Last Friday night on the way home I started hearing a knocking noise that got worse as I went along and also involved a scraping noise when I applied the brakes. Fortunately I made it home thinking a wheel was about to fall off. After I took the driver's side wheel off, I saw that the problem was a loose brake caliper. What happened was that the brake pads jumped over the retaining pin, so the caliper and pads came right off in my hand when I pulled on it. I looked at the other side (haven't had to replace the pads on it yet) and saw how it was supposed to look and got it back together okay.

Now for the questions: Do they still make these pins and where is a good place to get them? My pin looked worn in the two spots where the pads rest on them as well as seeming like it was smaller in diameter along the length where the pads would ride on it compared to the ends. Should there be grease on this pin for the pads to slide back and forth on? Should there be grease at the top where the pad "ears" fit into the corresponding indentation in the caliper mounting frame? It wasn't looking like I was going to be able to get the pin in while holding everything in place and trying to push forward on the calipers, so I used a bar clamp to press the caliper and pad onto the disc while I pounded the pin in with a hammer. Is this normal during reassembly? It looked like there is a spring in kind of a U shape that pushes out on the pad to keep it against the pin. On the passenger's side, there was some slack in this spring. Once I got the pin in on the driver's side, the spring was completely compressed. Just wondering if this is normal. '91 convertible.

Thanks for your help!

 

Yes, those pins are normal wear items. The pin, as well as the circlip holding it in place, should be replaced with every brake pad change. Available from GM, maybe even Advance Auto & such.

As for me, I didn't replace mine when I did the pads, but I did lube them up well with the brake parts lube. No problems yet! *cross fingers*