Mustang Rear Disc brake help-asap

[doitmyself]

Gentlemen,

I got dragged into helping my son do his rear Mustang disc brakes (base model).

We have the special tool to turn in the piston/emergency brake. We will open the bleeder to not push fluid back into the ABS.

My question: How far do you turn in the piston. Or, how do you adjust the piston in/out when installing the new pads so that the emergency brake adjustment is positioned correctly to self adjust.

Thanks a lot. Is there anything I can screw up in this operation?

 

[The Critic]

When I did my Saturn's rear brakes (same setup), I just retracted it far enough to install the new pads. I'm not aware of any special precautions as far as emergency brake adjustment, but it may be different on your car. I know that some cars have a tab ?? on the caliper piston that must line-up with a corresponding notch on the inboard brake pad though.

 

[bdcardinal]

turn then in until they cannot turn anymore. there are 2 tabs, they should be up and down. its common to have the pistons seize in the bores on those calipers. its cheaper to just buy new or raman calipers when that happens.

what tool do you have, the cube or the real kit? ive never gotten the cube to work.

 

[SHOZ]

The piston will be pushed all the way into the boot. Drop the pads into the bracket and the caliper should fit on fairly easy. If you have to pound the caliper on with a lot of force then they aren't in far enough.

Be sure to turn clockwise too.

 

[punisher]

Ditto on the cube, tough to work with. Be sure the notches on the piston line up with the nub on the rear of the pad. It is a bit disheartening finding your new helper using a hammer to get a caliper over the rotor because the pad wasn't seated correctly.

 

[doitmyself]

Thank you every one. He went and bought a poopy Haynes manual and I found one article on the net.

Yes, turn the piston all the way in until it bottoms. then align the "slots" perpendicular to the long axis of the caliper.


The big problem is that the piston boot obscures the ability to see if the nub on the pad is lined up with "slot" on the piston. One of you implies that the caliper might not fit on if the nub and slot don't align. Otherwise, it seems to be "get is close enough" I guess.

Any good way to align the slot to the nub??

thanks again everyone. We are half way there. Inside pads froze on both rears. Seems like a half hearted design.

We borrowed the real tool from AZ. Works well.



My wife, daughters, grand kids, are out having fathers day dinner without me. I will give my son some good grief.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Thank you every one. He went and bought a poopy Haynes manual and I found one article on the net.

Yes, turn the piston all the way in until it bottoms. then align the "slots" perpendicular to the long axis of the caliper.


The big problem is that the piston boot obscures the ability to see if the nub on the pad is lined up with "slot" on the piston. One of you implies that the caliper might not fit on if the nub and slot don't align. Otherwise, it seems to be "get is close enough" I guess.

Any good way to align the slot to the nub??

thanks again everyone. We are half way there. Inside pads froze on both rears. Seems like a half hearted design.

We borrowed the real tool from AZ. Works well.


You can be confident that it's no worse a design than the front brakes on a Dakota

Make sure you clean and lubricate any slide points with a good brake lubricant. This will improve how things wear and function tremendously.

 

[bdcardinal]

i loved on the mustang boards when someone would come on and ask why their c-clamp wasnt working to get those pistons back in. usually ended up being very expensive for them.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
i loved on the mustang boards when someone would come on and ask why their c-clamp wasnt working to get those pistons back in. usually ended up being very expensive for them.



HHAAHAHAH, one of those "RTFM" moments

 

[artificialist]

On some cars, the piston has a left hand thread. I had a friend who forgot that, and totally trashed the caliper for a Ford 500.

Just another reminder that reading the directions first usually pays off.

 

[doitmyself]

Everything went well....my first ever rear disc job. Bled/flushed the whole system. Didn't slip and tear the piston boot this time!


I'm a fan of a modified break in...a dozen gentle slow downs from 30mph or so. I wonder if the back brakes break in because they tend to apply less "stopage" than the fronts.

Thanks everyone for the assistance. Did you notice the time of my first post vs. this one. I am incredibly slow....but I clean the slide areas really good, clean/lube the pins, etc.. The brake shop said they could do this job in 1.5 hours. Took me about 5 hours (3 beers)of actual time. We did have a delay to go buy the book. Again, I would have been more prepared on my own car.

 

[The Critic]

Glad to hear that it went well.

What pads and rotors did you use?

 

[doitmyself]

You just had to ask. It would be less painful to just poke me in the eye with a sharp stick.

First, the circumstances (don't ask)limited the selection to what was available on a Sunday morning.....this narrowed it down to NAPA and AutoZone.

Second, I don't force my fatherly wisdom on anyone. That's bad for many reasons.


The better NAPA components were almost double the price of the AZ Duralast/Gold products. I'm not convinced the lower value NAPA line is any better. So, he got "in the Zone". AZ still has it's free pad replacement warrenty no matter what reason (even wear).

He will find out how his decision plays out. He could have done worse. Myself, I find it harder and harder to shop at AZ. Their brake hardware kits suck. Their tool loan program is great.