This is my first brake job on this car (41,000 miles). Rotating the piston
to drive it back into the caliper was a real struggle with the tool ... and
probably impossible with needle-nose pliers as shown in the manual. Very
hard to turn. Is this typical?
I moved it enough to clear the new pads and allow reassembly, but I'm
wondering whether I oughta proceed. Do I need to tear down and rebuild the
caliper first? Is this a DIY job or would I be better off with rebuilt
unit?
Incidently, when I disassembled the brake, I found that both pads had
separated from their backing plates. These were the original Nissan
(bonded) pads. I have Nissan pads to replace them and they're also bonded.
I kinda with they were rivetted.
Roby
JimV - 24 Nov 2004 20:48 GMT
> This is my first brake job on this car (41,000 miles). Rotating the piston
> to drive it back into the caliper was a real struggle with the tool ... and
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Roby
The pistons move in easily if you crack the bleeder screw as your pushing.
David Efflandt - 25 Nov 2004 04:11 GMT
> This is my first brake job on this car (41,000 miles). Rotating the piston
> to drive it back into the caliper was a real struggle with the tool ... and
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> (bonded) pads. I have Nissan pads to replace them and they're also bonded.
> I kinda with they were rivetted.
I normally do my own front pads, but had a dealer do my rear pads because
my parking cable got stuck in the dead of winter at a time when I had no
garage. But that was after nearly 100,000 mi. If your rear brakes wore
out in only 41k, it is quite possible that your parking brake cable also
needs to be replaced. It tends to seize up over time, not fully release,
and drag the rear brakes causing them to wear out prematurely.
Roby - 27 Nov 2004 01:15 GMT
> This is my first brake job on this car (41,000 miles). Rotating the
> piston to drive it back into the caliper was a real struggle with the tool
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> Roby
Jim and David:
Thanks for the advice. The second caliper was totally stuck. Opening the
bleed screw didn't help. Sooo, having been without the car for several
days now (not much time to give it), I opted to replace both rear calipers.
Nissan wanted $323 each. I suppose they come in a really nice box.
I found rebuilts locally for $74, will pick 'em up tomorrow.
Everything was extremely rusty and I have a hunch my rear brakes haven't
been working for some time. The emergency cable works fine and in the
released position, the bell crank returns to the against-the-pin position.
I guess I need to either move to a place without road salt or disassemble
and clean the brake assemblies every 2-3 years to avoid a repeat of this.
Or maybe just stay inside all winter!
Enjoy the ride ...
Roby
John Smith - 27 Nov 2004 21:33 GMT
Everybody swears thtat Green Stuff are the best. But, I prefer factory
pads. Look at the bright side and the 41K you got off the factory pads!
Pretty cheap if you consider how long they last. I would not worry
about it. And, if they seperated at 41K just change them next time at
40K and you should be good. Actuaries and the Mean Time Between Failure
MTBF analysts make the decisions on how long they will last and if you
are doing the driving like the last 41K you should get the same amount
of time with them...
> This is my first brake job on this car (41,000 miles). Rotating the piston
> to drive it back into the caliper was a real struggle with the tool ... and
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Roby
lwilliams - 12 Dec 2004 22:54 GMT
,
Roby,
Go with the rebuilt capiper, it will work like new and you won't have to
deal with this issue again as long as you ownthe car.
> This is my first brake job on this car (41,000 miles). Rotating the
> piston
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> Roby