Hey Guys,

Trying to clean the brake slide pins and paint the calipers since I'm putting the 22's on Saturday.

I removed the top and lower bolt, but still can't slide the caliper off. Am I missing something?

PS. The emergency brake is on and the truck is in park.

Thanks Duke

 

OK, a little search yield someone with the same problem.

Answer from bluejay:

"You have to. the piston is what pushes against the pads to engage them. I use a C-clamp. Or you can use a rod or blust screw driver. If using something sharp, you need to insulate the tip so it won't chip off part of the piston. You also need to open your master cylender before pushing on the piston, as the fluid level will rise as you push on the piston. You push it back till the center is about even with its cylinder and then the calper just slides off."

Is there anyone that can help me with this explanation? Or possibly a picture?

Duke

 

There are 2 bolts, I think 5/8's, make sure you didn't remove the hub bolts instead of the 2 caliper bolts. It's not difficult at all, just strongarm that sucker off. Watch your fingers, I lost a fingernail (gross as hell) when the caliper dropped on my finger, the thing weighs a lot.

Edit: I don't think you can get a c-clamp in there if it's still on the rotor. Definitely remove the Master Cyl cap.

 

I've had this problem as well. I used a small pry bar. Remove both slide bolts. Place the end of the pry bar in the hole/slot in the caliper and pry up, then turn it around and push down, then back n forth until it slides off. From memory the slot should be about two o'clock when looking at the driver's side caliper, 10 o'clock on the passenger. Sorry no pics.

Then use bluejay's method to get the caliper back over the rotor.

 

Did you pump the brakes a few times to see if that would relieve the pressure? It's supposed to help. If that doesn't help, then I would crack the bleeder screw to let off any pressure that way. There shouldn't be any need to pry at the piston just to slide the caliper off.

 

Why remove the calipers to paint them? I painted mine with them on, just need to be careful.....

 

x2 just tape off the stuff you dont want painted with good tape and some news paper and clean the calipers with a wire brush and paint away. ive done this on my mustang, and im getting ready to do it on the transam, and my f150

 

I was removing the the calipers because I also wanted to clean the brake slide pins.

I ended up giving up and just painting the rotors. When I was at the shop this morning I had the guys show me where I need to push back on the master cyclinder to relieve the pressure and get the caliper off.

I'll probably hold of cleaning them for awhile now, or just wait to see if I get a vibration.

For some odd reason my truck has been steering wheel vibration prone and it has been due to dirty brake slide pins. I end up having to clean them once a year. They get full of "gunk" for lack of a better term, and the brake pads don't get release from the rotor correctly because of it. This in turn creates the "shimmy" or vibration in my steering wheel.

Thanks for the help,

Duke

PS. Josiah, those HID pictures are on my list of things to do. Saturday or Sunday should end up being not as busy for me and I'll work on it then.