Brake job Hell

[Mark K 2]

Sure. Simple. New pads, rotors, and calipers. Two hours tops, right? Wrong. New calipers from Amazon were bad in the box. Ended up putting the old passenger side one on. Driver side caliper had a munched bleed screw. Had to buy a new one locally. My friend mixed synthetic and non-synthetic brake fluid and fried the master cylinder. Had to drive 30 miles each way to get a new one. Finally, after six hours of F-ing around and three quarts of brake fluid, I have brakes.

 

[Jeffksf B]

Why the need for calipers? I've never needed to replace calipers in 25 yrs of working on my own cars. Clean up pins and bushings and thats all I've ever needed to do. And thats in the rust belt.

 

[Mark K 2]

They were rusting into oblivion.

 

[RedRanger 7]

They dont last as long as they used too. If we changed our brake fluid every year, maybe the piston wouldnt get pitted and cause vehicles to pull to one side. Manufacters like stuff to wear out so you have to come back for replacement parts. lol :fire:

 

[Mark K 2]

The Amazon seller is taking back the bad new calipers. He's sending me a return label with postage paid. It was wierd. They'd bleed fine, then the pedal would go to the floor.

 

[Richard L]

Brake calipers corrode internally. That's the main reason to flush your brake fluid every 2-3 years or with every brake job. The corrosion is behind the caliper piston O-ring seal and does not effect braking until you replace the old worn pads with new pads. Then you have to push the caliper pistons back in to make room for the new pads and thats were the problems begin. Pushing the pistons back into the calipers puts the O-ring see back deeper into the bore where the corrosion is and often results in leaking seals and sticking calipers



I have always done my own brake work for over 40 years and typically will buy rebuilt calipers form AutoZone, etc. They often offer 50K mile to lifetime warranties on their rebuild brake calipers. Initial cost is a bit higher. A brake job last me about 40K-50K miles, which is well within the warranty period, so I simply return the old calipers for replacements under the warrant and get new ones with every brake job. In the long run, it is cheaper and I have never gotten a bad rebuild caliper from any of the AutoPart stores.



...Rich

 

[Todd Z]

IS it me or just the photo, Does the rotor look too small?



Make sure, the Sport and Sport Trac fit but different diameters.



Todd Z

 

[Richard L]

Hey Todd Z,

Good eye...I did not pay that much attention to the photo, but I think you are right...That rotor looks too small.



Sport Trac's used 12" rotors, but many parts places wrongly assume that a standard Explorer's 11.5" rotor will fit the Sport Trac. If you use an 11.5" rotor, you will lose a lot of braking power because the full surface of the pad is not contacting the rotor.



...Rich

 

[Mark K 2]

They're 12 inch rotors. I measured them.

 

[scott degroot]

Mark KMember Profile ,11/23/2014 11:27 MT



It was wierd. They'd bleed fine, then the pedal would go to the floor.

I have seen this exact symptom ALOT. Are you sure the calipers were on the correct side? You can mount them on either side and if they are on the incorrect side the bleeder screw is at the bottom of caliper and you will never get the air out. You will think you did because no air comes out when you go to bleed it but it is trapped in the top side of the caliper.

 

[Richard L]

l1tech is correct !

That happened to me when I was in the Army stationed in Germany. I got a cheap old VW wagon from a friend who was going back to the US. He said it ran great but he was having brake problems that needed to be fixed before it could pass inspection and be registered.



I tried to bleed and that's when I discovered that the car had two passenger side calipers and the one on the driver side is upside down and the bleed screw was at the bottom? With two right side calipers, I could not just switch calipers.



I removed the caliper on the drivers side, turned it right side up so the bleed screw was at the top, inserted a block of wood between the pads and then bleed that caliper. Once the caliper was bled I installed it back in the upside down position and the brakes worked perfectly.



In your case you or someone may have installed the calipers on the wrong sides. The bleed screw must always be at the top side of the caliper...or you cannot bleed all the air out.



...Rich

 

[Mark K 2]

They were installed correctly.

 

[Tom Schindler]

When I replaced the brake calipers on the front of my Trac, I used 2001 Explorer calipers. Same size, mounting, etc, but at a cheaper price.



First set of calipers lasted 100,000+ miles. Replaced the caliper because the caliper was siezed to the bracket.





Tom

 

[Zap-Trac]

IS it me or just the photo, Does the rotor look too small?



Make sure, the Sport and Sport Trac fit but different diameters.



Todd Z

 

[Zap-Trac]

Thank you, I thought it was me....

Bill Z.