Come along with Eric O. at the SMA Garage as he tries to help out a viewer rebuilding the obsolete rear brake caliper on his 1982 Nissan / Datsun 280ZX. The pistons in these calipers were toast and the parts are no longer made! We also get to see how crappy of a job the "professional" rebuilders did on an Advance Auto brake caliper!
Interested in stuff seen in the videos or the tools and toys Eric O. likes and uses? Check out the S.M.A. "A-Store" and help support the channel! : http://astore.amazon.com/httpswwwy0837-20
If an SMA Video has helped you out please consider giving using the "support" link on our YouTube home page. The videos take real time to create and pull us away from real work that pays our bills.
THANKS!
--Eric O.
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Simply send and E-mail to SMAstickers @outlook.com including: your shipping address and e-mail address in the text, I in turn will send you a paypal invoice for $5 each USA or $6 each international. Let me know how many you want and as soon as the paypal invoice is paid I will ship them out ASAP! Thanks for your support of our channel!!
--Eric & Vanessa O.
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Just ship it here:
South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
PO Box 471
Avoca, NY 14809
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not South Main Auto Repair.
Interested in stuff seen in the videos or the tools and toys Eric O. likes and uses? Check out the S.M.A. "A-Store" and help support the channel! : http://astore.amazon.com/httpswwwy0837-20
If an SMA Video has helped you out please consider giving using the "support" link on our YouTube home page. The videos take real time to create and pull us away from real work that pays our bills.
THANKS!
--Eric O.
WANT AN "SMA" STICKER OF YOUR OWN!?!
Simply send and E-mail to SMAstickers @outlook.com including: your shipping address and e-mail address in the text, I in turn will send you a paypal invoice for $5 each USA or $6 each international. Let me know how many you want and as soon as the paypal invoice is paid I will ship them out ASAP! Thanks for your support of our channel!!
--Eric & Vanessa O.
Feel like sending some swag to SMA because you love the videos but don't know where to send it?
Just ship it here:
South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
PO Box 471
Avoca, NY 14809
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not South Main Auto Repair.
Why not just swap to different calipers?
Well Eric, if I were watching you do this live streaming, I would absolutely keep track for you , but unfortunately I don't know when you go live ! But another great video, heck I'm looking for a ac clutch rebuild kit that does cost the same as buying the entire ac compressor for a 2011 mazda tribute 2.5 liter. Have a great day!
maybe you could have used a valve spring compressor
The snap ring pliers that you need for a job like this are Motion Pro 08-0279 Master Cylinder Snap-Ring Pliers. They are designed to get deep into the bore of a motorcycle master cylinder while leaving room to compress the spring and piston.
Can it be used on a 2021 Telluride SX rear electronic parking brake?
Rebuilding that caliper could start you smoking! I have a '92 Geo Metro with a sticking, dragging DS wheel. It did not leak, but would not release properly. I took the caliper apart and there was a tiny spot of corrosion on the plunger. Cleaned it all up, but quite the battle to get it reassembled.
Thanks to your persistence, I stuck with it. Used a C clamp and hammer to get it all together. It works now. sorry for the late post.
Wonder why he didnt go see Rainman Ray..lol..guess hes to good for stuff like this..lol
Check with Scotty he has a huge collection of calipers and catalytics.
You can do it!!!
Put the seal on the piston first!
knowing no way in hell i would ever try to do this, i still sat here and felt your pain and aggravation and then jubilation at the end as well, i also said a few cuss words for you as well…congrats and thanks for showing this as it really happens
should have ordered the Nissan rear parking brake spring compressor retaining clip installer from Amazon Part number NSC-15389. It looks like a valve adjusting tool and costs 8.95 makes installing the retaining clip a breeze
They are a strugge. I own a 2005 VW Jetta, and with every brake job, I take the calipers apart and rebuild them. That way I'm confident that they're clean and won't leak. I do prefer this kind of ebrake setup as opposedd to the drum in rotor setup. Thanks for the great vids. Greetings from British Columbia, Canada.
