2004 Tahoe - sticking rear caliper

Noticed a small grinding noise in the rear right side the other day - took the tahoe in as I figured it probably was about time for new pads. The local Brakes Plus told me my pads were in pretty good shape but I had a sticking caliper ($300ish) which also meant I needed to buy new rotors and pads too. Around $800 is a bit much for what I had in mind. Told me I could just do the pads but the slight pressure would just wear down that right brake a lot faster.

I asked him if he could just take apart the caliper and clean it, etc. - never done one myself but I've heard of a lot of other people doing that. He gave me a wishy-washy answer about how either they didn't do that or it couldn't be done because they don't make parts like they used to. That answer didn't really fill me with confidence, so I said I'd think about it and left without doing anything yet.

Is this something I can do fairly easily myself? If not, any recommendations on a shop in SE Denver Metro? I'd like to start with putting new pads on and trying to clean that caliper to see if I can get it unstuck.

This comes just a couple days within my kids breaking the rear glass liftgate. Apparently after I had just cleaned the car they were thinking it was a good idea to play "hide the whatever" outside in the driveway and my tahoe was a favorite spot until the liftgate broke. Looks like the hinge is epoxied or something to the liftgate and it snapped off, so I'm likely going to need a whole new piece of glass. Sigh.

Bring it up here and i'll walk you through it.

You might need the emergency brake service tool to get that caliper off. If not it's an easy job to replace the caliper.
OR cheap way....

Myself i'd prefer one replaces something that you or a loved ones life depends on.

The mech/tech/wrench gave you that answer for liability , ins reasons. Wouldn't be the first person to say. WELL YOUR REPAIR GUY SAID I COULD DO IT.

A caliper runs $25 - 100+ per from the same autooriellynapaknowhow store the repair places gets them. A dealer gets CERTIFIED FORDGMCMOPAR parts from their warehouse, which buys them from the same place everyone else does, in mexico or parts east.

If you don't have anyone down your way to help, drive up here i'll walk you through it. In the semi heated garage.

I usually find that the caliper slide pins are the culprit. Lots of places condemn the caliper first without checking the slide pins.
Also on a lot of older vehicles the rubber brake hoses collapses on the inside causing a sticky caliper.

I would first check the slide pins and see if they move freely. If they feel sticky, pull the pins out, clean the insides where the pins go with some penetrating oil, wd40 or whatever( I use a bore brush to get the gunk out)
then lube up with brake caliper grease.

To check if your caliper is sticking try to compress the piston in and se if it has a lot of resistance. If it feels like a lot, crack open the bleeder screw and try it again. If it gets easier you have a bad brake hose.
What I usually do when I compress the piston is peel back the rubber boot a bit with a pocket screwdriver and squirt some wd40 around the piston- helps lube up the oring.

To rebuild the caliper its a matter of finding the parts kits for them-o rings and seals.There easy to do.
Of course take the caliper off,take out the bleeder screw,put a block of wood between the piston and caliper where the pads sit-KEEP FINGERS CLEAR- and blow compressed air into the bleeder screw hole till the piston pops out.
Take the old oring and boot off,install the new ones. Also check the inside of the piston bore for rust or scoring.If theres scoring,you might be able to hone it out if it's not to deep.If slightly rusty take some 600grit paper and buff up the inside of bore.Lube up with light grease and re assemble.

Assuming its the 5.3L motor, but advance auto parts has a calipers for $60. Shit i'd buy two, and replace both of them and do a brake fluid flush.

Edit - here's a $50 off $125 coupon that you can use also. http://slickdeals.net/f/7360882-adva...0-off-125-code

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Originally Posted by kwando

Assuming its the 5.3L motor, but advance auto parts has a calipers for $60. Shit i'd buy two, and replace both of them and do a brake fluid flush.

Edit - here's a $50 off $125 coupon that you can use also. http://slickdeals.net/f/7360882-adva...0-off-125-code

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Yeah I think I'm going to do just that. With pads and rotors relatively cheap, I think I'll just do the whole deal at once. With the weather warming up slightly, I'm a bit more brave than I was during the middle of the cold weather last week.. :)

Unless anybody has any other suggestions, I'll probably grab the AAP house brand calipers w/ brackets (SLC650+SLC651), house wearever rotors (can't tell the difference between YH145441 and YH145282 yet) and the wagner thermoquiet ceramic pads because I've heard good things about them...

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Originally Posted by Brian

Yeah I think I'm going to do just that. With pads and rotors relatively cheap, I think I'll just do the whole deal at once. With the weather warming up slightly, I'm a bit more brave than I was during the middle of the cold weather last week.. :)

Unless anybody has any other suggestions, I'll probably grab the AAP house brand calipers w/ brackets (SLC650+SLC651), house wearever rotors (can't tell the difference between YH145441 and YH145282 yet) and the wagner thermoquiet ceramic pads because I've heard good things about them...

