Brake caliper problem? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Brake caliper problem?

edwx

Well-Known Member
Joined
July 4, 2006
Messages
806
Reaction score
9
City, State
Jacksonville, FL
Year, Model & Trim Level
2020 Ford Explorer XLT
Yesterday I noticed my right rear brakes were running hot. Today I took off the caliper and was hoping the pins were seized up, but they weren't. I did notice the piston was very difficult to compress. Is there a way to free up the piston, or am I looking at a new caliper? Thanks, Ed
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Another thing to check are the parking brakes. Sometimes the pad material on the parking brake will come loose.
 






You can pop out the pistons and replace the square cut seals and outer dust boots. But why? Rebuilt calipers are somewhat inexpensive and will be saving time and avoiding a mess. These worked well for me and are powder coated with a lifetime warranty.

ProTech Bulletin: Sticking Caliper Piston
http://s7d9.scene7.com/is/content/GenuinePartsCompany/1233306pdf?$PDF$

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/C...se-Semi-Loaded-Remfd/_/R-SEBSE5305_0453684179

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/C...se-Semi-Loaded-Remfd/_/R-SEBSE5306_0453684180

Caliper Repair Kit
https://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1432148,parttype,1720
 












OK, thanks. I'm sure I'll try a new/refurb caliper. Just don't have the time to mess with it. I've never replaced a caliper before. Hopefully the brake line bolt will come off easily. This is my third X that I've taken to high mileage, and I never had a caliper go bad. Probably been lucky.
 






Just picked up the caliper. It came with 2 copper compressible washers. Where do they go?
 












OK thanks. Funny, I've had three Xs and taken them all to high mileage, and never even garaged them in the most corrosive salt infested environments, and never had a caliper fail......until now. Oh well go figure.
 






If there is significant taper wear on any present or past pads, this tilts the piston slightly during every brake apply. Not usually a big deal, but over time, and especially if the taper is severe, this can damage the piston seal causing a leak, or even allow the piston to wear against the housing bore, which can lead to binding.

After you replace the caliper, pop out the piston, and look for signs of rubbing between piston and the machined-bore.

Piston removal:
Compress the piston before you remove the caliper, to push as much fluid as possible back into the system. After caliper removal, loosen bleeder screw and dump as much fluid as possible. Close bleeder screw.

If a twin piston caliper, you want to move the pistons out as a set. If you just blow with air in a single shot, 1 piston will shoot out, and the other will remain deep in the bore, with no way to build any more pressure.

With caliper "deadbug" on bench, place used pads and enough other flat objects as possible to fill gap between pistons and fingers leaving 1/2-1" gap. Fill gap with a shop towel. Use compressed are and a rubber-tip nozzle to push piston(s) out. Place a second shop towel over the piston area to prevent fluid spray in your face. Watch your fingers!! Remove the thinnest object in the stack and blow again. Keep going progressively until 1 or both of the pistons looses pressure. Remove that piston. The other piston should now be far enough out that you can wiggle it free by hand.
 






Is this ok?

I just replace the caliper, and when the piston expanded out I noticed the seal around the piston wasn't concentric. Is this a problem?
 

Attachments

  • P1010808_opt.jpg
    P1010808_opt.jpg
    63.9 KB · Views: 251












Oops. double post.
 






As it turns out, the boot was ok, took the caliper off just fiddled with it a little. Now just waiting for the crush washers to leak :(, since I used them twice . Hopefully since the washers were fresh yesterday they'll be ok. I tightened the bolt an extra couple of pounds.
 






If you've driven the truck and used your brakes without leaking they should be fine. Always good to replace but don't lose sleep over it.
 






I would have replaced it, but all of a sudden there wasn't another caliper to be found around here, so I just flipped the boot into place with my finger and it was good to go. yeah, I test drove it and brakes seemed to work fine, and no leaks YET on my garage floor. Thanks for all the help.
 






Sorry, I was referring to you reusing the copper crush washers. Main thing is your brakes are working and not dragging. :thumbsup:
 






That outer rubber component is a dust-boot, not a seal. When we do caliper leak testing here at work, we actually remove the dust boots to watch for actual leaks. The piston seal's job is to keep hydraulic fluid in (and allow the brake to be pressurized). The dust boot's job is to keep outside contaminants out of the caliper.

As far as the dust boot not looking concentric, it looks OK to me. The convolutes simply haven't been fully spread yet. As long as the ID remains engaged in the piston groove, you are good.
 






You're right and I corrected my self and called it the 'boot' in a latter post. Yeah, I kinda thought the boot was ok, but just didn't like how it looked. Everything seems to be good now, and if the washers were going to leak, it probably would have already happened.
 






Back
Top