Caliper Slide Pins

[Markaprice73]

Hey all, I just finished doing a beautiful front brake job. But, thinking back..I wondering if my caliper pins are in the right spots. I did the passenger side first. The slide pin on the bottom had the little rubber sleeve on it(im not referring to the boot). The top one does not. Then, on the drivers side...I pulled the pins out and the pin with the rubber sleeve on it was installed in the TOP. So I figured the place that did my brakes last mixed the two pins up. So, I put the pin with the rubber sleeve into the bottom hole.
Does anyone know witch way is correct??? Everything is working fine as far as I can tell and both pins slide very nicely. When I looked inside the hole that the pins go into, they both look the same with smooth walls. These are the factory pins btw still in great shape and yes one pin does not come with rubber sleeves on them on my 03 ST. I'm just thinking maybe they SHOULD be opposite? IDK.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

On the factory pins they all had the rubber sleeves on them. You'll be fins as long as you cleaned them and applied ample caliper pin grease.

 

[Markaprice73]

Thanks Rebel for putting my mind at ease for now
I searched and found a few folks asking about which pin goes where also. But, the thread always stopped right there with no responses One thread the guy had the exact same concern. He pulled his and they where the same as mine were(opposite).... On mine one pin has 3(i believe) flat sides on the bottom 1/3 and the other pin is cylindical and narrower on the bottom 1/3 for the rubber sleeve(the rubber sleeve also has a few spiral groves in them)...
Anywho, they are sliding as should be. I will check in a few days to be sure all is well

 

[Markaprice73]

Doing some research. The pin with the flat side is called the "guide" pin and the pin that is completely round with the rubber sleeve on the bore end is called the "lock pin" Still finding mixed results but so far the majority has said the "guide pin" goes in the top.

 

[Markaprice73]

Well this is the only concrete info i've found. http://www.autozone.com/autozone/re...epairGuideContent.jsp?pageId=0996b43f802e3b70 The bottom bolt clearly has flat surfaces and the top one looks round and it has the rubber sleeve on it(its just not shaded in, in the pic) and I can only assume the passenger side is the same. ??? ...Looks like I will be switching the pins tomorrow. Seems the main reason for this sleeve is for noise dampining. The gooves in the sleeve may help in sliding. In my googling I found a tsa about this for some accords that the factory installed incorrectly. They had to be switched. They were causing rapid pad wear,etc. I hope this helps someone out. But I'm still wondering if the pass. side should be opposite like they were to begin with?
Bet they don't hear this too often but "Thank you autozone"

 

[ncranchero]

The instructions in the Ford Factory Service Manual regarding replacing disc brake pads states: "Remove the lower caliper bolt on the RH caliper and the upper caliper bolt on the LH caliper first. So from that I would say they are supposed to be in opposite positions right to left.

On the other hand in the Ford Factory Parts Manual it shows all 4 being the same.
F5AZ-2B296-A SPLIT PIN, QTY 4
F5AZ-2N386-A RETAINER, QTY 4 (Replaced by F8VZ-2B296-AA)

Further, there are no current TSB's regarding the brake pins.

And to make everything clear as mud here are photos of the different pins.

I'd say though that they were supposed to be opposites.

 

[Markaprice73]

Thank you ncranchero. I very much appreiciate the info and research you did. ..Yep, clear as mud
My pins are the first set in your pic. The first one has the flat sides. The 2nd one has a step down towards the bore end. This is where the rubber sleeve slips onto the end. Stange it does not picture this sleeve. (If someone were to put this pin into their caliper it would rattle/sqeek or worse I'd imagine.)
Anyway, I took my caliper off. Drivers side pads were not releasing from the rotor as much as they should have been when I gave then a hand spin! I switched the pins and sure enough the sleeved pin went much smoother into the top hole than when I had put it into the bottom one. (When I swiched them the other day it kind of hydro-locked a little(from the rubber). just a little snug.springy, but not as much as the other one. not enough to notice apparentely.)
SOOOOO...drivers side= rubber sleeved pin on top and flat sided pin on bottom.
passenger side= OPPOSITE
Issue solved!
I appoligize to my mechanic who had them in correctly after all. Like most folks he probably greased them one at a time OR they just never had been re-lubed. (I took my bracket off and cleaned throughly)
Oh..the pin with the rubber sleeve has a two notches on the head and the other pins head is smooth. And, always use silicone based lube(anyother kind could cause this sleeve to swell and not slide at all)
I really hope this helps someone out someday.

