I am replacing the disk brakes on my 1980 F-100. I have removed the bolt and the wedge which holds the caliper in place...BUT I don't know how to remove the caliper to replace the pads.

What am I missing? I thought that caliper would lift up and out of the space after the wedge was removed.

I appreciate any help you can give me to get it back on the road.
Thanks.

 

Move the top of the caliper up, by tapping it in towards the rotor, allowing for extra clearance, and I got a heavy screwdriver in the goove at the bottom, and pried the bottom of the caliper towards the rear of the truck. They are pretty stiff, be sure to put some grease on the wedge and the groove on top so the caliper can move side to side once you put it back on.

 

Not trying to be smart with you.

Did you put a C-clamp on the pads and force the caliper piston back in.

This will release the tension on the pads and should be easily(or possible) removal.

 

The c-clamp would help with the install, but its on the hard side of impossible to get a clamp on them when the caliper is still mounted on the knuckle.

 

I have a large C-Clamp that I use for my brakes. I usually use it to squeeze the pads and caliper piston all the way back in before I remove the pads or caliper. It works like a charm every time. I position the screw end on the outer brake pad and the other side of the clamp on the flat spot on the rear of the caliper (the side towards the middle of the vehicle). There is really only one spot that will work, and it may take some trial and error to find it. Or, you can always remove the pads and caliper first, the press the caliper piston back in. I've done it both ways, but prefer the first method. Sometimes I even have to do them both to get the piston all the way back in.
And make sure you lube everything properly, with the proper lubrication when you reinstall everything. That just makes it work better, and easier to get apart the next time.

 

Finally got it to open up...I didn't want to bang on the caliper and I knew it wasn't designed to be beat apart...

Before I got it to release:


After it released:


I am sure I will have more questions after I do more work.

I plan to get the C-clamp on it before I remove the caliper.

Thanks for all your help!

 

Looks like you've got it!! C clamp is a must for doing the brakes

If you haven't gone to the parts store and got your new pads yet....ask them for the wedge retaining bolts too. That's the bolt that holds that wedge in place to the caliper mount.

those things are old and break very easy...I've twisted several off with not putting much more then hand tight torque on them. Most parts stores will have them, or can get them. They're about $3 for a pair of them. If you can get them, just throw your old ones away and put new ones in.

 

Were the pads hanging up on the lip of the rotor? For that I usually brace the disc with my feet and pull the caliper towards me (assuming that's almost always the direction that compresses the piston) and that can give you some wiggle room to pull up.

I bought a car to tear down for parts once- someone had put new pads on a rusty rotor with a lip. Put the pads in place then beaten the caliper down over them with a hammer or something. Caliper was dragging too, btw, so the pads got hot enough that the caliper wouldn't come off of them. Ended up cutting a section of the disc out, then moving it into place between the pads. I was doing some cursing that day

By the way, from the looks of that rotor you may need to be prepared to do some beating to get it off. Had any vibration in the pedal or steering wheel when braking? Check the pads for uneven wear, spin the rotor around by hand and look for lateral and horizontal runout while it's on the truck. If the hub is rusty get that off with a wire brush and clean it up with brake cleaner and towels before the new one goes on.

 

I plan on putting new calipers on my truck pretty soon.

I just got a new PS pump today.

Calipers for our old trucks are actually pretty darn cheap, the F150's anyway. Mine's 4x4, so I don't know if that makes much of a difference, but my calipers would be $16 new from Advance Auto with a 5$ core. The brake bleeder screws on the new calipers are also in a different spot than the factory ones. They're screwed into the top of the caliper versus in the inside facing towards my drive-shafts off the TTB. I imagine the bleeder screws mounted on top would be a lot nicer than having them mounted where they are now. I think it's a pretty good PITA where they're at.

Has your truck been sitting a while? It looks like you've got a good bit of rust up front man.

Hope all goes well with your truck.

Also, as a tip, a one man brake bleeder "kit" from the auto place is 7 bucks. It's not a vacuum pump, but it works pretty good. You take a catch bottle with clear tubing and a pointed end and you mount the bottle above the bleeder screw that way the air can't go back in. You take the pointed end and push it into the hole in screw and break the screw loose. From there you just pump the pedal. For me, I stuck it with the magnet on the frame at the back drums, and I set it up and cracked the bleeder screws loose. I then checked the fluid level up front and topped it off, put the cap back on, and went to the inside of the cab. Push on the brake pedal slowly and letting it come up slow about 15 or so times. Go check the bottle, make sure it's not leaking anywhere that could let air in, check the fluid level, and repeat.

It works pretty darn good too. You got to empty the bottle when it gets full, but it takes ALL the air out.

 

Couldn't get the piston completely into the caliper with my C-clamp and the fluid was pretty dirty, so there was probably debris in the caliper. As 1983F1503004X4 noted, the calipers are fairly inexpensive. I picked some up at O'Reilly's for $16 each plus $9 core charge. I felt they were a bit larger than the originals because the wedge seem tighter and I had to hit it pretty hard during the re-install. It feels good to have solid brakes...on to the back brakes next.

I had my son help me with the bleeding of the brakes...I need to show him how to do these things. If I don't have help, I have a clear hose that I clamp onto the bleeder screw and and dump one end into the "Jelly Jar" that has fluid and get to pumping...and keep an eye on the reservoir.

I think the rubber in the lid of my reservoir is allowing some of the fluid to leak out. It looks like it has rusted into the rubber and there is not a tight fit. I ordered a master cylinder and it should be in tomorrow. I will get pictures of the rusted lid/rubber tomorrow.

I do appreciate the help.

I gotta blame all this activity on WillieJoe62...I got motivated reading about his build...right on brother.

 

I got lucky on the existing parts, they are rusty on the surface, but they are well preserved. I did get extra bolts, but the stock bolts seemed better made so I cleaned them up and re-installed them.

 

[QUOTE=mybrownie;11850259]Finally got it to open up...I didn't want to bang on the caliper and I knew it wasn't designed to be beat apart...

My next step is to replace the brake hoses...they scare me:



I am soaking the connections to remove the rust.

 

You put a block or something between the piston and the clamp? And did you open up the reservoir and take out some fluid before compressing the piston? Depending on how thin the pads were more fluid might have been added before, and so to get the piston wide open you'd either have to remove that or compress it by hand. I'd be impressed if you did the second haha.

Holy smokes at that caliper price. I had to buy some last summer for the benzL $160 a piece . I always get weird looks from the parts people now when I buy parts. Guess they aren't used to people smiling when they buy a new distributor haha.