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i'd go with anything other than ceramic, unless you like replacing rotors more often. Especially if you're in a lot of stop n go traffic. YMMV

ok fair enough, can get OEM AC Delco semi-metallics for $75 on amz
$200 - 30% at AAP for the calipers and rotors

With tax etc. I should be $225, which is considerably less than I've been quoted so far. If it were only a little bit warmer... or I had insulated the garage. :)

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Originally Posted by Brian

ok fair enough, can get OEM AC Delco semi-metallics for $75 on amz
$200 - 30% at AAP for the calipers and rotors

With tax etc. I should be $225, which is considerably less than I've been quoted so far. If it were only a little bit warmer... or I had insulated the garage. :)

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Until you need to work in the shop for a prolonged period, you never pay attention to how cold it really is. Sunday morning 2* the shop was @ 37* unheated. 35 min later 49 once i fired up the 28K propane unit, with 1 ground and 2 ceiling fans it warms up fast.

A "sticking caliper" can also be caused by a bad flexible brake line on that corner (inside collapse- creates a one way valve in the line), although the caliper pins are a more common culprit.

I HATE semi-metallic pads though. (noise, dust, life) My opinion. I use ceramic. Organic if you like to spend money and track your SUV.

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Originally Posted by 00tec

I HATE semi-metallic pads though. (noise, dust, life) My opinion. I use ceramic. Organic if you like to spend money and track your SUV.

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If original brakes are worn out, the rotors can be turned usually once on most vehicles.
By switching to ceramic brake, your pads will last longer and will indeed cut your rotors harder, but by the time you need new brakes you will have needed new rotors anyway.

BTW a lot of new vehicles are coming with ceramic brakes as OEM. Less fade and actually get more aggressive when hot.

There are still applications for organics and semi-metallic where they are best. There are brands that are certainly better in certain applications/makes/models as well.
Ceramic have their place as well as organic and semi-metallic. When in doubt about your particular application... there are lots of people out there to reach out to either in person or on the web to find what is working best for a particular vehicle make, model and year.

As far as most dust nothing compares to Carbon-Metallics. The same that were used on the Space Shuttle and on 90's GM trucks. Black soot everywhere, but the only pad that would last longer than 3500 miles... even became the OEM pad after 2 years of production and brake issues in the 90's trucks. Anybody else remember Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads?

My garage never gets below about 60 degrees...

After spending the evening trying to compare semi-metallic to ceramic last night, I think I'm going to stick it right along with other good discussions like beans/no beans and 9mm/45acp

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Originally Posted by Brian

After spending the evening trying to compare semi-metallic to ceramic last night, I think I'm going to stick it right along with other good discussions like beans/no beans and 9mm/45acp

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you don't like beans in your 45, Can i borrow your chainsaw ?

I just want to add that AAP has stupid (awesome) generous coupon codes. How the heck do they make money? Markup must be pretty darn good on (chinese probably) parts.

Rotor + Loaded Caliper Left
$60 + $41 = $101 (minus $40 coupon) = $61 for both (free rotors?)

Rotor + Loaded Caliper Right
$60 + $41 = $101 (minus $40 coupon) = $61 for both

Bunch of other junk I bought (including a couple pairs of cheaper-than-usual mechanix gloves to replace the last ones I melted with my suppressor).
$80 - $20 = $60

The checkout guy complimented me on my skill with using their coupons. LOL.

If you need a garage let me know I have a nice insulated one plus most all the tools you should need. Just did the brakes on my Fud.

If you are replacing both calipers (you should) and rotors, might as well spend the few bucks on new pads as well. Just my .02. We always replaced calipers in pairs, rotots and pads on a need to replace bases.

Yep I picked up pads too, but got them elsewhere (amazon).

Thx Lurch - if it stays like it was today, I'll be good. I don't mind being a bit chilly - but last week was more than I'd want to sit through in the garage... :)

Grease the pins and sand the rotors. No beans in the 45, and kazoo has a chainsaw to loan.

All done, wasn't bad at all. The only annoying part was trying to get the old brass washers off the brake line, while brake fluid was dripping all over the place. No clue how they were supposed to come off but I ended up chopping them off with a pair of snips so I could put the new ones on. Got the little guy to play with the pedal for me so we could bleed the lines - brakes are great now.

The e-brake is now weak and goes all the way to the floor before it bites, so I'll need to fix that this weekend, but it's soooo smooth compared to where I was. I don't know what the brake shop guy was talking about when he told me my pads were fine. The inside rear pad on the right was grinding well into the metal, and the inside pad on the left was about 99% gone too.

Thx for the feedback - saved at least $400-500ish in the end for what was a pretty easy job.

