Can't Remove Caliper From Front Disc Brake Rotor

If you buy rebuilt calipers, be sure that the rebuilder replaces the pistons. Once the chrome plating wears off, the used pistons are very to rust prematurely. Another option is to rebuild them yourself.

giantpune said:

Its sold in harbor freight and oreiley auto parts stores here. It really is amazing stuff. I've had bolts that were rusted so bad they needed penetrating oil to get loose. Soak them in evaporust and they look brand new the next day. No scrubbing. I just wipe them off with blue paper towells.

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That's actually great to see with the brake parts. I originally had planned on doing a disc swap for the rears mostly because I wanted to avoid buying "repliparts" because cleaning that stuff was tedious. This is actually a great way I can just rebuild the original parts. There are also a couple areas that are more difficult to reach or use the blaster so, I'll pick some up next time I'm out.

Thanks!

2 Liters of vinegar will do the same for about $2. Just keep everything covered for two or three days and then clean it all off with Kurly Kate. If you have alot of stuff you might have to spend $4.
I use PVC pipe of all size diameters with a cap on the bottom as a container.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. After not budging the caliper by spraying on Kroil and waiting a day, then Krud Kutter (The Must For Rust) and waiting a few days, then using a C clamp to depress the caliper, I finally gave up and resorted to violence. I used a large screwdriver, a breaker bar and a dead blow hammer. After about 15 minutes of slamming, it finally came off!

I soaked the caliper in Evaporust (never used it before) and it cleaned up nice for now. I emptied the rest of the brake fluid in the caliper and sprayed Kroil inside of it hoping this will free up the piston. Will be using my compressor and an air gun to try and blow out the piston later today after I let it soak overnight. Saw this video on WCCC that gave me the idea:



Will let everyone know how I make out.

Compressed air is your friend at this point. Put a heavy rag or a piece of wood in the caliper before applying air. Once the piston frees up, it can go sailing surprisingly fast.

Thanks Mike. I will make sure to do that.

Watch your fingers too.

Who needs nuts bolts when rust will work!!

If compressed air won't work, you can pump it full of grease to force it out hydraulically.

The caliper seal is between the "O" ring and the piston so both should be replaced during a rebuild. Pay particular attention to cleaning the "O" ring groove or it will be very difficult to re-install the piston. You might also consider replacing the bleeder valves. I believe Rock Auto/Dorman has them.

351c1971 said:

The caliper seal is between the "O" ring and the piston so both should be replaced during a rebuild. Pay particular attention to cleaning the "O" ring groove or it will be very difficult to re-install the piston. You might also consider replacing the bleeder valves. I believe Rock Auto/Dorman has them.

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Thanks 351c1971. I figured i would need to replace all of the seals and probably the piston.

If you have some extra energy, you can shoot some Rust-Oleum Silver High Temperature Paint on the calipers. It sells for around $7.00 at Home Depot and is good for 1200 degrees F. Be sure to wire brush them and remove all grease and oil before painting.

I used Dorman #66272 Copper Washers on the caliper hose fittings. It seems like they do not come in all rebuild kits.

Vern Cook said:

2 Liters of vinegar will do the same for about $2. Just keep everything covered for two or three days and then clean it all off with Kurly Kate. If you have alot of stuff you might have to spend $4.
I use PVC pipe of all size diameters with a cap on the bottom as a container.

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So, took your advice and visited the local Wally World (Sam's) and picked up multiple gallons since I decided to do a sort of "dip tank" similar to a "Safety-Kleen tank.
Had a couple old hotel steam insert pans in the garage (long story about why there are hotel insert pans in the garage) and started a trial soak over-night. I can honestly say I'm very surprised at the results. Soaked the metal "collector pipe flanges" (because that's exactly what I thought they looked like when I disassembled the front end) for the front disc brakes and great job since any residual rust, depending on how deeply rusted it is, can be easily coaxed off with a stainless-steel scrubby (actual sponge made of stainless-steel).
So, how long have ya'll soaked stuff in vinegar? The concern would be the corrosive nature when it comes to thinner metals. I guess I'm asking if someone has a dilution rate they worked out for long soaks.
The reason I ask is, the older metals might not like a lengthy soak and I'm cleaning to avoid the cost of replacement parts.
Thanks.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention, vinegar is getting expensive too however, 5 bucks for 2 gallons beats the heck out of 31 bucks for a single gallon on the rust remover. So, the next question is, how many times has anyone found it can be reused? That plays into my dip tank idea.

California 72 said:

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, vinegar is getting expensive too however, 5 bucks for 2 gallons beats the heck out of 31 bucks for a single gallon on the rust remover. So, the next question is, how many times has anyone found it can be reused? That plays into my dip tank idea.

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The evaprust can be reused a ton of times. Even after its black and looks like crap, it still works. And there isn't a concern for it weakening the metal if you leave it in there.

