Brake Rebuild Started

[John Ulrich]

After waiting 13 years for the calipers to spring a leak, one finally did. When I took it out of storage the brake pedal was soft and I added fluid and waited for motivation and some free time. I was starting to feel guilty driving it anyway.

Today, I put it on jack stands....a story on it's own!!! Anyway I took all the calipers off and pulled the pistons out to inspect the bores. The rear's were full of rusty gunk...even though I bleed the system every three years! Rust pitting where the piston rests in the bore was found in most, not a full 360 degree rust fest, just on the lower areas. Some showed motion marks, but I could feel wear when dragging my finger nail over it.

I'm tempted to polish out the bad marks and drop-in a new seal kit, but I'll resist and get the O-ringed rebuilds and be good to go forever. The hoses came off with no problems. They do not look bad but I guess the insides rot out first and most brake kits include them.

This is a 39,000 mile, no winter car, so the underside is soooo... nice to work on compared to my late model vehicles what decompose rapidly in the winter.

So much for part one. I might not get back to reconstruction for a couple of weeks because of business travel, weekends away and waiting for the
calipers.

Any "been there done that" advise is appreciated!

Later,
JU

 

[garycr14]

Really a pretty straight forward job. Be sure to buy new metal brale lines for the rear. The section that attaches to the caliper is metal, I didn't have the lines so I reused the old ones for now, but I will replace them with the SS lines. Also use brake lube. I used the type that you spay onto the back of the pads to keep them from squeaking.

 

[Harv]

Dont forget the stainless steel sleeved calipers.