Rear caliper question....

A

AndyT

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Hey guys. So today after work, I did front and rear pads and rotors on the car. All went well until I got to the RR. Caliper is seized and pins are seized into the bracket. Whatever, threw the new rotor on with the old pads for a few days. I found that Napa has semi loaded calipers, and the price is reasonable, plus whatever I get off through work. We use these Napa calipers on customer vehicles all the time with no issues, so I should be good. Anything I should keep in mind when replacing the rear calipers on this car? The e-brake cable looks easy enough to pop out of the old caliper, just push down on the spring and wiggle it out? What about bleeding these cars? Can just be bled, no energizing the ABS or anything weird like that?
 
Pinch the rear line with brake line vise grips, take line off caliper and put onto new caliper, put back together then crack bleeder and take vise grip off the rubber brake line and let it gravity bleed. If done correctly you won't need anyone to help you.
 
BAD97LSC said:
Pinch the rear line with brake line vise grips, take line off caliper and put onto new caliper, put back together then crack bleeder and take vise grip off the rubber brake line and let it gravity bleed. If done correctly you won't need anyone to help you.
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+1 We've done this at the shop.
 
Gravity bleeding works best when you remove the cap from the Master :)

I don't even use line-crimps when swapping calipers, just place a drip pan under it and hurry up, takes about 4-5 minutes for the master to drip dry, should only take you 30-45 seconds to remove 1 banjo bolt, toss caliper aside, remove copper gasket from bolt, remove bolt from line, remove other copper gasket, install new copper gasket on bolt, put bolt back in the line, install second copper gasket, stick bolt in caliper-tighten

Make sure you don't twist the hose during install :)

Removing seized guide pins from the anchor bracket is easily done with some PB Blaster and heat, let it sit for a while with PB on it, then place it in a vise and use vise-grip pliers. Just heat the outside of the jacket of the guide pin while trying to turn the pin with vise-grips. Once you've got the pins out, spray WD-40 in the holes and use a wire bore brush on a drill to clean them out, lube new guide pins that are supplied with a loaded caliper with Brake Parts Lubricant

When you say that the caliper is seized... Is this because you tried to squeeze it back into the bore with a c-clamp or channel locks like you can the fronts...or did you use one of these?...
381819dc.jpg
 
yeah andy on the rear calipers when you go to push the piston back in you have to push and twist at the same time. the caliper piston is like a giant screw, it wont go back in unless twisted and pushed on, unlike the fronts that just squeeze back in.
 
4b7d2c60.jpg

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Neat how that works huh

And for those who don't know,
Note how the piston was pressing against this old pad
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Make sure that the piston is clocked to fit the groove around that bump on the pad, or the pad will sit crooked and wear improperly
60eeb78b.jpg
 
Interesting. Every Ford vehicle I've had with rear disc brakes had the twist/screw rear caliper pistons. I got one of those little cube-shaped tools that goes on the end of your 1/2" drive ratchet to screw them in with. It works okay. I'll be dusting it off soon to do the rear pads on the '97.
 
That's because you get ford vehicles with rear disk actuated parking brake calipers, if you get a 98 or newer Explorer with rear disks, it won't have those, it'll have little shoes inside the rotor, and boy are they fun to change- needle nose vise grips are your friend

The little cube is ok for once or twice, I think Bill has mine somewhere, i got tired of busting my knuckles. It's a 3/8 drive btw
 
Sapperfire said:
That's because you get ford vehicles with rear disk actuated parking brake calipers, if you get a 98 or newer Explorer with rear disks, it won't have those, it'll have little shoes inside the rotor, and boy are they fun to change- needle nose vise grips are your friend
Click to expand...

Yep. My mom's 2000 Mountaineer has the rear discs with the shoes inside the hat. Haven't had the pleasure of changing them out yet:D

Sapperfire said:
The little cube is ok for once or twice, I think Bill has mine somewhere, i got tired of busting my knuckles. It's a 3/8 drive btw
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I've had mine for about 17 years. Still works fine. First car I used it on was my '88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe. And I stand corrected, it is a 3/8". Haven't used it in a loooooong time:)
 
The cube is a nice tool for someone who doesn't use it only a daily basis, and it's cheap.
 
I just got one of those rear screw in caliper sets from Mac, pretty nice set, and yes I realized it has to screw back in. Some GM stuff is like that as well. How much of a PITA is it to remove/reinstall that e-brake cable?
 
bringing this back up to the top.... question, all of the fords i have ever owned, the rears just push in like the fronts. I was wondering, after pushing/screwing the rears in on the lincoln and installing new pads, is there anything different that needs to be done or do you just pump the brake pedal a few times?
 
i open the bleeder screw when screwing the piston back in and then bleed the brakes.

but that's it.
 
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