Hazard15301

iTrader: (5)

Hello everyone. I decided my rear brakes on my 88 were long overdue for a change. I was tired of hearing the squeal everytime i stopped. So I pulled the wheel (all of this is according to the Hayne's manual, keep that in mind) unbolted the top of the caliper and pulled it upwards. I removed the old pads. Now, the manual then calls for you to rotate the piston to get it back into the cylinder to make room for the new brake pads. Simple? WRONG! The piston will NOT rotate more than a 1/4 inch, no matter how much pressure I put on it. Also tried your standard C-clamp to compress it, no luck. Is there a special tool I need, or some technique I havent used? Thanks!

And also by the way, i removed the brake reservoir cap, and also detached the brake line to the caliper, and cracked the bleeder too, but nothing worked. Thanks in advance for any help!

anewconvert

iTrader: (1)

someone else recently had the same problem. had to rebuild the caliper to get the thing to retract. Turned out there was a lot of sludge build up in th piston.


BC

Dcrasta

Umm... Most Japanese rear disc breaks need the piston rotated to retract. You need a tool and it has to rotate clockwise using a caliper tool. I would suggest soaking it in down in PB blaster. The tool can be found at your local Napa. (Import Brake caliper tool).

toplessFC3Sman

iTrader: (1)

i've rotated it with a pair of needle-nose pliers (and a lot of force, swearing, and stabbing myself with the pliers), but it went back in

My5ABaby

iTrader: (7)

I used needle nose until I broke them. After that I switched to using the end of a wrench that fit in there just right. It was a bitch to turn... but it worked.

Hazard15301

iTrader: (5)

Ok, so long story short, it HAS to turn, right?

clokker

iTrader: (2)

Yes.

toplessFC3Sman

iTrader: (1)

yea, its not gonna go in otherwise

Hazard15301

iTrader: (5)

Ok guys, got another problem. I got the piston retracted to the point where it would allow the new pad to fit with no problems. However, the new pad on the front is causing some problems. The top of the caliper is hitting dead even with the side of the new pad. I don't know if theres any way to slide it out. It only needs to come out maybe a quarter inch so that the caliper will clear. Heres a blurry pic (lol sorry) to maybe show you what im dealing with. You can see that the caliper is hitting dead even with the side of the pad, thats the only thing holding me up.

Hazard15301

iTrader: (5)

Seriously though, I'm not sure what to do at this point. I got the car apart right now, and It's the only vehicle I have access to now. It's either put the old bad brakes back on or figure out the problem...

farberio

iTrader: (7)

Are you trying to fit front pads into the rear ones?
If the spring holes are in the center of the top of the pad, then those are front pads. If there are two holes, one on each side, then they are the rears.

Hazard15301

iTrader: (5)

No, I didn't even purchase front ones. And I'm positive that they are for the rear.

farberio

iTrader: (7)

And are you sure the piston is retracted the entire way into the caliper?

TehMonkay

iTrader: (-1)

Caliper rebuild kit is pretty cheap, i'd try that before you cause damage to anything.