keep the pistons from coming all the way out. Just clean up the bore(s)/pistons with crocus cloth and reassemble after a thorough cleaning.
It the bores/pistons are too badly pitted, time to replace the units. You can buy new pistons for certain units, but that is certainly not worth the wait, at least not for me.

Caliper repair kits are inexpensive, but time consuming to do the rebuild. Rebuilt calipers are fairly inexpensive and easy to replace. Just like CV boots. I replaced just the CV boots on the daughter's Maxima, $25, but took some time, but as the rebuilt axles would have been around $150, she has some extra money in her pocket. Actually she has a lot of money remaining in her pocket as I was never "paid" for the parts.

saltysteve

its the rear brake.

the problem is i dont see a leak but i have already bled the brake (but just theat one ) and it is still not retracting like it should.
so instead it will ride the pads along the rotor sometimes worse than others. sometimes my brake and whole wheel get HOT!
it also causes a vibration sometimes -
i thought that maybe the rebuild kit would help but maybe its not that since i have yet to see a leak but why does it not retract like it should???

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

If the piston pushes in easily it's not the caliper. Check for binding slider. Check the pins and boots for contamination.

01tl4tl

yep- make sure the slider plates on the bracket- where the tabs on the end of the pads fit against- those have to be clean and greased with caliper grease
Washing the wheels makes that grease disappear eventually

The pins the caliper bolts ride on have to be greased
The bolt have to be the correct torque as well

Try flushing the entire fluid system - see DIY section, order is driver front,=LF RF RR LR
and only that order
dont try doing a rear by itself- you wont accomplish what it really needs
monitor the fluid condition coming out the bleeder- use clear hose into soda bottle

If things are getting really hot it needs a replacement caliper- that one will be too damaged

01tl4tl

turbo- keep an eye and ear on her cv's
fyi all:
When the cv boot breaks the grease gets out, and road dirt gets in- scoring the bearing surfaces and holding on to all the dirt- which attract more dirt,,same idea as brake dust

If you caught it in time (a day) and packed some new grease in - its a band aid fix but will hold a while
I never got one early enough to matter- after dealing with those wrap around and glue together boots back in the day, and a month later...failure of bearing
Wasnt even worth doing on our own cars~ but thats my opine

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Thanks. You are correct in that if the job isn't done properly the joints will be destroyed as it's just trapping the grit and grime inside. The CV joints are pretty durable and can withstand some abuse. Both joints were filled with grease when I removed them from the axle and washed them out, they looked great. Hopefully they will be fine. At least know I've cleaned and placed anti-seize on the bearing hanger on the p/s. It was tough as I needed heat to get the bearing out of the hanger.

94eg!

For the rear brakes, there is an old drum style assembly for the parking brake located behind/inside the rear rotors. Check to make sure the parking brake is adjusted properly. If it's dragging, it will heat the rear brake assembly and wheel. This seems more likely the problem...



If the parking brake checks out, then it's time to check the rear caliper slide pins (#12 & 14 in pic below). If these dry up (the grease that is), they will freeze in whatever position they are in. This may be dragging on the rotor or not touching at all. Either way it's bad. It basically leaves all the braking to the inside pad only. Typically they don't freeze with the outer pad pressed against the rotor, but anything is possible...

saltysteve

no its not the drums since the pads i put on are brand new and already worn down on the caliper.
i will try lubing and a complete proper bleed- ty

01tl4tl

on rear brake pads for the TL- many makers like hawk-rb and others used the same backing plate which had an extra raised button in the center top edge of the inner pad.
There should be a tab for the squeller tab attachment- and one at the opposite end- nothing in between along the top -only 2 tabs. If you see 3- guess what

That tab actually interferes with the brake operation on a TL!!-
they are really rsx backing plates which require that tab

We cant have it because it the tab hits the piston edge, cocking the pad and making about 50% of it not reach the rotor, plus the angle of what does is ineffective

Will cause a vibration you cant find and very odd wear on inner side of rotor- half will be surface rusted and half shiny
Its making the outer pad work harder too, so everything gets hot

Anyone who has replaced the rear pads should check for this- the rotor will tell you right away- look inside the rear wheel

To fix- use a grinder to zap it off flush- not any higher than the rest of the surface as it contacts right on the piston edge- grinding it slightly lower is ok