 

[ncranchero]

Glad you have that resolved. Odd that they are designed that way but then again there are a lot of oddities on the Sport Trac.

 

[WidgetTrac]

That's weird - I just did an '02 mountaineer about a month ago and I did the same exact thing, assuming I had somehow mixed up one side. I think I ended up putting the rubber ones in the top holes, and I do remember one of them feeling too tight.

 

[Markaprice73]

ok. Ive imagined this in my head driving home tonight. If you lifted the drivers side caliper and bracket stright off(the one with the rubber sleeved pin on top) and walked over to the pasenger side with it and set it on the rotor...Viola! the rubber sleeved pin would now be on the bottom!...so I guess it does not matter which pin is the leading edge so to speak. As long as you have them in the correct bore.(opposite..see above)

@Widget Im going to assume that vechicle will have uneven pad wear and possibly very hot rotors etc..get it back switch em if you can

 

[ncranchero]

I'd have to look at the calipers but while what you say may be correct in reference to the pins the bleeder would (most likely) be on the bottom on one side and you'd never get the air out of it.

 

[Kelvarr]

Weird. I just went through this on my '05 Sport Trac 2WD. I did the Driver Side first, and the booted pin was on the top/front.

When I got to the passenger side, I'm pretty sure I pulled it out of the top/front also. I pulled it out to lube it. When I went to put it back in, I couldn't in any way, shape or form, get it to go back in that top/front hole....the boot would always slide over the pin. I tried the bottom/back hole, and it fit perfectly and slid perfectly.

I haven't noticed any pulling or anything yet.

 

[joelswan]

I've been battling this question for almost a year and cannot get a definitive Ford factory answer! The first time I cleaned and lubed my 2002 Explorer slider pins the long rubber boots were BOTH in the same position on both calipers. I just can't remember which - top or bottom. The reason I can't is because my helpful brother pulled them and didn't remember which was which while we were replacing the calipers. He didn't expect to have one with and one without the full rubber boot. Now, the strange thing is that the replacement hardware we received had no rubber covering on either pin! We ended up putting on those pins but I think the rotors wore very quickly and warped.

So, are the opposite? My first experience said "no." But it seems that the DO NEED one pin to be rubberized. I have yet to EVER find definitive answer to this question. Instead we get too many people saying "neither pin", "both pins", etc. yet people actually doing the job see one pin on each wheel.

IS THERE ANYONE FROM FORD THAT CAN ANSWER THIS MYSTERY WITH DOCUMENTATION TO BACK IT UP???? We would love to hear it.

Joel

 

[bigphil]

I just got finished working on this and think I have the answer.

As Markaprice73 indicated they both go in the same location on the caliper bracket, but since the bracket is flipped, they are different top to bottom dependent on side of the vehicle.

I had had brand new caliper pins and brand new brackets. With all new hardware and no wear, it is clear that the pin with the rubber sleeve only fits into one of the holes. This happens to end up top on the driver side, and bottom on the passenger side.

Kelvarr's experience confirms this. It would seem the tolerances are so close, that after some wear the rubber sleeved pin may fit in either, but not in new, or close to new hardware.

As joelswan mentioned the caliper pins didn't come with any rubber sleeve. This is not because they are not necessary, they just aren't included with the pins. In fact, when I bought them the boots weren't included either. I had to buy a "brake hardware kit" that included two sleeves, four boots, and also the four metal retaining clips the pads snap into.

I don't have any documentation, I found this thread looking for the same info, but once I decided to get new caliper brackets, the answer was obvious, the sleeved pin simply won't fit in the wrong hole.

 

[PitchBlease]

Same situation with my 2002 Mountaineer. Both bottom guide pins were rusted in place, so one pin had the sleeve, one didn't. I bought two new calliper brackets to avoid having to torch them to get the pins out. The replacement guide pins didn't come with the sleeves or boots, so I bought the "disc hardware kit" linked to below and that had the rubber I needed to finish the job. Only wish it came with the rubber bleeder screw caps...
http://m.autozone.com/brakes-and-tr...ylinders-w-4-6l-mfi-sohc/426364_0_0?location=

Great forum, happy fixing!