Stupid? Yes. Dangerous ?

[Junk]

Ok, so while replacing front brake pads today (and every 8 month intervals) was going to rebuild the front caplipers. Well, just as I'm taking out the pads my wife lets me know tomorrow she needs to leave town due to a death in her family (all too frequent lately). That means the beater has to be roadworthy. Anyway, so was just gonna swap pads then, but the lower inside passenger piston will not retract enough to even get the old pad back in. hmm. It will come out some when pushing the top in or the other side, but would not go back in much. Of course the cap was off the master cylinder and I tried channels, prybar, even whacking the pry bar with the the mini-bfh. Would not go back in.

At this point, getting junk-ticked, grab the new pads and threw them as far as I could into the yard (didn't do much for the truck, but made me feel better), cursed at the truck and called it a few names that Woody's censor would not pick up. Then took the old pad into the garage and milled it down a bit on the bottom half so it would barely fit in. I'm not running either metal plates - the vented or the solid, right now.

I know this was a stupid thing to do, but is it dangerous? I know it's not a long term fix and already left a vmail for parts for Cbizkit (who was off today ). Bottom line is my son has been real sick lately and I need to know if it's safe enough to drive him to the dr. if we need to go. Wife will be outta town for a few days. I drove around the junk-hood and it seemed fine. Only plan on driving in emergency situation, but won't if it is too dangerous.

 

[fsusteve]

Prolly not, caliper might hang up and make a grinding noise, but that's about it till you get it fixed.

 

[Beowulf]

Junk,
You should be OK. A stuck caliper is not that uncommon. Your fronts have 4 pistons on each wheel. Pad wear will be uneven but that's about all.
-B-

 

[clownmidget]

Junk, no idea of how dangerous it is but I just had a similar experience installing the 100 pads. PS lower inboard piston would not retract all the way. I gave it one lame attempt with the big channel locks but it didn't budge. Two big c-clamps with a plate of steel on each side of the caliper, slowly and trying to equally compress each c-clamp and it slide in like a charm. I cleaned the living sh*t out of the whole caliper assembly with brake parts cleaner and worked the pistons a bit, lifted up the little rubber booties, etc. and felt comfortable about putting off rebuilding the caliper until next time. Don't know if that'll help but those c-clamps were the ticket. Alternatively, you could do a Fred Flintstone and sawzall your floorboards out - feets don't fail me now

Mike R

 

[MoJ]

Would a C-Clamp work to push in the piston? Used one on the rear calipers on mine but not sure if it could be rigged up somehow to work on the front as well.

Sorry to hear about the death in your wife's family. I can sympathize - last month my wife lost both of her grandmas on the same day. Back to back funerals.

 

[Junk]

Thanks everyone.

MoJ - sorry to hear that. Hope your wife is dealing with it ok.

 

[landtoy80]

Junk, you need a TURD for when you are working on the 80.
As for safe, I was driving 6mo or so with only rear brakes on the Turd and didn't even know I had no or very little front brakes.
So unless you have a lift, cheap Swamper tires, heavy load (all the crap you carry) and an unadjusted rear brake load sensor valve, you should be ok.
As for you son, get a $$$$$$$$$$$ life insurance policy on yourself and call a cab for you son

 

[IdahoDoug]

Junk,

I'm unclear on what you milled down? Backing plate or pad material?

DougM

 

[robbie]

Hello Junk:
the brakes sometimes may act like the rotors are warped. I did not see how much pad you had left when you reinstalled the pad, so the only thought is if there is enough pad left to really work or not. It does no harm to not run the antisqueel shims (that is all the shims are for). It does sound like the calipers need rebuilding or replacing if you are having binding of a single piston. it this keeps messing up pad wear then you will need to replace before next winter. Robin just lost her stepfater last week. As we get older the time is limited with those that are older around us that we care for. My 3 year old is a great teacher, this morning he told me to hug and kiss the wife before she left. where do kids get this stuff? any how take care later robbie

 

[TLCgrappler]

Big C Clamps will work pretty well to push the pistons flush with the housing that hey're in. Make sure to have a stick or something that won't gouge the pistons.