Hey California 72, last question first, I've used my vinegar over and over again until there is so much grot in there that you say "Yuck, I'm not using that again".
As you separate the parts throw them back into the vinegar so that you can clean each part individually. I've normally left parts in solution for about 2 or 3 days without any damage. I have had parts that have come out pocked marked and "brittle" but these were smaller, heavily rusted and should have been thrown away anyway.
After you retrieve the parts from the vinegar bath and clean them up with your stainless steel sponge, wash the part(s) in a bucket of soapy water and rinse under a clean water tap. This stops any further reaction of the metal by the vinegar. After this you will notice the metal will get an orange staining which some people call a 'surface flash rust' but it could also be just sediment from the bath. This can easily be removed with a wipe-over with a rust remover or a light wire brushing.
Be ready to cover the metal with an undercoat or a lubricant. In the case of brakeware like yours maybe you could use brake fluid on your internal parts.
Hope this helps,
Vern

Vern Cook said:

Hey California 72, last question first, I've used my vinegar over and over again until there is so much grot in there that you say "Yuck, I'm not using that again".
As you separate the parts throw them back into the vinegar so that you can clean each part individually. I've normally left parts in solution for about 2 or 3 days without any damage. I have had parts that have come out pocked marked and "brittle" but these were smaller, heavily rusted and should have been thrown away anyway.
After you retrieve the parts from the vinegar bath and clean them up with your stainless steel sponge, wash the part(s) in a bucket of soapy water and rinse under a clean water tap. This stops any further reaction of the metal by the vinegar. After this you will notice the metal will get an orange staining which some people call a 'surface flash rust' but it could also be just sediment from the bath. This can easily be removed with a wipe-over with a rust remover or a light wire brushing.
Be ready to cover the metal with an undercoat or a lubricant. In the case of brakeware like yours maybe you could use brake fluid on your internal parts.
Hope this helps,
Vern

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Outstanding! Thanks for the info. That orange staining is a definite side-effect. I did have difficulty at first but realized it might be a combination of the surface rust you mentioned and the remnants of any grease or oily fluids the metal may have absorbed. Paint is another consideration since the vinegar is a very effective paint stripper. Often times, the paint falls off in the tank. Speaking of the tank, I just set up a larger dip tank with a 40 qt. Lexan container that has a heat related scar from years ago. The edge melted from being too close to the char-grill. Definitely a departure from its originally intended or past use but either way, it has served well for a couple decades.

For the soak tank after using vinegar, I've opted for one bowl of the garage work sinc and a mixture of Dawn Commercial Dish soap and water. As I scrub things off, I started using the Ecolab equivalent of Oil Eater and it starts to wash away almost immediately. It's their HD Degreaser available at Home Depot. 4 gallons of concentrate that makes 100 gallons of cleaner for $45 bucks is not a bad deal. Less than $0.50 a gallon. Although, there have been a couple of spots that requires a bit more time and the only grease I'm allowing near the clean things, elbow grease, to remove.

I moved my coverage of this to not hijack the OP's topic, even if it does remotely follow it, to my thread. However, just to reply to the time you took for your own reply, thank you. Useful info and I'm working on a way to coat things without using any oils or lubes to prevent the light surface rust. Still sorting out prep for primer and which paint for final coating. It's unfortunately a foredrawn conclusion that it will appear given our location. Can't escape the humidity of the coastal mid-Atlantic weather.

Easy solution; Scrap it and buy new. There it's done!
Only if it was a unobtainium rare part that was numbered and absolutely had to be reused, then worth the effort. Other than that, save yourself the pain and just get new or remanufactured or even just a better used part. That's just the way I've learned over the years.
However, I will say I do feel the pain and frustration many of you have endured to restore your cars. I got VERY lucky and bought a rust free car to start........... and I do mean rust free. Not a single nut or bolt was rusted and unremovable.

Stanglover said:

Easy solution; Scrap it and buy new. There it's done!
Only if it was a unobtainium rare part that was numbered and absolutely had to be reused, then worth the effort. Other than that, save yourself the pain and just get new or remanufactured or even just a better used part. That's just the way I've learned over the years.
However, I will say I do feel the pain and frustration many of you have endured to restore your cars. I got VERY lucky and bought a rust free car to start........... and I do mean rust free. Not a single nut or bolt was rusted and unremovable.

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If my name was Mr. Moneybags Monopoly sure, that would be an alternative but... given my age, and especially taking into account that I'm not willing to push the envelope open when speaking in terms of expense justification with the DW, certain bits could come into question and I like them right where they are, and currently not in a vice.

This car started out at the top of my not-so-long list of really great automotive endeavors and as we've moved around the board, tackling various little gremlins, they are sneaky suckers too, after removing some of the showy, more flashy aspects and getting into the true "nuts and bolts" of the car, it wasn't as advertised but not so bad I have a need to complain. Strictly sarcasm when I mention an issue and a sort of pointed self-slam for not leaving my rosy colored glasses at home when I first looked at the car. In my defense, like most here, we can see only what we want when the excitement as a kid returns at this late stage in things.

Edit: Upon further thought, if I had that kind of money, there would be some form of AC Cobra whether it be replica or original sporting a 427 side oiler or 428 SCJ.
That car was a bucket list item, 35 years ago but the something happened to remove it, having kids and life. Doohhh!!!!

On the caliper side of this topic, actually the entire front brake system will be new. Did purchase rebuilt calipers because the guy used year specific calipers. I’m never going to be concourse but I do like some attachment to those years.