Do you have to screw the caliper piston in fully?

[redhat]

So I took my car to a shop to have them install the new parking brake cable. My drivers rear brake is still hanging up. I took it back to this shop and am just having them fix it.

They suspected the caliper was bad at first so they were going to replace it (I was going to return the alleged bad caliper I just bought). I called them a little bit ago for an update and they said they are going to take it for a test drive soon but they believe that when I installed the caliper, I didn't compress the piston all of the way and that is why the brake is dragging.

I'm a little lost... On rear calipers that have an integrated parking/emergency brake, do you have to screw the caliper piston in all of the way? Out of the box, this reman caliper's piston was in quite far and easily went on over the pads (didn't have to hammer it on or anything). I kinda thought the piston would self adjust itself to however worn the pads were.

Anyone have any insight? Just want my car fixed and be done with this.

 

[bdcardinal]

Yes you are supposed to screw them in all the way. The little tabs should be at 12 and 6 o'clock when all the way in.

 

[CharBaby]

You can adjust the piston with the spring(working it back & fourth) at the top of the caliper so that the piston will be touching the brake pad. Of course, the caliper needs to be blead 1st.

And yes, the piston should self adjust as the pads wear. Using the parking brake lever will also be beneficial as well in keeping the piston adjusted.

 

[Donald]

The whole parking brake thing with rear discs is a PIA. Either you have little shoes for the parking brakes or integrate it. Neither is a straight forward solution.

My Dad told me years (50+) ago they had a band around the drive shaft that the parking brake would tighten. I never saw one.

Maybe go back to that. It seems simple.

 

[javacontour]

Few cars have a drive shaft these days. FWD = no drive shaft.

Originally Posted By: Donald
The whole parking brake thing with rear discs is a PIA. Either you have little shoes for the parking brakes or integrate it. Neither is a straight forward solution.

My Dad told me years (50+) ago they had a band around the drive shaft that the parking brake would tighten. I never saw one.

Maybe go back to that. It seems simple.

b

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: javacontour

Few cars have a drive shaft these days. FWD = no drive shaft.

Originally Posted By: Donald
The whole parking brake thing with rear discs is a PIA. Either you have little shoes for the parking brakes or integrate it. Neither is a straight forward solution.

My Dad told me years (50+) ago they had a band around the drive shaft that the parking brake would tighten. I never saw one.

Maybe go back to that. It seems simple.

b


Both my vehicles do. One even has a front drive shaft.

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: Donald

My Dad told me years (50+) ago they had a band around the drive shaft that the parking brake would tighten. I never saw one.

Maybe go back to that. It seems simple.



My brother has an older F500 Ford grain truck that uses that system. It IS simple and works great...until the one time that the ring and pinion in the rear end broke with a full load of grain while he was going up a hill. Then he couldn't drive it. He also couldn't park it with the emergency brake on because the rear end wouldn't hold the truck with the emergency brake engaged. The only thing he could do was sit there with his foot on the brake pedal until somebody came by to help him out.

 

[Merkava_4]

If you leave the rear caliper pistons in all the way, you're gonna have too much pedal travel.

 

[CharBaby]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
If you leave the rear caliper pistons in all the way, you're gonna have too much pedal travel.
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
You can adjust the piston with the spring(working it back & fourth) at the top of the caliper so that the piston will be touching the brake pad. Of course, the caliper needs to be blead 1st.

And yes, the piston should self adjust as the pads wear. Using the parking brake lever will also be beneficial as well in keeping the piston adjusted.



Exactly!