Question About Rear Brake Caliper Guide Pins | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Question About Rear Brake Caliper Guide Pins

willied

Explorer Addict
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December 1, 2009
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City, State
Columbus, GA
Year, Model & Trim Level
2006 XLT V8
Do you grease the rear brake caliper guide pins? I took mine out and they seemed like they had never been greased so I wasn't sure if they were suppose to be. And do you grease the inside and outside of the sleeve that the bolt goes through or what?
 



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Pin alway grease as they are sealed by the rubber bellows but moisture still gets in and they rust. They have to move in/out for the caliper to float with brake applications and wear.

I am not sure what you mean by the bolt. None of the mounting bolts are greased.
 






Use only high temperature silicone brake lube. Permatex Ultra Brake Caliper Lube or AGS Sil-Glyde from NAPA are popular choices and specifically made for brake hardware. Do NOT use regular chassis grease or anti seize that will gum up and cause binding or sticking over time. Also avoid using brake cleaner on the rubber boots, as it tends to swell rubber not seal properly. IIRC, torque the caliper guide pin bolts to 25 ft/lbs.

replacing the rear brake caliper guide bolts and dust boots
 






I have silicone grease, I just wasn't sure where all to use it since the rear guide pins don't seem as obvious as the fronts. Anyway, I've attached a picture of the bolt and slide. I wasn't sure whether or not it needed any grease where the slide goes over the bolt.

View attachment DSC_0019 7.JPG
 






Clean the bolts well and apply a light coat of brake caliper lubricant on ALL metal contact points. Although these are front caliper slide pin pics, this is what happens when ordinary chassis grease is used on caliper pins when close to the heat of brakes. Had a friend do a "pad slap" on my grinding front brakes at work. Nice favor, but didn't have or use brake lube. Pics shown are front pins after less than 10,000 miles.

I need tips how to replace the front caliper pin guides.
 






The front and rear calipers on these SUVs are very, very different animals. Front is the more modern (and better) "Colette" design, where a short bolt attaches the guide pin to the housing ear, and the length of the guide pins slide directly into the bracket bores during assembly and in-use. For this, moderate lubrication of the pin/bore interface is needed, and a little excess will simply squish out into the dust boots.

But the rears are old-school RPS design (Reverse Pin Slide). As the OP said, there is a long metal sleeve involved, that the other design does not have. This sleeve is completely contained within the long, convoluted rubber boot, both of which are squeezed thru the housing ear. The main sliding lubrication in this case is needed between the metal sleeve and the rubber boot, NOT between the pin-bolt and the sleeve. The pin-bolt simply goes thru the sleeve, and threads into the bracket, clamping the sleeve securely to the bracket. The sliding occurs between the housing ears and the bushing/sleeve. Any lubrication between the pin-bolt and the sleeve will simply be along for the ride. A very thin film-coat would not hurt anything, but is not necessary for caliper function.
 






Thanks for the detailed explanation! I went ahead and lubed just the outer sleeve since I realized that was probably the only part that needed it. My brakes feel so much better now after changing out the rotors and pads and cleaning/greasing the guide pins (one of the front ones was seized and I replaced it with a new one).
 






The front and rear calipers on these SUVs are very, very different animals. Front is the more modern (and better) "Colette" design, where a short bolt attaches the guide pin to the housing ear, and the length of the guide pins slide directly into the bracket bores during assembly and in-use. For this, moderate lubrication of the pin/bore interface is needed, and a little excess will simply squish out into the dust boots.

But the rears are old-school RPS design (Reverse Pin Slide). As the OP said, there is a long metal sleeve involved, that the other design does not have. This sleeve is completely contained within the long, convoluted rubber boot, both of which are squeezed thru the housing ear. The main sliding lubrication in this case is needed between the metal sleeve and the rubber boot, NOT between the pin-bolt and the sleeve. The pin-bolt simply goes thru the sleeve, and threads into the bracket, clamping the sleeve securely to the bracket. The sliding occurs between the housing ears and the bushing/sleeve. Any lubrication between the pin-bolt and the sleeve will simply be along for the ride. A very thin film-coat would not hurt anything, but is not necessary for caliper function.
Thank you for this awesome description!!
 






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