Superduty caliper rebuild pointers

XJsavage

CounterCulture
Joined
Aug 15, 2009
Location
Lyle's Ford SC
2004 SD 60 straight out of junkyard. I don't know the history or mileage of these other than theyve sat mounted under my Jeep unpressurized with whatever brake fluid was in it for over two years. They function but either one or both want to drag after moderate braking during normal driving. Pads are brand new and so are rotors.
So, is it worth taking these apart and addressing the drag issue or just buy new ones?

Side note: stupid Ford stuff....
 
Well...the annoying thing is all of the ones you can buy are remans. The rebuild kits are like 4 bucks a piece. I know you like to get in depth with stuff, so I'd figure you would rebuild them. Especially for the price of the reman ones and then core exchange and all that crap. No to mention the quality of the remans probably won't be that great.
 
I've vaguely shopped around for a pair different places. Prices are all over the board and the remans can be hit or miss. I'm assuming a rebuild kit is something I can get from any ole parts store? That gives me a great exscue to troll on down to see my buddy Johnathon (aka Lerch) at Oriellys to buy some more parts for this imaginary 2004.5 Superduty with a twin turbo 4.6, 5 speed stepside longbed and Bluetooth door locks :lol:
 
Fwiw, I've never had much any issues with reman calipers. Power steering pumps, however, are a very different sorry story. I don't see why not to rebuild them yourself.. they are simply a hydraulic cylinder. Honing/polishing the bore and piston are key to success. Rebuild kits typically are not stocked at parts stores though. I've installed hundreds of reman calipers without issue.
 
I just looked on RockAuto; If I got the specs correct, the name-brand remans are $40-50 each plus core. You could probably rebuild for $20 each if they have phenolic pistons.

They look like standard floating calipers though, so really easy to rebuild, especially if you're not in a rush. Pull the slide pins, check the condition, replace if necessary. Replace the slide pin boots and any slide pin rubber bushings, grease as you go. Push out the pistons with a rubber-tipped blowoff nozzle in the hose port, and check the piston condition. If the pistons are phenolic, throw them away and order replacements ($6 each). Clean and check the caliper bores, replace the piston seal(s), replace the dust boots while putting the pistons back in. Replace the pad guide clips as well, just like anytime you do a pad replacement.

For most calipers you'll need these parts (kits differ in what they include:
Slide pin boots/bushings
Piston seals
Piston boots
Copper banjo washers if the brake lines have banjo fittings (NAPA carries locally, no one else does)
Optional slide pin replacement
Optional piston replacement (replace if phenolic)
Optional bolt replacement, caliper to caliper bracket
Optional speed bleeders (bleed fitting with check valve) to bleed without a friend or extra equipment

It's actually really easy, it's just time consuming if you're making everything clean and pretty while you're doing it. It takes longer to brush and clean/dry the cast parts than it does to reassemble everything. There's a couple of stupid tricks (like turning the boots inside out onto the piston so they roll into place, and seating the boot lip before inserting the piston), but you can probably learn everything you need to know from youtube.

Standard floating calipers are so simple that remans are perfectly fine usually. Some of the brands don't replace the phenolic pistons (bad way to get cost reduction), and it's really hard to find info on who does or doesn't do that. That's probably the best reason to spend a little extra and get a reputable name brand, along with probably getting better quality seals and boots.
 
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Yeah, I'll just buy new ones. Thanks y'all.
 
If you buy some reply with the brand. I am going to be in this same boat shortly.


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Is yours 99-04 or 05+? I'll ask my coworker about it since he's worked on so many SD trucks which brand he's had the best luck with tomorrow.
 
Is yours 99-04 or 05+? I'll ask my coworker about it since he's worked on so many SD trucks which brand he's had the best luck with tomorrow.

Dang. 05. But I imagine quality across the brand will be consistent.


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Buy new. Motorcraft. I always had issues with reman's and off brand shit on my 02.

Buy new what? Calipers? Even the ones I've found from Ford dealers are remans...100 bucks each and 50 for cores.
 
Not sure how similar yours is to the 2001 F250 7.3...

Had a similar issue with the rear calipers dragging.
Replaced rear calipers with a rebuilt set. They still dragged a little right from the start, problem got worse with time.
Replaced them again, this time, a new set of rear flexible brake hoses were installed.
Problem solved.
 
Since this issue was on my secondary vehicle (the Jeep) that will never really tow anything heavy and weighs ~5k itself, I took the cheaper alternative and went down to the local junkyard and bought up a few calipers to keep around. I'd specifically target the insurance wrecks and inspect each pad and rotor before I grabbed the caliper/bracket looking for signs of heat buildup from drag. All Ford OEMs or so they appear.
Swapped them on the other day and got lucky.
Problem solved on my end. There'll be no shartage of SD trucks showing up in junkyards any time soon. Hell, I figure at $20-25 per caliper w/slide pins and bracket, as little as I drive the Jeep, I'll be good.
 
Since this issue was on my secondary vehicle (the Jeep) that will never really tow anything heavy and weighs ~5k itself, I took the cheaper alternative and went down to the local junkyard and bought up a few calipers to keep around. I'd specifically target the insurance wrecks and inspect each pad and rotor before I grabbed the caliper/bracket looking for signs of heat buildup from drag. All Ford OEMs or so they appear.
Swapped them on the other day and got lucky.
Problem solved on my end. There'll be no shartage of SD trucks showing up in junkyards any time soon. Hell, I figure at $20-25 per caliper w/slide pins and bracket, as little as I drive the Jeep, I'll be good.

You can rebuild those spares for really cheap so you'll have known-good units on the shelf when needed. You should try it, it's really easy and a good skill to learn.
 
You can rebuild those spares for really cheap so you'll have known-good units on the shelf when needed. You should try it, it's really easy and a good skill to learn.
That's what I'm thinking I might do since I have more available time to mess with these and the Jeep is not down anymore
 
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