Caliper pins

After viewing a glowing orange rotor on my left rear, it became obvious that I need to lubricate my caliper pins.

What must be done to access the pins for greasing? Are the pins simply turned by a wrench or socket like a bolt to be removed, or are there other things which come first?

Thanks for the help.

Have you done any work to it lately? Or did they just get hot like that out of the blue? It sounds like a worn out (seized caliper) more than pins not lubed unless you assembled new brakes without grease lately.

Haven't done any work to it, but it seems from previous members' experience the rear slide pins have a tendency to corrode and freeze over time, resulting in this. It is not locked all the time, I just checked it agian and it was completely functional.. which leads me to believe even more the pins may be at fault.

Apparently there is a 'caliper kit' that can be found at parts store which includes new pins, grease, and boots. I found this in a search, another member bought the kit from Napa. I'll have to check it out.

It seems like my main problem could be removing these pins.. as they can be so frozen as to require torching and hammering to remove. Hopefully they aren't this bad yet if the caliper is still moving sometimes...

I have read instructions for caliper removal in the Chiltons manual and notice it mentions both pinch pins and slide pins. I know what the slide pins are, but what are the pinch pins? Are these U shaped pins which slide over the others, or are they something entirely different?

I have a 91 sc and had the same problem. The guide pins screw out. Clean them with some brake parts cleaner, put some brake lube on them and reasemble and they should be ok.

Its been a few years, but from what I recall, the rear calipers disassemble pretty easy. There is a kit which has new boots and a clip which you don't need. If you take it apart, I think its fairly simple to clean up with sand paper, so I'd say get the kit, some caliper grease, and go for it. If you need to reseat the piston, it won't push back in. You have to turn it in clockwise with a tool or pliers. I used long nose vise grips and just caught the top part of the piston.

The rear caliper is located by a bracket which is bolted to the rear knuckle.

This bracket is attached by two bolts. Slide pins go into the bracket and then the caliper slips over the rotor and bolts to the slide pins.



The lower slide pin tends to freeze in the bore over time as the boot tends to crack that's protecting it. A new boot and lube should be used when reassembling. On mine, the bolt was so stuck in there that I had to buy new brackets.

Ok, thanks for the info. I purchased new Brakware caliper pins(only 1 side was in stock), boots, and synthetic grease from Autozone.

The package of rubber boots came with 2 metal objects.. they look like giant versions of the pins which hold our headlight assemblies to the header panel. What are these?

Those are the things that I said you wouldn't need. I think they're for a Mk VII or something.

Ok, thanks TbirdSCFan.

Caliper - more help needed

I have removed the caliper bolts on the driver side rear, and to my suprise they were well greased and free moving. I took the caliper itself off, and compressed/turned the piston to push it in for reinstallation. The pads have material left, under 1/4".

This means my caliper pins were not at fault for the glowing rotor I witnessed the other day.

After reinstalling and driving, I noticed my e-brake, which has been week for some time, was working significantly better. Also noticed my brake pedal seemed to be a little firmer, though it wasn't that noticeable.

I need to know what else could cause the dragging. Could the caliper be bad, and the piston freezing up? It is not a constant problem, actually hasn't happened at all since that last incident a couple weeks ago.

Felt like doing a bump to remind folks... If you haven't done it yet this year, I highly recommend pulling the rear caliper and inspecting the slide pins... replace the boots if they are torn, and re-lube things, hope they slide.

New brackets are available in the after market. I just picked up one at NAPA for the right side on my 93. $26.99 for the bracket including new slide pins, boots, and already pre-lubed.

Shiny gold like the picture above.