Thread: 2004 GT rear caliper pins

This car is new to me so i am not familiar with its quirks
The right rear caliper was leaking, so i got a good looking
one at u pull it yard. Piston seemed to screw in OK and the
boot looked OK. Pads were about shot on my car so i bought new ones.

Took the old one off and did the swap. the emergency brake cable
was seized so it just cut it off and left it off. Originally when i took
the old caliper off, i had issues with the lower caliper slider coming
out. It would turn around, but did not want to pull out. after some persuasion,
i got it out. There was lube in the hole and it was not seized, but it really did
not want to slide out. This pin had the plastic sleeve on its inner tip.
i cleaned off the pin and put some new caliper rated lube on it.
I had to kind of fight it to get it back in. It would move in and out,
but it had more friction than the upper pin. (the upper pin had no sleeve
on its tip and freely pulled in and out).

Put it all back together and bled the brakes. the right rear wheel has to much drag
in it. car drives OK and stops OK, but i know the extra drag is not good.
The right rotor is also warmer than the other side taken on short test drives.

So the question is what is wrong? should that pin with the plastic bushing
on the end push in and out a LOT harder than the one that does not have
the bushing? I did spin the caliper piston all the way back in (or so i thought)
with a cube tool.

Look for suggestions when i take it back apart. I am smelling that pin with the
bushing on it is deformed (looks OK) or the bore it goes into has issues.
How much more friction does the sleeved pin have vs the top one with no sleeve?

bob

Was/is your parking brake stuck? The cables seize up. Happened to me this year and burned up a caliper pretty good.

The spring is for the park brake. The blue arrow points to the tab that actuates it. IIRC, to make sure it's off, tap it downward with a hammer.



You'll see how the cable attaches to the lever anyway. It'll be obvious which way to turn it. Could be the problem. Not sure how bad that caliper is. Need replacing?

You can buy just a new bracket and pins if that's still a concern.

When I got the car the parking brake was stuck frozen up position. The parking brake cable on the side I changed had it's plastic sheeth split open and was visably rusted. At that point I cut it off and figured I would deal with it later.
When I got the replacement calliper from the upull yard I did not get get the calliper bracket.. it was extra money and I figured I did not need it. I guess I should have got it too.
I did not get crazy with the pin sleeve since it was not completely seized.
When I take it back apart I will be more careful and clean out the bore and re grease it with caliper lube. Will also double check that the spring loaded parking brake lever is fully retracted.

Does it really make any difference if the sleeved calliper pin is in the top hole or bottom hole?

I believe the bushing is supposed to be on the upper caliper pin. Can't remember, maybe I'll check today since I have work to do.

New hardware kit comes with that little guide on the pin, so they must wear out.

Originally Posted by rickisrad

Truthfully, I have always eliminated the rubber bushing on the pin because that is the part that will always swell and fail. I just put extra grease so it doesn't chatter or another pin without the bushing.

I use this attached to a drill to clean out the caliper pin holes.

Ok, i tore it down and put it back together and it seems to be better. I had the caliper pin with the bushing on the lower hole, so i moved it
to the upper hole. I shot some brake clean down the pin holes and cleaned them out as good as i could, them put some caliper
pin grease inside. The right side still seemed to fit tight and have more friction than i would have liked, but it was better than it was.
Not quite sure if the caliper bracket was out of tolerance or the pads were fatter than they should be. I then did the passenger side rear
and it seemed to spin much more freely than the right side. I test drove it and the right rear did not seem to be excessively heating up
so i am just going to monitor it and hope it breaks in.

When i did the left side, i sprayed brake clean on the caliper pin with the bushing on it. It seemed to react with the plastic bushing and
made it fatter and looser. Lucky, i grabbed a spare from the bone yard and just wiped it down and re greased it and installed it.
Like is said earlier, the left side seemed to spin more freely in the air with new pads on it.

Now as a side bar, i had some bridgestone econic tires on the rear that had 40% tread left on them but were leakers. I had micro pin holes
leaking in one of the sidewalls that looked fine. Go figure. The other one had a nail in it that was actually leaking less. I got some imported
225 60 R16 that were virtually new and put them on the back. car rides and drives fine now, BUT the low tire light is on and the traction control
light is lite. Since this is wheel speed based and not by pressure sensor, those rear tires must be different enough height from the bridgestones
on the front to set the code. They looked dam close to me. Anybody run into that before?

bob

Different tire sizes will keep the light coming on.

I did check, and the pin with the bushing goes on top.