[Guest]

Hello out there again. I have had a sticking caliper on the front left wheel and after discussing it with my dad we bought what was suposed to a remanned from advanced auto parts for my Imperial. It was a beautiful piece but came with a bracket that wasn't incorperated into my car. I seprated the pieces and tried to bolt it up but it fit loose and extended too far out so the wheel wouldn't turn. I ended up returning it and buy new brake pads since the inner pad was almost thin to the bracket. Now my braking is even but I havn't driven it far enough for the piston to stick.

My question is twofold. First, how is a brake caliper remanufactured and what prohibits me from rebuilding it myself? I've been burned on a replacement so I just rather reuse the one that fits right.

 

[Bob Lincoln]

Well, just to start, you should always replace or turn the rotor when new pads are installed. Always. And do both wheels as a pair.

Brake caliper reconditioning consists of disassembling it (removing the ceramic piston, seals, guides, bleeder screw; sandblasting or soda blasting or some other conditioning to clean the surfaces; measuring clearances to be sure they are in spec; replacing the piston and seals, bleeder screw, guides, etc with new parts.

There is no reason to attempt rebuilding one yourself when they are affordable.

Sounds like they just gave you the wrong part. I'd install the correct one, make sure it looks the same when you bring it home.

It's a good idea to replace the flex hose at the same time. They are a common cause of caliper sticking, because the inner lining deteriorates; the fluid then leaks between the inner and outer lining when you step on the brake, and doesn't easily bleed back when you let up on the brake. So it holds the caliper in the braking position.

 

[chuzz]

I agree with Bob, 100%. Try getting one from Autozone or O'Reillys instead.

 

[mydodgedip]

There are 2 diferent calipers on the AC/AYs, one for ABS and one for regular brakes, they probably gave you the opposite of what you need. Make sure you ask them when you order the next one and tell them which braking system it has.

 

[Doug D]

Agree they probably gave you the wrong caliper - bring the old one to show them.

Bob mentioned it - but I'll post it here again - when servicing brake components you should do them in pairs. So I'd recommend replacing the RF caliper (and pads/rotor) as well.

 

[valiant67]

There could even be three variations depending on the year. 1990 had two ABS systems. I know the rear was different by ABS type, not sure on the front.

 

[Moon]

My question is twofold. First, how is a brake caliper remanufactured and what prohibits me from rebuilding it myself? I've been burned on a replacement so I just rather reuse the one that fits right.

While I agree that the aftermarket rebuilds are cheap and probably easiest AND I strongly agree to replace your brake hoses especially if you can confirm that they have many miles on them. Internal collapse of the walls of the hoses have chewed up a lot of pads on a lot of old cars, let me also put a plug in for rebuilding them yourself since you asked what stops you from doing it.

I don't like the plastic or ceramic pistons and would try to get a steel piston kit; honing the piston bore can be done with a hone purchased from the auto parts store or if the bore is not pitted badly it can be cleaned with crocus cloth strips using a little brake fluid to flush out the particulates as they accumulate. A new square cut seal and a dust boot is provided in the kit. The dust boot can be a trick on some of the old Chrysler cars as one must get the boot to retract with the piston and the piston must be seated in the bore to accomodate new pads and getting that step in tandem (use a C-clamp of the appropriate size and an old brake pad or block of wood over the piston to avoid dinging the piston) as the piston is forced home (wet down the walls of the cylinder bore with new brake fluid).

I have done this a few times and always had good results. YMMV.

 

[bamman]

I could find no mention of different type calipers for ABS equiped cars either in the FSM or the parts catalogs.

I did, however, find that the Imperials had a different part number for the caliper compared to the Dynasty and New Yorker. The part number you should be cross referencing to is 4383468 and 4383469. I've found that on the Autozone website the default part that came up for the Imperial was the wrong one.

 

[Guest]

Well I must say thank you to everyone for all those tidbits

I did turn the rotors when I replaced pads but I agree that I must have got the non abs caliper. I'll look for that soon. I have a '93 with the bendix 10 abs which thanks to all of you I know how to install a non abs system.I have everything now but a proprotoning valve and Im going to buy a new master cylinder because all the junk yard ones ive seen are screwed.

My car had 105000 when I got it in march and the power brakes havn't worked since ive owned it, so 4000 miles later I've just been pretending it's 1961 and no power brakes is normal. I've bled the Heck out of the system and the pedals firm but needs good force for a sudden stop, it may be the real reason for sticky calipers. I'm going to do it before winter

 

[Moon]

My car had 105000 when I got it in march and the power brakes havn't worked since ive owned it, so 4000 miles later I've just been pretending it's 1961 and no power brakes is normal. I've bled the Heck out of the system and the pedals firm but needs good force for a sudden stop, it may be the real reason for sticky calipers. I'm going to do it before winter

Have you checked the vacuum power assist booster system? It is possible that somebody plugged the vacuum line or the diaphragm is internally torn. See the board for troubleshooting them after you do a visual check to make sure the vacuum hose is hooked up and supplying vacuum to the booster.

 

[valiant67]

There is no vacuum power assist on an Imperial. The boost is part of the electronic ABS pump on these cars and it is a very troublesome area.