Congrats. Now you have $400 for ammo. Can you tell me how many miles you have on the truck? My burb is getting up on the miles and it might need new pads.

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Originally Posted by Erni

Congrats. Now you have $400 for ammo. Can you tell me how many miles you have on the truck? My burb is getting up on the miles and it might need new pads.

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I can go check for sure tomorrow, but not too many for it's age. I remember a few months ago rolling past the milestone 80085.

Rotors were rusted but probably could have gone on a bit longer. Outside rear pads were still maybe 50% or a little bit less but the inside pads were shot.

Thanks. My truck is past 85k so it's probably time to take a good look and order some parts. But so far the breaks feel good.

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Originally Posted by Brian

All done, wasn't bad at all. The only annoying part was trying to get the old brass washers off the brake line, while brake fluid was dripping all over the place. No clue how they were supposed to come off but I ended up chopping them off with a pair of snips so I could put the new ones on. Got the little guy to play with the pedal for me so we could bleed the lines - brakes are great now.

The e-brake is now weak and goes all the way to the floor before it bites, so I'll need to fix that this weekend, but it's soooo smooth compared to where I was. I don't know what the brake shop guy was talking about when he told me my pads were fine. The inside rear pad on the right was grinding well into the metal, and the inside pad on the left was about 99% gone too.

Thx for the feedback - saved at least $400-500ish in the end for what was a pretty easy job.

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Set the e-brake 1/2 way down. Then follow cable to the adjuster nut[s] You'll know what to do from there. I like vacuum bleeding , one person job easy to do, except the off the work seat to refill m/cylinder and back. Then up and back., again.....

Feels good to have done the job yourself and put that extra money in your pocket. There are some jobs it's How Much and How Long ?

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Originally Posted by Great-Kazoo

Set the e-brake 1/2 way down. Then follow cable to the adjuster nut[s] You'll know what to do from there. I like vacuum bleeding , one person job easy to do, except the off the work seat to refill m/cylinder and back. Then up and back., again.....

Feels good to have done the job yourself and put that extra money in your pocket. There are some jobs it's How Much and How Long ?

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Yeah but it's not like the e-brake on my jeep, which was super easy to adjust the nuts. Apparently I have to take off the calipers and rotors to get at the e-brake drum to adjust on the tahoe - it's under the rotor. Talk about a stupid design, at least from a servicing standpoint. Wish I would have paid better attention to that part when I was doing the brakes. I read something about brake shoes and said "nope, not me - tahoe has disc brakes." Duh, the e-brake is a drum. Apparently if it's warn down it's a PITA to get the new shoe on too, but I'm hoping I'm ok as it was working just fine before. Oh well, tomorrow's my birthday. Maybe I'll take the day off and not worry about it.

It holds ok unless I'm on a slight slope. Parked in the slanted driveway, if I switch into reverse, it starts to roll slowly, so I'll need to fix it, but it's not super-urgent.

Calipers are going back for core fee, but what do I do with my rotors? Probably worth a couple bucks in scrap if nothing else, but I don't have a big bin to toss metal parts in and sit on it until it's worth it. They probably have some life left in them if someone wanted to clean and turn them. I suppose I could shoot them but I'm not that dumb.

Hmmm... a big wind chime?
Ultimate Frisbee?
Throw them in the neighbor's yard?
Make a bar stool? (Then construct a bar)
Melt them into 1oz eagles and sell them as PM?
Make an axe out of the rotor (scroll down about halfway) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...-Thailand.html

A buddy of mine told me he keeps one in the base of a shopvac to keep it from tipping over. That's actually a pretty cool idea.

I weld a piece of rebar to the rotor for a little impromptu target.

You should look into bedding those pads if you havent already.

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Originally Posted by Colorado Osprey

If original brakes are worn out, the rotors can be turned usually once on most vehicles.
By switching to ceramic brake, your pads will last longer and will indeed cut your rotors harder, but by the time you need new brakes you will have needed new rotors anyway.

BTW a lot of new vehicles are coming with ceramic brakes as OEM. Less fade and actually get more aggressive when hot.

There are still applications for organics and semi-metallic where they are best. There are brands that are certainly better in certain applications/makes/models as well.
Ceramic have their place as well as organic and semi-metallic. When in doubt about your particular application... there are lots of people out there to reach out to either in person or on the web to find what is working best for a particular vehicle make, model and year.

As far as most dust nothing compares to Carbon-Metallics. The same that were used on the Space Shuttle and on 90's GM trucks. Black soot everywhere, but the only pad that would last longer than 3500 miles... even became the OEM pad after 2 years of production and brake issues in the 90's trucks. Anybody else remember Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads?

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Those Carbon Metallics were nasty. They seemed to be carved out of rock. A 90's suburban might get 25-30k on the original brakes. Easy twice the life on the Carbon Metalics. But you would need rotors next go round gauranteed.