Caliper Questions??
 

Hello,

A couple of days ago, I decided to get my parking brake working...while I had all the brake stuff off I thought, well I might as well replace the well worn rotors and brake pads while I'm here. Drivers side is all together; I had finished the parking brake and the rotor and everything was almost ready to go on the passenger side; but when I went to push one of the pistons in to put on the new brake pads the seal went squirt:willy: so now what to do...I am comfortable with most projects but I am definitely a little squemish about rebuilding my own calipers.

I did some research on the forum and it seems people have pretty good luck with the Autozone Calipers rebuilt by Fenco

1. Does anyone know for certain if these are stainless steel sleeved and O-ring style?

2. I remember seeing somewhere that these should be replaced in pairs, is this true?

3. Would it be worthwhile to have someone rebuild my calipers and does anyone have a good suggestion for this service?

My problem with ordering from someone like Van steel is they require the core charge and by the time I pay to ship the new calipers and then ship in mine, I am probably better off to just buy new Delco's from Willcox for 145 a pop and no core charge...so many choices:ack:

Thanks for any suggestions in advance, sorry for the long post,
Jeremy

If you have a hone and experience with working it,
a kit is available to rebuild them.

Yes, you need to fix/replace it.

I did mine and have no issues for years.

You can send yours in to a re builder or swap them.

First take them apart and see how bad they are pitted?

Have not had to think about it for years so no current info about where/who can swap them.

If your calipers are lip seal type and you push the piston in it is possible to get the "squirt" you mentioned. The lip seal may have folded a little or passed a pitted area in the bore that is normally far behind where the piston and seal normally float letting some fluid pass. Lip seal pistons are suspended by a very thin seal and if you push on the piston with an unequal force, the opposite side may squirt like you described too. After you put everything back together clean everything with some brake cleaner and step on the brake pedal a few times to re-seat the piston and seal and look to see if it still leaks. If it does then replace or rebuild. If it appears ok then just check it for the next few days to be sure it stays ok.

If the calipers are already stainless steel sleeved and the bores still look good then they can be rebuilt with either the original lip seal type pistons and seals or the newer design O Ring - your choice.

If the caliper is SS sleeved you only need to rebuild the one. Personally I wouldn't bother trying to rebuild a non stainless steel forty year old original caliper, I'd replace them all (or at least the pair) with SS sleeved calipers and be good for another twenty plus years.

Unfortunately, the "squirt" was actually fluid spraying out of a visible crack I can see in the rubber boot around the piston, so I am going to have to do something. I haven't completely thrown out the idea of rebuilding them myself, but, at this point I have no idea whether or not any of them have been sleeved. These are the calipers that were on the car when I got it, which I would guess have been replaced or rebuilt at sometime, but I don't know for sure. They have all worked good without any leaks up until now.

Is it easy to tell if they have been sleeved when you open them up??

Thanks for the replies :cheers:,
Jeremy

Yes, you can see the SS insert that was pressed in to the caliper. The bore should be very smooth and shiny and the SS insert may not go all the way back flush to the back of the caliper bore.

Maybe someone on the forum has a close up picture of a SS sleeved caliper half that they could post to help you identify if yours are SS sleeved.

Brake Questions!
 

#1 The calipers that Auto-Zone sells are stainless steel sleeved but they use lip seals not "O" rings. You can get the tech line 1800 # from your local store to confirm that.
#2 you can safely change only one caliper but but you must change pads on both sides. Your trying to make your 40 year old Vette safe so change both calipers now and be done with it for years to come. While your at it you should change the rubber lines also since they are beyond there serviceable life.
Auto-Zone has a lifetime warranty, no shipping charge and you get your core deposit back now, not 120 days later like some of the mail order houses. In 8 years only one of there calipers leaked and the gave me free pads with the replacement caliper. PG.

Thanks for the info on the azone calipers, they seem like a good deal, I think the core charge is only about 30 dollars, so I am considering just keeping my originals to rebuild if needed in the future...I have already started adding up my grocery list that will include front and rear rubber lines and I am considering going ahead and changing at least the rear hard lines from the dist. block back, since i'll probably ruin them when I try to get them out of the rubber lines, the snowball continues to roll...:lol:

Hey Ronaldo, get some wood between the caliper halve and vice!!! If you by accident over stress the cast iron caliper it will crack.

You can only determine ss if you remove one of the dust seals.
You can only determine o-ring by removing a piston

http://classiccorvetteparts.vstore.ca/ Mike/tracdogg2 has some good prices and quality o-ring pistons.

Thanks for the pics and replies, everyone is always great on here, now I just need to make a decision so I can get back on the road:cheers: Jeremy

If you can fix the parking brake then you can rebuild a caliper. It's not difficult. :cheers:

Rebuilding the calipers is no biggy I just finished mine in a weekend.

Here is the procedure

Take your old one to Auto Zone and get a rebuilt one from them. They have stainless inserts in all of them. All mine are from AZ and been in the car four years without any problems.:thumbs: