Caliper Piston

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eyesonlybob

Senior Member
ok, typical brake and rotor change. thicker pads and thicker rotors means i need to depress the piston in order to fit the caliper over the new pads and rotor

well...i went and bought a 6" c clamp from sears...30 minutes later, i bent the damn thing because i cant get the piston to depress.

i thought it had too much pressure. 30 minutes later, i have the brake lines off, and the caliper off of the car, no fluid or pressure on the piston...still cant get it to depress.

wtf is goin on? any tips? is the piston seized or somethin?

btw, car is a 91 ford taurus.
 
front or rear caliper? some calipers need to be turned while being pushed in (only rear though) if it is the front caliper, then it may be frozen
 
ya, its the rear...is there a tool that locks in with the slots on the piston to help turn it? know where i could get one? too bad everything is closed
 
you can try a large pair of channel locks. put the old pad on the piston (so you dont break it) and use the jaws to try and squeeze it back in. should go right it, if not, its froze. be carful, some pistons are made of plastic and break real easy, though if its froze, it doesnt really matter.

-Chris
 
my bud who works at checker said they have a tool set for it. hes gonna rent it out and bring it to me when he gets off work. so im confident this will solve the problem. thanks
 
ah, if it is the rear, you may have just ruin the caliper by trying to compress it with the C clap. Rear discs use a screw type mecinism to move the piston so that way you can have an E brake. You need a tool that is called a Disc Brake Cube. You attach it to a 3/8 drive ratchet and extension then simply turn it to compress it. Kinda a bitch to use because they do not get the best grip. On hondas you can actually just use needle nose plyer and stick them in the + pattern and spin the sucker. On other vechiles it's harder.

By using the C Clamp, you could have stripped the screw that moves the piston up and down
 
take the cap off of your Master Cylinder if you haven' t already


Edit: sorry didn't read entrie post
 
got everything finished this morning. although, this was my first time bleeding the brakes. i got all the air out, but there is still a lot of petal travel. what am i doing wrong?

i followed the helms manual, but you have to push the petal farther than it did before we changed them.
 
Originally posted by eyesonlybob@Oct 12 2003, 04:37 PM
got everything finished this morning. although, this was my first time bleeding the brakes. i got all the air out, but there is still a lot of petal travel. what am i doing wrong?

i followed the helms manual, but you have to push the petal farther than it did before we changed them.
Click to expand...

re bleed them. Did you fill the resivoior back up when it started to get low?
 
ya, i only had to re-fill once. there wasnt much air in the lines at all.

heres what i did, incase i did something wrong:

started with the passenger side rear. my dad was in the car and pumped the brake until firm. opened bleader valve, until no air came out, just fluid, tightened valve. my dad said whne i did this, the petal when to the floor.

before moving to the next wheel do we need to do something to raise the petal back up? or just re-fill the master cylinder and procede to the next wheel?
 
Did you repeat multipule times on each wheel or did you do it just once?

proper way to bleed brakes. Start at the farthest point away from the Master cylinder, have person pump the brakes and after it is firm, have him apply constant pressure, you crack open the bleedscrew until the stream stops, quickly close again, dont let the pumper let go of the pedal, must stay down. Close, have him repump them then open, close, repeat until the stream is constant with no air coming out (using a clear hose makes this much easier and cleaner) Then go to the next wheel. While bleeding, peroidicly check the resivior level. Never let it go below the minimum line.
 
i only bled it until air didnt come out anymore. i did it once, air came out. i shut the valve, pumped the brakes, and bled it again. this time, a couple bubbles came out, then just fluid. so i closed the valve and thought i was done....it seems as though im doing it right, but i am missing something.
 
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