Explorer Sport Brake Caliper Rebuild/Replace?

[mikejsmith1985]

Hello everyone,

My dust boots are all shot, I've never seen this happen before but literally every boot is torn. Clearly there is/was something wrong however the car has stopped flawlessly till we just got to the end of our pads service life. I thought I was just replacing pads but found this and since the vehicle carries my family I want to make sure its safe.

Rebuild kits are difficult to come by and I've had a heavy helping of life lately. So I'm looking to save money where I can. Is there anyone that feels very strongly against aftermarket calipers? I like the idea of being able to get the car back on the road this weekend. Our second vehicle is a corvette so we can't really transport the kids till the Explorer is back online.

I just don't want to slap part store calipers on if OEM is truly that much better?

Thanks for any advice you can supply!

 

[KayGee]

rockauto has a caliper repair kits for $4-7 ea. If you can't wait a few days for them, I'm sure they can be sourced locally for 2-3x the rockauto price.

I've done my fair share of caliper replacements over the years and never had any issues using parts store reman calipers. Just check them out for any obvious issues/problems before installing.

 

[mikejsmith1985]

rockauto has a caliper repair kits for $4-7 ea. If you can't wait a few days for them, I'm sure they can be sourced locally for 2-3x the rockauto price.

I've done my fair share of caliper replacements over the years and never had any issues using parts store reman calipers. Just check them out for any obvious issues/problems before installing.

Thanks for the reply, time is really the issue here. RockAuto can't get me a set till next week even if I choose overnight shipping at this point, and we need the vehicle for the weekend. For the HD calipers it seems like no one around me has them in stock so the only option non dealership was to buy new calipers from KOI at $90 each. I wasn't really looking forward to the rebuild since I've never rebuild spiral pistons before. I really appreciate the reply!

 

[Odrapnew]

Note: This is just a suggestion, I take no responsibility of failures of any kind.

Honestly, you could probably put new pads and rotors on with the existing calipers and be OK for a few weeks.
Just clean the area around the piston(under the boot) before you compress them back in.
The pistons will be almost fully compressed into the bore.

If you think about it, the boots likely tore a little while back, so either the damage is already done, or a few more miles won't drastically change the performance.

 

[KayGee]

Thanks for the reply, time is really the issue here. RockAuto can't get me a set till next week even if I choose overnight shipping at this point, and we need the vehicle for the weekend. For the HD calipers it seems like no one around me has them in stock so the only option non dealership was to buy new calipers from KOI at $90 each. I wasn't really looking forward to the rebuild since I've never rebuild spiral pistons before. I really appreciate the reply!

I'm surprised there aren't any calipers available near you. I've never had a problem getting parts the same or next day or being directed to a store within a 5-20 minute drive that has the part/s in stock if I want them immediately. You should have probably 30-50 parts stores within a 20-30 minute radius of your area. Most should have a larger distributor in the Cinci or Indy area and should be able to get parts pretty quickly if they are out of stock at the local store.

As odrapnew said, if the pistons aren't damaged, you may be able to go the week or so you are waiting for the repair kits. If the pistons show signs of damage, just replace the whole caliper and be done with it.

 

[mikejsmith1985]

Thanks all for your replies, if I didn’t have the heavy duty brakes it wouldn’t have been an issue getting new parts. I have my calipers now but I can’t get the ebrake cable off the rear calipers. So I’m fighting that at the moment ‍