changing brake pads. the inside bottom piston on the right caliper will not go in. the pads were way over due for change and i wonder if it could have over extended. but the top inside on slid in just fine along with the farthest right ones. is there any tip out there for gettin that booger back in without pulling off the caliper? thanks in advanced 95 4wd 4runner by the way

 

If it's seized like that the only solution is rebuild the caliper, or get rebuilt ones. Even if you can get it moving unless you take it out and clean the corrosion from the piston it'll just seize again and your new pads won't last long.

 

i think advance auto has some for cheap like 40 bucks or something.

 

For temp fix you can work it back and forth with a big C-clamp. I did that once and it worked for a while but eventually seized again. If you have the cash go and get you a set from and autoparts store they are not that spendy and will save you problems down the road. I played this game about a year ago..not worth screwing with them if you don't have to.

 

I just went through this, get a new or rebuilt one or rebuild it yourself if you want. No amount of coaxing or pushing it back in will make it right again and you will windup where I was. Caliper was seized so had my mechanic put a new one on, that one siezed too-so much so it ruined the pad and had to have the rotor cut.

 

hey thanks for the advice guys. i ended up taking the caliper off and put it in a vice to push the piston back. this is a temporary fix to get me threw the week until i can fix it right this weeked. since it is just one piston do u think ill be fine rebuilding it my self?(if anyone on has done this go ahead and chime in now) or should i just try and get a new one. oh and my break pedal is really soft now. did i not bleed them well or what?

 

I don't really see the point in rebuilding master cylinders/calipers these days. It takes a lot of time and you have to do it just right...to save only a couple bucks. Get two new calipers and drive happy!

 

I rebuilt a few and honestly the time and cost aint worth it, just buy a new or rebuilt one.

 

X2, I used to rebuild them years ago but now rebuilt ones are cheap enough it's hardly worth the few $s you save.

 

I've rebuilt both the ones on my '93 when I bought it. It was worth it for me to know that it was done right. Plus it only takes about an hour to rebuild a caliper. It's a crapshoot whether the rebuilt ones you buy will be good or not, and new Toyota ones are really expensive.

 

When you put the piston back in you might have damaged the square cut o-right which sucks the piston back into the caliper after you let off the brake pedal. That would cause a squishy brake pedal, or you may have not bled it well enough. I would reccomend just replacing it with a rebuillt caliper. They are relatively cheap and easy sqeezy to do.

 

This is true, due to lack of time I had my mechanic replace my rotors and brakes and the passenger caliper that was seized. Sure enough that one locked up too and of course I couldnt get right down there so my inside pad wore away and my rotor was eaten up a bit.

After turning the rotor we decided to use a ac delco reman instead of the bendix one we used before. Been a whole day and nothing is wrong.

 

I rebuilt a couple before. Never had a problem out of either one after the rebuild. Not that difficult really. I am sure there is a write-up somewhere on it. You can always take it apart and see how bad it is. If it just minor corrosion, you can rebuild it and it should work fine. If the cylinder or caliper is pitted, it is too far gone to rebuild.

 

If the pistons themselves are pitted, you can buy a replacement piston from the dealer. I think I paid roughly $35 for a piston for mine. The ones that are seized will typically have some sort of corrosion on them. The ones that are not seized will typically be in great condition. If too many of them are corroded and need replacement, that's where it is probably more economical to buy a rebuilt caliper instead (those typically have some sort of warranty on them anyways).

 

X3