Squishing calipers

[George Selby]

At 01:28 AM 6/25/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Well I got the pads back in but the piston had
>pushed out so back to the parts store to find a caliper spreader. They
>were all out but the salesman said to use a C clamp instead. I guess my
>brain had quit functioning by now to see the obvious. That was a great
>idea, I have one at home :o) NOT !!!!!!!!

A very large set of pliers works well for this.  A smaller set will 
frequently work, but not always.  Another method:  If you put the caliper 
and one pad back on the mount, you can use a large screwdriver to pry the 
caliper piston back through the inspection hole in the top of the caliper 
(this is how they do it at the Brake Shop, a local service facility where I 
normally have rotors turned and pressed races and bearings 
installed.)  Lastly, you can unbolt the hose from the caliper (this method 
does necessitate a brake bleeding) and set the caliper on the ground.  If 
you are lucky, you can use your weight and a hammer handle to force the 
piston back in, if not, try the business end of the hammer (I have never 
had a piston fail to retract with a hammer blow, watch out for the rapidly 
ejected brake fluid from the hole.)  Use a brass drift or piece of wood 
rather than directly hitting the piston with the hammer.

George Selby
70 F-100 Ranger XLT 400 C6
78 F-150 4x4 400 4 spd
83 Audi Coupe GT
86 Nissan 300ZX
92 Subaru Legacy Wagon AWD
gselby4x4 at earthlink.net