Brake Job from hell

[raroZ28]

So it was time to finally do some work on those rear brakes. The drivers side hadn't worked for months, the e-brake hasn't worked for like 4 years, and the pads and rotors were shot.

So I go get new rotors, pads, and a caliper rebuild kit.

1 pin on each caliper was stuck in the caliper bracket. This was the most horrendous job I've done in a long time. I used heat and an impact gun on each one, and while one on each caliper bracket came out, I had the head twist off on the others. There was no getting these things out now that the head was gone, so it was either get new brackets or drill 'em.

So I had to drill a small hole and progressively drill a larger hole until I had a hole in the back of the bracket large enough to get a punch in.

Got the bracket red hot and puched the hell out of it. The first one took all day yesterday to get out, and the other took a good portion of today. Greased the new pins up good and used JB weld to close up the hole I drilled.

It cost me about 30 in parts to do both, which beat's spending $60/caliper, but damn. My back is killing me and I'm still filthy.

Next time you do your brakes, KEEP THOSE CALIPER PINS GREASED AND KEEP THE SEALS IN GOOD SHAPE.

That's all.

[94TAGT]

Good effort! To hell with all that, I would have just bought new calipers! LOL!!!

[raroZ28]

Good effort! To hell with all that, I would have just bought new calipers! LOL!!!

Dude halfway through I considered it, but I figured I was too far into it and had already invested the money in parts.

I like a challenge like this once in a while though, you never know when what I've learned the past 2 days will come in handy.

Like, now I know next time to just buy new calipers!

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

You think that's bad? I had this brilliant idea to rebuild my LT1 rears. Big mistake. Trying to get all of the springs and shims just right took forever. Then, getting the emergency/parking brake spring snapped back in place took about an hour each side. I'm amazed I didn't impale myself in the process.

In hindsight...I should have bought a new set up. But all in all, I'm happy with the results:

[raroZ28]

You think that's bad? I had this brilliant idea to rebuild my LT1 rears. Big mistake. Trying to get all of the springs and shims just right took forever. Then, getting the emergency/parking brake spring snapped back in place took about an hour each side.

The finished result looks awesome.

I don't understand what you mean about shims and springs. Rebuilding the calipers only took a few minutes on each side. Cleaning them thoroughly is what took the most time, but assembling the caliper didn't take any time at all.

There is a trick to doing the e-brake bracket. Took me about 20 minutes to do the first one but I got the second one done in a snap.

What exactly did you do?

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

I replaced everything...started with clean bare calipers and new parts. I had some trouble with the multiple springs and plates and the order they went on. Then, adjusting the depth of the pin took some time to make sure I was getting even pressure across the pads.

To reinstall the parking brake spring, I tried it on the car first, but couldn't get myself into the right position. So, I wound up doing it off the car (I also didn't remove the bracket from the parking cable, since I was afraid the little clip would be damaged). I used a large, flat screwdriver. One side of the spring was locked in place, I then used a vice-grip pliers to hold the tang in the fully retracted position, then (w/ the screwdriver) pushed the free side into the tang slot.

I'm sure there is a better way, but I was stumped. I asked my buddy who was a GM mechanic for 10 years....he admitted, he never messed with the spring. When the LT1 rears had issues, he went to the parts counter and ordered a fully rebuilt unit. So he never had a reason to rebuild the calipers. All he did was slip the parking cable into the bracket and called it a day.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was just getting the rebuild parts. I bought a few, but had the little springs that held the plate in place. And no one "master" kit had all the parts. I called all over the country...no one had them. Most simply said, "why are you rebuilding...we sell new/rebuilt ones". I wound up reusing the two springs since I could not locate them anywhere. They are/appear to be stainless, so I'm not too concerned that I had to reuse them.

[raroZ28]

I replaced everything...started with clean bare calipers and new parts. I had some trouble with the multiple springs and plates and the order they went on. Then, adjusting the depth of the pin took some time to make sure I was getting even pressure across the pads.

To reinstall the parking brake spring, I tried it on the car first, but couldn't get myself into the right position. So, I wound up doing it off the car (I also didn't remove the bracket from the parking cable, since I was afraid the little clip would be damaged). I used a large, flat screwdriver. One side of the spring was locked in place, I then used a vice-grip pliers to hold the tang in the fully retracted position, then (w/ the screwdriver) pushed the free side into the tang slot.

I'm sure there is a better way, but I was stumped. I asked my buddy who was a GM mechanic for 10 years....he admitted, he never messed with the spring. When the LT1 rears had issues, he went to the parts counter and ordered a fully rebuilt unit. So he never had a reason to rebuild the calipers. All he did was slip the parking cable into the bracket and called it a day.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was just getting the rebuild parts. I bought a few, but had the little springs that held the plate in place. And no one "master" kit had all the parts. I called all over the country...no one had them. Most simply said, "why are you rebuilding...we sell new/rebuilt ones". I wound up reusing the two springs since I could not locate them anywhere. They are/appear to be stainless, so I'm not too concerned that I had to reuse them.

ahhh, Yeah, you do NOT wanna try putting that bracket on under the car.

I had the bracket not fully on the pin (The one held in by a snap nut), and finnagled the spring in. Then use a wide flat head screwdriver to push the spring into the slot on the actual e brake lever. It's a snap once you do it, but I can see how it can be very confusing.

This was the first set of calipers I've ever rebuilt and after doing it this time it's all I'll ever do.

Rather spend 10 bucks and do it myself then spend 60 on a caliper that some kid in taiwan put together and got paid 12 cents to do it.