Rebuild brake calipers? my three amigos fix hopefully
 

So i ended up finding my three amigos issue- the calipers hang and act weird at different times- this was due to mud getting into the calipers from my fun mudding adventure with Dusty1 and a few other friends.

i bought the two land rover kits and it was straight forward for the back.

Rear Caliper rebuild

1.remove banjo bolt
2.put caliper in vice
3.find brass rod or rod long enough to tap piston out
4.once the piston is out remove the outer seal
5.remove inner square seal
6.clean caliper with brake cleaner and let dry
7.install new square seal- first dab it with dot 4 brake fluid( good idea to lube up piston wall too)
8.install outer seal by putting it in front first and working down the seal to the bottom of the piston till the seal is sticking out from the bottom enough to put in the caliper grove. <- Very Important! i know as i made the mistake of not doing this and destroying a new seal.
9. press on new piston with a c clamp or whatever method you like.
10.caliper is rebuilt.
11.do it again for other side.



Front Caliper rebuild -tricky sob's and this was the method i used- use at your discretion.

1.Remove banjo bolt
2.Put caliper in vice
3.hammer out one piston with rod from earlier
4.once the piston is out remove the outer seal
5.remove inner square seal
6.grab a drink and stay calm- how do you remove the second piston?
7.destroy or carefully remove outer seal from piston(your choice) revealing a groove
8.With a flat head tap the piston out making sure force is going to the middle of the ridge as that worked best for me.
9.once the piston is out remove the outer seal- or whats left of it
10.remove inner square seal
11.clean caliper with brake cleaner and let dry
12.install new square seals- first dab it with dot 4 brake fluid( good idea to lube up piston wall too)
13.install outer seals by putting it in front first and working down the seal to the bottom of the piston till the seal is sticking out from the bottom enough to put in the caliper grove. <- Very Important!
14. press on new pistons with a c clamp or whatever method you like.
15.caliper is rebuilt.
16.do it again for other side.

once done they should look like:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...89b9c0b77a596c

except for the fact that you paid attention to how the outer seal is installed and you didnt rear yours up;)

I will take pictures when i rebuild the ones coming off the rover- i will advise if this fixed my three amigos- as it should.


Bleeding the brakes with the autocom will be cake as they will be power bled.

nice


where did you get the kit

might i suggest a different way to remove the pistons with less damage. put a 1/2 inch block of plywood in the caliper where the shoe would fit and blow air into the opening for the brake hose. the air will push the piston out of the caliper.
almost the same going back, replace all your seals, hold the piston lightly again the dust boot while slowly blowing air into the hole. this will push the dust seal out and over the edge of the piston, now you can just slide them in place.

Ah.. that sounds like fun... and note to self... NO MUD!

Land Rover Front Disc Brake Caliper Rebuild Kit STC1919 | eBay

Land Rover Rear Disc Brake Caliper Rebuild Kit STC1909 | eBay

Just wondering what code you were getting?

ive seen it done on youtube- however they weren't budging when i tried it.

Not sure if you have an Oreillys Auto Parts in your part of the country?, but I bought these kits for around 7 bucks a piece or something...I think the rears were even cheaper?? anyway, one of my rears was sticking, and after taking it apart, the piston would bind all by itself (no seals) when you would try to slide it back and forth in the caliper bore. I took my wheel brake cylinder hone, and honed it with dot4 for a second, checked with piston, bored for another second, then wall-la, the piston smoothly slid into the bore.

This is the most affordable way to fix your brake caliper issues..By the way, my sticky rear caliper was basically brand new from the PO!! Not sure what your going to get from the parts store.....

Air pressure is the correct way to remove your pistons, but in my case, the binding piston would not come out with air, so I did what Is1morethanyou did. Be careful when beating the pistons out, they are soft metal.

Good write up Is1morethanyou

ABS code 86rear right wheel sensor - the caliper that works the best on my rover.

since the other three are partially braked they stay within spec of each other.

i guess i had a bad taste in my mouth while trying to locate all four caliper bolt/pin combos i didnt check for the kit there. i drove all over dfw- several stores to get the rear bolt and pin rebuild kits and then on to two different autozones for the front- i said f it and went to ebay to order the rest.

Deff way cheaper at Oreilly's
Brake Caliper Repair Kit - 2000 Land Rover Discovery | O'Reilly Auto Parts

You sure that right rear hub is good?

I didnt know you could buy the guide pins? I had one up front that was bent (no idea how)??? I straightened best I could, but the bushings were already kinda toasty...It seems to be working good for now though....

yes, as it was replaced with a known good one, the hub that was removed had slight play but nothing serious still gave me the abs code for the rear right.

before this mudding trip- i replaced the front rotors/pads and the three amigos went away

(i had not checked the front pads and rotor on the rover as when i pulled the rears they were both new and that was not the case for the front. the pads had 1/4 on them and the rotors were dug in bad- the front left caliper guide pin is also seized.)

after the mudding trip i decided to wash the calipers and mud off the truck- bad idea as the seals for the calipers were torn- didnt really pay attention to them- and mud/dirt got in and they are partially seized. sometimes they arent bad but others you can tell there are issues.

I found them because my front left guide pin is seized and i wanted to replace it so i could save the bracket- ended up buying the caliper sets just to replace the entire system when i realized they were all partially seized.

Good one drowssap. Excellent tip. :cool:

Nice job ls1morethanyou, but in all honesty I don't believe the caliper rebuild will solve your amigos problem as that is usually electrical/electronic related as oppose to mechanical and more often than not the ABS system SVS or wheel sensors/tone ring. It can also be a duff battery output causing ECU gremlins.

Well the electronics were working fine and you can feel the truck pull weird when the pads drag and disengage. So we will see.

I'm not trying to put a dampener on your endeavors and I sincerely hope your conclusion is correct but I've never yet come across rotors or calipers affecting the 3 amigos situation. Good luck and hope it works out.

seeing as how when i did the front rotors it fixed it- they were dug in like you wouldnt believe. i am hopeful it will work. we will find out tomorrow!

i finished the ordeal

three amigos are still here as is the same sound i had heard before when the caliper would drag just slightly less.

same 47 rear right output too low error, so now on to another sensor before i buy another hub.