Caliper sliding pin in Crosstrek

[Donald]

With nothing else to do today I decided to pull the brakes apart and lube the critical areas.

The front caliper has two pins, one all steel and one with a rubber sleeve on the pin. Cleaned the pins and the boots. And lubed with Silguide. No problems with the all metal one. But the pin that has the rubber sleeve seems to go in some and then no more. I am guessing the lubed rubber is creating such a tight seal that there is air in the bottom of the hole in the caliper that cannot escape.

Maybe put in a vise and slowly tighten?

My Dad taught me never to force things.

Is there a trick to this?

 

[The Critic]

I ran into this issue on a Forester - the slide pin bores are barely large enough for the slide pin to slide thru.

The solution is to use less grease (only a very thin coat) and only lube the section between the end of the bushing and the threaded portion of the slide pin. Also, take a small pocket screwdriver and clean any visible grease out of the slide pin bore.

Your issue is that there is grease trapped between the end of the pin and the bottom of the slide pin bore. Since the slide pin bore is so small (and the bushing creates an air tight seal), any grease trapped in this area will prevent you from sliding the pin all the way in.

 

[WhyMe]

take a drill bit of the correct size and ream the junk in the hole. probably has old grease in there. don't enlarge it .

 

[Brybo86]

I usually use a small flathead screwdriver wrapped with a small piece of ripped tshirt (not a paper towel that you will lose in the hole)
twist it in and hold onto the cloth also
repeat until it comes out clean

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted by WhyMe
take a drill bit of the correct size and ream the junk in the hole. probably has old grease in there. don't enlarge it .

Yeah this

 

[ripcord]

... and blast it out with brake cleaner and compressed air.

 

[JTK]

Even if you put too much grease in the pin bore, the pin shouldn't come to a sudden and solid stop. It would feel like a hydraulic dampener type deal.

You've probably got it all sorted out by now, but I'd clean and inspect the inside of the bore carefully.

 

[Donald]

Even with the hole cleaned and minimal amount of lube of the rubber sleeve, that pin does not slide as easily as the one that is all metal. So the must be a reason for one pin to be all metal and the other one metal with a rubber sleeve?

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Flush the pin bores out with brake cleaner using something like a Q tip. It doesn't take much lubricant for the pins since the clearances are small. You have to careful not to use brake grease types that don't play nice with rubber. All Permatex brake grease goops I have used swelled the lower pin bushings. Now I use Toyota rubber grease.

 

[Donald]

I only use Sil-Glyde in that area.

I use the purple Permatex on the pads ears.

 

[mattd]

Make sure all the old grease is out of the bore. Try lifting the side pin boot up with a pick while you push in the slide pin to help purge the air.

 

[Donald]

The rubber sleeve is the issue. The sleeve is almost round but does have a couple of flat sides to allow air to escape.

I push it in with a vise and then it goes in and out somewhat freely. Not as freely as the all metal one however.

 

[JTK]

IMO, as long as it's got full range of motion and it does move, you're good to go. I think those bushings are there to prevent noises. Some vehicles have them, some don't.

 

[HangFire]

I guess there is a reason... the parts breakdown show them in a particular order, so that is what I used to return them.