Excursion front brake assembly

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Feb 9, 2010 | 06:25 PM

Country Traveler

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Excursion front brake assembly

Hi all,

I was going to change the front brakes on my 2000 Excursion. I removed the caliper took the old pads out and put new ones in. The problem I ran into is as follows:

I tried to move the piston on the brake caliper support in so that I could slide the caliper into position. The top one moved in after I banged it a few times, but the bottom one would not go in no matter what I did. It is now twisted from hitting it too many times. I tried lubing and everything. It is frozen. Obviously, I used a hammer on it because my C clamp wouldn't do the job.

Are these little pistons all part of the caliper braket assembly or do they screw in. I saw some vendors on line and the pictures did not show these pistons in them.

Also, is this bracket easy to replace or am I looking for trouble and is this common.

Thanks for any insight.

Feb 9, 2010 | 07:16 PM

Stewart_H

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From: Central Coast of CA

Your C-clamp shouldn't have had a problem pushing the pistons in. You did use the old pad or a piece of wood so both pistons would be pushed back at the same time, right?

If that piston is frozen, I'm pretty sure you'll need a new caliper assembly. I don't know of a way to R&R the caliper.

Stewart

Feb 9, 2010 | 09:28 PM

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Thanks. The piston on the caliper went right in. The ones that were frozen were the little ones on the support bracket where the bolts go to hold the caliper in position.

I ended up towing to a repair shop. We are getting a foot of snow tomorrow and at this point it is worth it to me to get it done by someone who has a garage to work in.

Feb 9, 2010 | 09:44 PM

Stewart_H

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From: Central Coast of CA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Country Traveler

Do you mean the caliper slide pins? These bad boys?

Vice grips or a bench vice works wonders.

Here's Guzzles write up on servicing those problem child pins.

Welcome to guzzle's Front Caliper Slide Pin Upgrade Web

When I did the brakes on my Ex a few years ago, only one gave me a hard time. The rest were on their way to being frozen in their holes too, but I got 'em all out (actually pretty easy with Guzzles directions), replaced them and lubed them, and haven't had a problem so far.

Stewart

Feb 10, 2010 | 06:11 AM

m350

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From: Eastern CT.

I just replaced both front calipers on my 06' F-350 yesterday,,,,up here in CT.,,,they get kinda rusted up,,,my front pass side was hanging up,,,rotor/brake/wheel would be really hot,,,so hot,,,the other day I was shoveling snow,,,some went into the pass wheel,,just after parking it,,,steam baked off the entire wheel,,,I was like,,

,,time to do them,,,replaced both front calipers, new pads and the pass side rotor(had been groved some what,, since about 8k miles) for $303 with the old caliper for cores,,brakes feel Good Now!

Feb 11, 2010 | 05:37 PM

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Thanks. I'm going to read up on Guzzles Web. Shop told me they needed heat to get the bottom one out. I got charged 1/2hr labor for that. Turns out I had a siezed rear left caliper as well.

Feb 11, 2010 | 05:48 PM

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Thanks for the link to Guzzles web. Just read it over. I'll know what to do for next time. Does not look like the end of the world. I tried to bang them in. If I knew they would turn, I would have tried that and maybe they would not have jammed up so much. I probably would not have lubed them up though and probably would have run into problems in the future anyway. Sometimes it's a good thing to have stuff go wrong.