 

[Junk]

[quote author=IdahoDoug link=board=2;threadid=16393;start=msg157573#msg157573 date=1084601943]
Junk,

I'm unclear on what you milled down? Backing plate or pad material?

DougM
[/quote]

Doug, actually a little of both. Was in a rush and not thinking. Started to mill out the pad, then realized that to keep it perpendicular to the rotor meant I should take more off the back side (the side against the piston).

Robbie, yeah, know what you mean about the kids. Can that lil one tie a figure 8 yet?

 

[IdahoDoug]

Junk,

If you did a reasonable job of milling the backing plate half so its new surface is perfectly parallel to the unmilled side then things should be fine. Interesting solution actually. But if not, then the pistons are going to be getting "tilted" in their bores and it won't be long before one of them gets jammed. That's amazing that the piston would not retract. I'm going to assume this was happening because the force was not even enough and the piston was jamming in its bore. Once it jams, use the brake pedal to push it back out and try again. Simply using more pressure is like trying to push a rope - not going to happen.

DougM

 

[Junk]

Thanks Doug. Yeah, I checked it pretty well and I'm confident enough that it's parallel. So long as my measuring skills are up to snuff . Yeah, understand the push a rope analogy too well. I figured since I wasn't in the right frame of mind, probably not the best time to be messin around with that stuff.

 

[ryanjl]

Just thinking out loud here, but something that could have been tried is to loosen the two 17mm(?) caliper bolts so that the entire caliper, and not just the piston, could shift toward the center of the vehicle and away from the rotor so that you could squeeze the pad in.

Then, of course, tighten the s*** outta the 17mm(?) caliper bolts. Think spec is 80 ft lbs, but I don't see how over-tightening these would hurt especially if attempting this method. Drive up and down the street cautiously hitting the brakes hard a few times, re-check the bolts, repeat.

This all depends on how close the pads were to getting in. If it was over about 1/16", I don't think this method should be attempted.

 

[e9999]

haven't read the above in details, but as an aside seems to me that in general tightening bolts over specs is not a good idea. You can end up stretching the bolt or stripping the thread, none of which is good.
fwiw
E

 

[PHAEDRUS]

sorry to hear about the wifey junk,
as to the figure 8 I know a 5 year old who can.....
Dave

 

[ryanjl]

[quote author=e9999 link=board=2;threadid=16393;start=msg158374#msg158374 date=1084806706]
haven't read the above in details, but as an aside seems to me that in general tightening bolts over specs is not a good idea. You can end up stretching the bolt or stripping the thread, none of which is good.
fwiw
E
[/quote]

In this case you are tightening the bolt to both secure the caliper and compress the piston, so I'd be more inclined to go 90 ft lbs or so, at least before the first cruise up and down the street.

 

[yomama]

C-clamp. Or rebuild. You would be surprised at how easy it is for the piston to get sideways, just a tad to cause it not to go in. Put a C-clamp on it, using the threaded end in the piston. Caliper pistons must be pushed in from the center of the piston.

Yomama

 

[GXO]

[quote author=shocker link=board=2;threadid=16393;start=msg158451#msg158451 date=1084812582]
In this case you are tightening the bolt to both secure the caliper and compress the piston, so I'd be more inclined to go 90 ft lbs or so, at least before the first cruise up and down the street.
[/quote]

pretty sure my FSM shows 90 ft. lbs as the spec.

 

[ryanjl]

[quote author=DanKunz link=board=2;threadid=16393;start=msg158513#msg158513 date=1084817009]
pretty sure my FSM shows 90 ft. lbs as the spec.
[/quote]

I was just going from memory when I put on new rotors a few months back.

So if the manual says 90, I'd go 100 using my method.