Replacing Calipers (1 Viewer)

[Mars]

I'm about a 1 mechanic, and when my truck was having braking issues I took it into the dealership. I didn't have the time or ability to mess with a full rotor replacement myself, so I had them do it for me. Long story short...they overcharged the crap out of me, and informed me that my rotors were scarred because of seized/sticky pistons in my calipers. They quoted me $1200 just to replace the calipers, and I wasn't having it.

I found in the FAQ a great thread on how to replace brake pads, and bleed the braking system, but couldn't find pics of how the job works...so I took some myself and dove in. Ordered some re-manufactured calipers from CDan (great prices!) and went to work.

Used Driley's thread to get started. I'll quote some of his stuff that helped me through the project.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=962781&postcount=8

Started by getting the truck solid on jack stands, and removing the front wheels. Old caliper looks like this.

 

[Mars]

"Looking at the rotor, the brake caliper is on the left. Get a good light and examine the back side (left) of the brake caliper. You will see a thin little bent wire clip holding 2 guide pins (each pin approximately 4" long) that hold the pads in. Do not pull the clip out of the guide pins just yet. Using a pair of needle nose pliers, I pushed the middle of the bent clip out of the hole at the center rear of the caliper gently. You will have to flex the clip a little-just be gentle! Once it is out of the hole, use the needle nose plyers to pull the clip out of each pin, again gently (I had read that if this breaks, you need to replace before driving - after looking at it, I would think that 2 cotter pins (1 per guide pin) would also work."


This is fairly simple, the little wire clip is easy to recognize. Be careful, its a fragile part!

Next picture is of removing the first holding pin, while keeping the spring clip from shooting across the garage:

"With the bent wire clip out and placed in a safe place, put your hand on the flat metal spring clip that holds onto both the upper and lower guide pin shafts. Slowly pull the upper guide pin out and catch the flat metal spring clip (it will pop out if you do not have your hand on it."

Then removing the pads, one side at a time.

 

[Mars]

Up next is removing the caliper itself. There are two bolts which hold the caliper in place. They are shown in the below picture. You will also need to remove the brake line to the caliper itself, which is held in by the third bolt pointed to. Its handy to have a 3" extension to get the caliper bolts out. Mine were torqued down TIGHT.

Note the bucket below the caliper. You will lose a fair amount of brake fluid when the bolt is removed. Take care to save (or replace) the small metal washers that are on the brake line bolt, there are two of them.

After everything is removed, might be a good idea to clamp off the brake line somehow to keep air from entering the system. I did not do this, and I had to do a lot of brake pumping to get the lines bled out.

 

[Mars]

After the brake line and the two bolts are removed, the caliper slides right off the rotor. The dealership guys were right, and the pistons in my old caliper were very sticky, and a couple wouldn't move at all. I cleaned things up a bit, then bolted the new caliper right on. Replaced the brake line/bolt with washers.

The FSM states that the two caliper bolts need to be torqued down to 90lbs...I don't have a torque wrench, so I just cranked them as much as I could via arm power. Next week I plan to pull the wheels again and make sure they are still tight.

I had to pry the pistons in the new caliper back out a bit, using the wooden handle of a hammer to get the new brake pads and shims back in. After that, replace the pins and spring in the reverse order that they were removed.

 

[Mars]

I bled the brakes using a 'pump the brake pedal assistant'. I took the opportunity to replace all my fluid as well at this time. It was about the color and consistency of maple syrup, and pumped it until it came clean and clear. Because I replaced the calipers, and they had a lot of air in them, my bleeding sequence was a little different, but worked well. I bled the front two lines first, until very little air was coming through the lines, then moved to the typical sequence, and finished by bleeding the fronts again, and the LSPV last to clear all the air.

Fired the truck up and everything's working great, no spongy brakes, and no dragging pistons on the rotors.

Hopefully this will inspire another 1 to do calipers/pads themselves. I was amazed at how straight forward it was. The whole process took about 2 hours start to finish.

Please post up if I'm forgetting anything!

 

[cooldry]

Thanks for the good writeup Mars, I guess it's time for me to get started.

 

[FirstToy]

Mars,
nice clear writeup! FAQ material! good work

 

[jmvar]

whoa those calipers look sexy....I bet they look great subtly peaking out through your wheels.....kinda like camel toe.

 

[Mars]

I never wash my truck...its disgusting. They stuck out like a sore thumb, way too much bling!

I have to admit, I kinda like the shine though

 

[OGBeno]

Good job and good write up. This should go in the FAQ.

I did my fronts and rears as well about two years ago, IIRC. Money well spent.

 

[Mars]

Did you get brand new ones, or the remanufactured? If I remember right, the remanufacturs were substantially cheaper than the new. I didn't get new pins and springs for them either, just reused my old stuff.

 

[OGBeno]

Did you get brand new ones, or the remanufactured? If I remember right, the remanufacturs were substantially cheaper than the new. I didn't get new pins and springs for them either, just reused my old stuff.

The front calipers can be souced as "new" from Toyota. So I got new ones with new pins, etc.

The rear calipers cannot be sourced new. From Toyota the come "remanned

 

[BPMOU]

What do the remans run?

 

[Mars]

If I remember right, they were somewhere around $100 each. If your calipers are in good shape, you can return the cores back to Toyota and get $20 back or so. I don't know the exact numbers, maybe CDan'll chime in.

 

[gnx7]

Mars- You mentioned that the rotors were scored etc....

Did you end up having them turned? I didn't see this in the write up.

Nice overall write up for sure.

 

[Mars]

Mars- You mentioned that the rotors were scored etc....

Did you end up having them turned? I didn't see this in the write up.

Nice overall write up for sure.

I had the dealer replace my rotors and pads. What you are seeing is new rotors and pads, driven on maybe 200 miles, while I was waiting for my new calipers to arrive. The marks you see on the rotors are fairly superficial, but are likely the result of my caliper pistons sticking and rubbing on the rotor.

There are a lot of good threads on replacing/turning rotors, I didn't have the time to deal with the bearings and all that though, so I took it in to the dealer. I won't be doing that again!

By the way, after I finished the job, the truck was a bit quicker. Not a huge amount, but it was definitely rolling smoother.

 

[Brentbba]

Great write up Mars! You didn't go with bling red or yellow calipers I see. hehehe

 

[Driley]

Thanks for adding the pictures! When I did the walk-through, I did not have a camera.

Thanks again!

Riley

p.s. Can we add this to the FAQs with the walkthrough?

 

[Mars]

Its already in the FAQ...Romer stuck it on last week!