Rear Caliper Rebuild

[rlux4]

Thanks Craig.
Thanks Matt.
I just put new calipers and pads on the front, and the rears are next, looks like Parts America (Kragen locally) will be the way to go.
Ron

[DMECMAnderson]

Wow, stirred up quite a topic.

I've finished my overhaul. The stuff from matt and mirafiori really helped out a lot!

I found it easier to:

Using a C-Clamp and a thin block of wood, compress the spring at the hand brake lever similar to the way mirafiori did it except clamp across the whole body of the capiler. Once you do this you can easily remove the hand lever and shaft. Then "unscrew" the plunger from the caliper piston using a screwdriver at the hand brake lever end (much easier than trying to use a file to unscrew from the piston end...) Remove the plunger then use a punch bolt down the plunger hole and a C-Clamp to gently remove the piston. Once you have the piston out, you can go nuts cleaning the caliper body, remove all and replace all of the seals. I used a dremel tool (carefully) with a wire brush attachement to clean out the seal seating indents.

Installation is sort of the reverse. Put the piston in FIRST, line up the slots according to the diagrams, then screw in the plunger from the top. Use the C-Clamp to compress the plunger (and springs) then slide lever and shaft back on. Make sure you don't overdo the C-Clamp here. You need to compress the springs JUST enough so that the lever shaft slides back in. If you compress them all the way you will force the plunger to drive the piston out far enough that it will not allow you install the caliper (clearance problem between the plunger and the brake pads).

The sequence here prevents a lot of swearing. Once I figured it out on the first caliper, overhauling the second only took < 1 hr, most of that time was spent cleaning, assembly and dissassembly was probably less than 5 min each.

I did have one problem... When I reattached the flexible hose to the caliper apparently the brass (or copper) bushings that I got from IAP were thinner than the previous ones that were installed. I ended up with a "twist" in the flexible hose that was not there before. Not enough to kink the hose probably the equivalent of a 1/2 turn twist over the length of the hose. Is this a problem waiting to happen? If so how do I remove the twist? The hose is fixed on both ends...

[NickSpider]

Just to give an update on the calipers I bought, what a deal. I just received them in the mail, remember they only cost $100 for both of them. They are the real deal. The calipers have fiat stamped on them and they are exact to the original ones that came off of the car except new. The guy I bought them from included his card, and they import them from italy, half of the directions are in italian. The company is AW Imports out of New Jersey. I guess some people already use them. It appears the calipers are identical to the ones Bruce's and vicks are selling for double the price. Here is a link that shows some more places to get parts. Hope this helps someone out. http://www.mirafiori.com/~thad/links.html

[kristoj]

I got all four of my calipers from Advance Auto (PartsAmerica.com), a year ago. So far, they have performed well.

[TLDO]

Just to give an update on the calipers I bought, what a deal. I just received them in the mail, remember they only cost $100 for both of them. They are the real deal. The calipers have fiat stamped on them and they are exact to the original ones that came off of the car except new. The guy I bought them from included his card, and they import them from italy, half of the directions are in italian. The company is AW Imports out of New Jersey. I guess some people already use them. It appears the calipers are identical to the ones Bruce's and vicks are selling for double the price. Here is a link that shows some more places to get parts. Hope this helps someone out. http://www.mirafiori.com/~thad/links.html

I bought 2 new front calipers off ebay for $100 when I noticed the ones on my car I was rebuilding were different (Hate to say it, but got rebuilds from vick years ago, put em on singularly after sending back cores, and one was sent to me for a 128, never noticed til now, I sent them my original calipers! no wonder my car braked like crap) I couldnt believe I bought 2 new front calipers for $100. I rebuilt me rears, was a challenge, with 2 C clamps to hold caliper and compress parking brake plunger to insert lever and shim, but I was very proud I did it myself, instead of paying too much for poor rebuilds and wrong parts.

[TulsaSpider]

Ok this got me curious since a rebuild for mine is next on my list... I went to the Advanced Autoparts website as reccommended above and I see a dizzying variety of choices within the same brands and they all say the same basic thing FR FL RR RL etc but with a big price diff. Some say "loaded" some say "unloaded" some even say "semi loaded" some say reman and some don't, still in the same brand.... So is there something I am missing or will any of these work or is there something in particular I should look for? (loaded, unloaded etc..)

[So Cal Mark]

fl=front left, fr=front right, rr=right rear, rl=rear left
unloaded=without brake pads, possibly without mounting bracket either
loaded=with pads, mounting bracket and hardware
semi-loaded-without pads, with mounting bracket and hardware

[TulsaSpider]

Ok thanks Mark just checking. It's better to be safe...I have never seen so many choices and prices for the same part on the same vehicle....