Rear brake calipers

[vdesigner99]

I just spent the weekend installing new the rear KYB 4 EXCEL-G Shocks. Not terrible complicated. Actually during this weekend Ive done only the driver side, the passenger side is next. I removed all parts and cleaned-up and painted with epoxy paint. My biggest headache was compressing the caliper piston, what a bear. I had to rent a tool from Auto zone as mine did not help. It must have been many pounds of torque as I banged up my knuckles a couple of times.Anybody have a trick to this? Since the piston is fairly small in diameter my tool did not work. I also rented shock spring compression tool. I can keep for 90days before they are officially mine. (no refund).
I was tempted to replace the rear axial bearing but I dare not do this myself, any body do this before. Does it need special tools?
I replaced the rotors with OEM from Oreiley, they were 20 bucks compared to 17 from Autocambi however no shipping.
I was surprised that I could get calipers from them for 70 bucks.
I expect the passenger side will go smoothly. Its been about 25 years since Ive done this on my old 77



Cheers from red knuckles!
Victor

[So Cal Mark]

the caliper piston doesn't push in, it must be screwed in. If you've been banging on it with a bfh you've probably damaged the caliper piston

[vdesigner99]

Thanks, yes I knew that, no banging, mainly very tough turning. What a bear.
Ive done my Toyota and Volkswagen calipers and they compress and or screwed in nicely, This was a major pain. Ive owned the car for 3 years with very light driving and don't know when last time it was done, for at 84.
Does the brake fluid bleed nipple have to be open when turning to compress?
I had it open but wast sure if it was necessary.

Victor

[80spiddy]

No bleeder need not be open. Just like regular brakes, it goes into reservoir. Make sure you have room for it!

[So Cal Mark]

if the rear end is hanging, the compensator will be closed and that won't allow fluid to be pushed back into the reservoir. Open the bleeder and put a hose on it so the fluid goes into a pan

[vandor]

> I replaced the rotors with OEM from Oreiley, they were 20 bucks

When I bought rotors from Oreilly's ~13 years ago they were machined wrong on the inside and would not seat on the axle correctly.
There was about 1mm gap between the rotor and the face of the axle. If I had not noticed then torquing the lug bolts may have distorted or broken the rotor? Maybe not right away, but a catastrophic failure down the road? No thanks, I took those rotors back.

[DieselSpider]

We have all received defective parts from a vendor who most often will gladly exchange them. Thankfully those incidents are not too bad when dealing with a local vendor where you don't have to deal with return shipping and you can get an over the counter exchange. Locally the APW vendor has the rotors for the 124 for $16 which are machined brake ready. The set I received were machine nicely and fit perfectly however even if they were defective the local APW vendor will rush in replacements and may even deliver them to make up for the inconvenience.

Yes support the forums sponsors but give your local folks some business supporting your own community also.

[spider2081]

My biggest headache was compressing the caliper piston, what a bear. I had to rent a tool from Auto zone as mine did not help. It must have been many pounds of torque as I banged up my knuckles a couple of times.Anybody have a trick to this?

With the rear end on jsck stands:
I believe if the pistons won't move in by pressing and rotating there is a problem. It could be the brake hoses are defective. Also either the seal or build up of corrosion behind the seal preventing the piston from rotating. I would either repair the calipers or replace them. If the condition of the brake hoses isn't known I wold replace them.
Pistons that are hard to push in most likely will cause the shoes to drag after the brakes have been applied.

[DieselSpider]

If you put new calipers in then be sure to spring the extra $20 for the rubber hoses. They can come apart internally and act like one way valves making brake work quite difficult and do a number on your new calipers and rotors.

[chrisg]

sounds like everyone is doing their best to give you plenty of scope creep. Listen too long & you'll be rebuilding the engine!

brakes is a section that even Haynes describes clearly in a digestible way. Good luck with it. You should not need a spring compressor for the rear springs (or did i read that wrong?). Rear calipers can be a serious pain in the neck...at least the ones that don't "age" well.

really cleaning the axle end and possibly even rubbing in a very light coating of anti-seize could be helpful additions as long as you're still open to new tasks for what you initially thought was a short list!

[vandor]

We have all received defective parts from a vendor who most often will gladly exchange them. Thankfully those incidents are not too bad when dealing with a local vendor where you don't have to deal with return shipping and you can get an over the counter exchange

My experience with chain stores is that even tho one clearly tells them that the item is defective, they just do a return and it goes back in the system. Several times I got the same part back when I went in a week later!

[DieselSpider]

We have all received defective parts from a vendor who most often will gladly exchange them. Thankfully those incidents are not too bad when dealing with a local vendor where you don't have to deal with return shipping and you can get an over the counter exchange

My experience with chain stores is that even tho one clearly tells them that the item is defective, they just do a return and it goes back in the system. Several times I got the same part back when I went in a week later!

Your dealing with a store with problems. Every time I have returned a part they have red tagged it as defective and put in in the dunnage bin. Still if the store is not managed well and left to children to run it is possible to have a few bad experiences. Thankfully those are the exception and not the rule and still easier to deal with in person at the counter.