Hey folks,

Sorry for the rash of questions, another issue where I seek opinions. When doing the brakes recently on our 96 E350 Quigley 4x4, you can see that the dustcover outer seals on the pistons are cracking / splitting / in varying states of disintegration. They're not terrible, and it looks like they've probably been that way for a while anyways. We took apart one caliper where the disc had worn oddly and inner o-rings looked totally fine, and there is no leaking. I want to replace the rings and dust seals, but can't find them in Ecuador without buying four new pistons for nearly $200. I'd rather wait 2-3 months until a friend can bring us $15 worth of seals from the US... is it a terrible idea to wait that long?

My thinking is that worst case scenario, it starts leaking before I can get new seals brought down and I can still buy the new pistons & seals here!

Cheers,
Josh

 

All depends on how much you drive and in what conditions. It doesn't sound like a big deal for someone that only drives the vehicle like a hundred miles a week or so on normal roads / occasional rough stuff. Might be different if you run a service taking people into the jungle 7 days a week bouncing down terrible roads for thousands of miles.

If your piston boots are cracked though, how are your caliper pin boots and caliper pins? Those are frequently the cause of uneven wear problems. Also, if the caliper bracket is crusty, clean up the sliding surfaces or replace it. If you have pad clips in there that are disintegrated, replace them. But off hand it sounds ok to drive for a little while.