Need help with crabby brake caliper..

[ZoomZoomZoom]

Well, I've never replaced brake calipers on any of my previous vehicles. Looked like fun so I thought I would give it a try :sarcasm: I got the first caliper off the car with minimal fuss. Here's what I have removed:

So I have the old caliper still attached to the bracket (torque plate per TSRM). I can't get them apart. I finally got the two to swing freely on the pin holding them together, but that took alot of cursing, PB, and hammering. In that order. Any great ideas for getting them apart? According to TSRM and what I've searched on here, it appears they just slide apart (HA!). Right now I keep soaking it with PB. I don't how they are exactly hooked together, but from the sketch in TSRM it looks like the bracket has a pin attached to it. Any suggestions or pictures of how the two are put together would be great. I am going to make another attempt to get them apart tomorrow afternoon.

 

[jmanbball]

Should just slide off. Would suggest a hammer and continued pb blaster applications. It must be stuck on rust in the sleave.

 

[Poodles]

Don't use a hammer.

Put the plate in a vise and keep swinging the caliper back and forth while trying to slide it off. Will take some time...

Once you get em apart, you'll have to polish the slide, grease it, and get it all back together. Making sure the boots are sealed (look for cracks or tears and replace if needed) as it's usually when someone does a brake job and doesn't make sure the boots are where they need to be that you get this issue...

 

[ZoomZoomZoom]

Don't use a hammer.

Put the plate in a vise and keep swinging the caliper back and forth while trying to slide it off. Will take some time...

Once you get em apart, you'll have to polish the slide, grease it, and get it all back together. Making sure the boots are sealed (look for cracks or tears and replace if needed) as it's usually when someone does a brake job and doesn't make sure the boots are where they need to be that you get this issue...

Well, I enlisted some help and we got it apart. Sorry Poodles, it involved a hammer. We got the cap off the slide, and inside was just bone dry. I soaked it in PB. Then we used a punch and a small hammer and we were able to tap it out. No damage to the original parts! The reman'd caliper had a new slide and new boots. But now I understand why its so easy to just do a rebuild kit. Now I understand what the slide is and how it works. I am but grasshopper, but I am learning!

The driver side caliper came apart easily. Just my luck to attempt it on my own with the worst one of the two. Car stops well, and dead straight.

Oh, and I learned the great value of anti-seize.

Thanks for your help.