2001 F250 SD diesel. Brakes have been working fine with no pulling. They just started to squeal recently so I knew it was time for some new pads.

I'm having a problem that seems to plague me often when I try to replace disc brake pads. I can't get the twin pistons to go back in to allow room to get the new, thicker pads in. I unscrewed the cap to the master cylinder and used a spreading tool (that came in a brake kit from Advance Auto Parts) to compress the pistons. No movement. I put a lot of force on it. No piston movement.

I unscrewed the bleeder screw and tried again. No movement.

I researched this yesterday and it should be straight forward but nothing is ever straight forward for me . Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

I always use a big c-clamp and one of the old pads. I also just get a new caliper if they go back in that hard

 

Good news! The pistons went back in. After taking a break, my wife went out to help me give it another try. We did a few things differently and it was pretty much like magic. The pistons went right in without all that much fuss. Kinda like they were supposed to . Thanks, guys. Gotta get back to work!


Danny

 

So what was the difference besides how your wife was doing it and what you did by yourself? I know... she read the instructions first! Lol.
I'd keep her around for a while.

To other's points here, alway open the bleeder and use a C clamp or something similar to push on the pad until fully depressed.

 

I wish I knew that as well! I think the key was having someone help me hold the caliper and the compression tool. Then a third hand was needed for the wrench.

The pistons went in about 90% of the way together. However, that still wasn't enough room for the thick, new pads. My daughter's fiance said not to compress each piston individually and I also saw (on this website) that someone else had suggested the same thing.

Anyway, the pistons weren't going in any further together so I alternated one at a time. I only compressed them a very small amount each to keep them as even as possible.

It's all back together and I'm going for a test drive shortly. Hopefully I won't have any problems.