My truck's brakes were toast when I got it. The po told me he drove it to work every day, and he had gotten it from a guy who hardly drove it at all. The calipers had seized and were only applying force to one side of the rotor, so it totally at up the rotor. One piston on the right caliper is seized. Actually bent my c-clamp when I tried to press it back in.

Anyway, the caliper brackets were totally rusted up on the mating surface, so there was no way the calipers were going to slide like they were supposed to. So I busted out a wire wheel, a double-cut ******* file and a single cut ******* file and resurfaced the mounting points.

First I busted the big rust off with a wire wheel.

Here's what it looked like after the wire wheel



Then I took the double cut ******* file to it. Even pressure with a level stroke to make sure I have a good mating surface without high points or rounding anything off.

After that I took the single cut ******* file to it to get a smoother surface to give rust less chance to take hold later on.

Here's what it looked like after the filing.



When I put the calipers back on, I'll put a little brake grease on the mating surfaces to help lube it and for even more rust prevention. Some people don't recommend the grease because it can collect dirt, but I find it easier to keep an eye on it and clean off dirty grease than it is to clean off a bunch of rust.

So, that's what I did, and how I did it. If you like how it looks, you can try it yourself.

I did the first bracket with just a single cut ******* file, and you get a nice smooth surface, but with the amount of rust I had, it took way longer. If you don't put too much pressure on the file, a double cut will still leave you with a fairly smooth surface that won't be too hard to smooth out with a single cut.

It's totally not necessary if all you have is surface rust, but if your caliper mounts are really bad, this is a lot cheaper and quicker than trying to find new ones.

You can do this with your calipers too, but it'll be kind of a pain unless you remove them from the truck.

Don't take off any more metal than you have to. The caliper retaining spring gives you some room to remove some metal and still have a tight enough fit, but you don't want them getting too loose.

 

Did you change your mind on the caliper baracket you offered me?

 

sorry but trying to figure out what a double ******* file and a single ******* file are? thought maybe they were curse words that got blanked out, but i doubt that's the case.

 

i'm sure those surfaces are more true than they were when they left the factory.

 

Thats a good job on taking a file to that bracket. it looks new the only trouble i find when i do that is there is sometimes slop in between the caliper and bracket. If this happens don't panic you can insert a piece of sheet metel to take up any slop.

 

Nice job. I use synthetic caliper grease, those trucks like it.

He is referring to a type of file, b-a-s-t-a-r-d.

 

Yep, exactly. Single cut has grooves running diagonally, double cut has a diagonal cross-hatch pattern. Double cut removes the metal faster, but leaves a rougher surface, single cut removes the metal more slowly, but leaves a smoother surface. Just like with sandpaper.

You can still have the caliper brackets. I got 'em on a spare front end I picked up for the spindle and axleshaft I needed. The caliper retaining bolt holes are screwed up, so I resurfaced and saved the ones that came on my truck.

I'll have to try out that caliper grease. It's gonna have to wait for a bit tho. This truck has vaccuumed up all the money I had for it for now. I'm crossing my fingers that I don't find any surprises when I go after the rear brakes.

 

Yeah I had considered that. I got new caliper retaining springs with the new calipers so hopefully, I won't have too much trouble, but that's exactly what I was thinking too if I had any slop. Thanks for the affirmation.

 

Could you pm me a phone number or email addy and we'll exchange some info. Or you can email me at broncorckcrwlr@yahoo.com .