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Old Apr 6, 2007 | 10:33 AM
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Default Calipers

On a scale of 1 to 10 , how hard is it to rebuild calipers ypurself?
Thanks.......................LT
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Old Apr 6, 2007 | 10:35 AM
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how much have you done to your car so far or how much mechanical work on any car?

The scale will be different depending on your experience.

Its about a 2 or 3 for me.
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Old Apr 6, 2007 | 10:58 AM
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In most cases the calipers need to be resleeved, which requires the necessary equipment. I rebuilt my calipers by trying to sand the bores (a groove developes in the bore) and install a rebuild kit. This lasted about a year and now they are leaking again. I plan on replacing the calipers with resleeved units.
Bill
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Old Apr 6, 2007 | 10:58 AM
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About a 3. Bleeding them is kind of a PITA though.
Directions:
1) Buy VB&P O ring kit.
2) Buy new brake lines
3) remove wheel
4) remove rubber brake line from hard line (use GOOD line wrenches!!!!)
5) Bring the calipers and rebuild kit to the next tech day.
Gary
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Old Apr 6, 2007 | 01:23 PM
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With the price of a rebuild kit, versus buying new 0-ring style calipers, I would save myself the frustration and get the new caliper kit.
Plus it makes the work a whole lot easier, and faster.

Now if you do the work yourself, it is probably a 3 ( 1=easy/10=hard) scale. I had a leaking rear caliper last month and rebuilt it in about 1 hour.

kdf
Caliper taken apart


dust boot , piston and springs
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Old Apr 6, 2007 | 01:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Garys 68
About a 3. Bleeding them is kind of a PITA though.
Directions:
1) Buy VB&P O ring kit.
2) Buy new brake lines
3) remove wheel
4) remove rubber brake line from hard line (use GOOD line wrenches!!!!)
5) Bring the calipers and rebuild kit to the next tech day.
Gary
Gary
Sounds like a great idea, but will probably wait till the end of the season so as not to have it down to long.
Larry.Gatorshark
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Old Apr 6, 2007 | 01:34 PM
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One point that was brought up.
You need to see if your current calipers are stainless steel sleeved. They're not worth rebuilding if they're not. I think all replacement calipers (ie from Advanced, etc) are sleeved. And with the frequency of brake problems on vettes, there's a pretty good chance yours have been replaced with sleeved ones.
So pull a caliper or 2, take them apart and check for the S/S sleeves before ordering parts.
Gary
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Old Apr 6, 2007 | 01:57 PM
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Originally Posted by Garys 68
One point that was brought up.
You need to see if your current calipers are stainless steel sleeved. They're not worth rebuilding if they're not. I think all replacement calipers (ie from Advanced, etc) are sleeved. And with the frequency of brake problems on vettes, there's a pretty good chance yours have been replaced with sleeved ones.
So pull a caliper or 2, take them apart and check for the S/S sleeves before ordering parts.
Gary

No SS these are all original, 29,000 miles.....LT
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Old Apr 6, 2007 | 02:39 PM
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make sure you loosen the bolts that hold the two halves together while the caliper is mounted on the car.....trying to do this on a bench is really difficult
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Old Apr 7, 2007 | 08:49 PM
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Today I checked with autozone and they both rear calipers with/pads/pins etc with a lifetime warranty for $175.00.
Is this a good deal? Seems reasonable especially w/a lifetime warranty. ??
http://www.autozone.com/N,14400768//...eResultSet.htm
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Old Apr 7, 2007 | 10:34 PM
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Originally Posted by turtlevette
how much have you done to your car so far or how much mechanical work on any car?

The scale will be different depending on your experience.

Its about a 2 or 3 for me.

Rebuilt one last summer. It was easy.
However, it turned out to be a waste of time as it was still leaking this spring.
I ended up getting a new caliper anyway.

Inspect the sealing surfaces on caliper and piston.
Don't bother trying to rebuild if they are corroded,
I would have been way ahead buying a 4 pack from VP&B instead of changing them on at a time.
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Old Apr 7, 2007 | 11:04 PM
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Originally Posted by GlockGuy
Today I checked with autozone and they both rear calipers with/pads/pins etc with a lifetime warranty for $175.00.
Is this a good deal? Seems reasonable especially w/a lifetime warranty. ??
http://www.autozone.com/N,14400768//...eResultSet.htm
napa has the correct delco morraine castings for $100 each. They have premium ones for a little more, but I think the only difference is the pads they come with.
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Old Apr 7, 2007 | 11:13 PM
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Originally Posted by bobs77vet
.....trying to do this on a bench is really difficult

your kidding right?? ...obviously you don`t have a bench vise...
...redvetracr

Last edited by redvetracr; Apr 7, 2007 at 11:24 PM.
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Old Apr 7, 2007 | 11:55 PM
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Originally Posted by ltinnell
No SS these are all original, 29,000 miles.....LT
Then don't even try rebuilding them. If you're like me and prefer to keep your original low mile calipers send them to Muskegon Brakes to be sleeved and rebuilt. $80 per. Had 2 sets done, one set had 12K miles and the other set had 25 miles(not a typo!). About a month turnaround.
Mike
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Old Apr 8, 2007 | 12:43 AM
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Originally Posted by KapsSA
Then don't even try rebuilding them. If you're like me and prefer to keep your original low mile calipers send them to Muskegon Brakes to be sleeved and rebuilt. $80 per. Had 2 sets done, one set had 12K miles and the other set had 25 miles(not a typo!). About a month turnaround.
Mike
I had my first brake leak in the summer of '82 and it was from the bore, not the seal............
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Old Apr 8, 2007 | 08:49 AM
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From: Arlington Va Current ride 04 vert, previous vettes: 69 vert, 77 resto mod
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Originally Posted by redvetracr
your kidding right?? ...obviously you don`t have a bench vise...
...redvetracr


no i'm not kidding and yes i have bench vise......the leverage you get while they are on a 3800 lb car is better the having them clamped in a vise. i actually took them out of the vise and put them back on the car because we were just having to apply too much force and i didn't want any one getting hurt
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Old Apr 8, 2007 | 08:59 AM
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Originally Posted by bobs77vet
no i'm not kidding and yes i have bench vise......the leverage you get while they are on a 3800 lb car is better the having them clamped in a vise. i actually took them out of the vise and put them back on the car because we were just having to apply too much force and i didn't want any one getting hurt

what leverage?.. the "leverage" is in the breaker bar and your arm.
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Old Apr 8, 2007 | 09:19 AM
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I just did a pair last week, didn't even need a vice..all I needed was my trusty impact wrench while holding the caliper in hand.
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Old Apr 8, 2007 | 10:53 AM
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Old Apr 8, 2007 | 12:08 PM
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we had ours in the vise we did not use an impact wrench and had a 6' 3" 225 lb guy using a long breaker bar giving everything he had on it.....at the point where we had other guys holding the table down we called it quits and mounted it back on the car.....but perhaps we had a the most difficult one ever made. if you have a way that works for you i say go for it....
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