I am surprised you didn't bead blast that caliper. Kind of a weird caliper…never saw one like that before. Did you get info on it somewhere on the internet? Hope you don't have the flu? (Rainman Ray just did a rusty Jeep brake video…maybe from the beach/ocean water….I'll be doing front shocks on my 2014 Ram 1500…should I replace my control arms at the same time? I already did the rear and put in PU sway bar bushings all around and PU sway bar links…TIA
For folks that work on their own vehicles, I recommend having a 6in welding/woodworking C-clamp in your toolbox. They're about $6, and work well to hold lots of things while you work on them. In this case he could have kept that spring compressed, using the socket like he did, then put the C-clamp in the vice to hold it while he put the snap ring on. It also makes pushing the caliper pistons back in the cylinder really easy, while it's still connected to the hydraulic system, when you're doing a typical brake job.
In 1974 had to junk my 1965 Fiat 1500 cabriolet bc no parts. First try at rebuilding a caliper,no good.
Now I know that I am not alone in the quagmire of auto repairs.
Got a question you’d probably be able to fix but not over the internet but I need to try… 2014 mustang GT non brembo brakes.. rear driver side outside pad always wears 2 or 3 times faster.. I have changed pads and rotors 4-5 times.. slide pins, caliper and hoses at least once… still same issue no matter what I do… pins move just fine I NEED YOUR WISDOM
Might check a machine shop. Can the piston be welded? If yes, the weld a fresh layer around the outside to fill the pitting. Then turn it down to the correct O.D. on a lathe.
snap rings? safety glasses please- remember your finger nails
eric started out watch repairing
Don’t be to hard on yourself. You did a great job. Nobody is perfect and we all get projects that don’t go the way they should. Yes you were frustrated and you had a reason to be, so what. I lover your videos they are detailed and they leave no question of what you did, so we can go back and see what we need to do. Pat yourself on the back. You also have a great attitude, which makes it real. Mike
To add love all your videos and your extensive knowledge
Why did you not plug up all the holes and blast the rest of it to clean It up?
I know this is years later but a gear puller pressing down on the socket wouldve helped ya get things in the right place.. JS.. Great job anyway..
gotta admit, you scared the living bejesus out of me and i'll just buy new calipers or get someone else to rebuild them. heh
LoL !!!! Sometimes you have to do things slow to do things fast ..
Drill press ….
Or try to find a bone yard. Which is a fifty fifty if dares 82 datsun
Great video. Your grandma taught ya well!!! LOL
4 years later, I will say I don't think the silicone lube is compatible with DOT 3/4. I think it would be compatible with DOT 5? I did some research because a caliper piston/seal job is in my future and I ended up ordering some Red Rubber lubricant for this job.
I have a 2006 Town and Country that has never had a brake job. Getting all new calipers, rotors and pads. The rear calipers are locked up. Pads never touched the rotors since I bought it two years ago.
Not only was this a brilliantly detailed explanation but the rebuild was completed for a subscriber. This is the sort of channel that goes above and beyond. A very educational video and no doubt a very grateful subscriber. I've seen the big jobs, the small jobs but this had me transfixed. So intricate. What can I say, I must be a nerd in the making. Way more patience than me and a great video, kudos.
awesome video my brother.
You are human after all! Nice work 👍🏼
That brought back some memories…!! A brake job used to take hours/ half a day if things went sideways. I know the air gun trick… my grade 10 shop teacher taught us how to rebuild calipers. Those were the good ole days. That is why I enjoy watching you… we fix and repair, rather than replace parts. Cheers…!! Ken, Durham Ontario (also part of the rust belt lol)
I’ve gotten deep into some really similar on rear ford calipers where they had a special wrench to adjust them in and made my own tool to do it, because I knew that I would only be doing that job two or three more times before the car would be wore out.😝lol.
I know this is old but I just relived Eric’s injury when that piston come flying out. I felt that one. OUCH!
why isn't there a spring on the parking brake lever for left like the right?
Great job. Would the tool used for pushing the piston in on calipers work instead of using a screwdriver on the socket for downward pressure ? The videos you make help me out all the time, Thanks
When I did my callipers I used a rotary s/steel brush on a Dremel flex to clean the groove for the square cut seal. Work really well
How the hell they put this damn thing together at the manufacturing plant, not like this for sure!
A trick I learned from my Dad was also that popping the dust boot over the piston with compressed air. We also ran into some very stuck pistons that had gotten a little crooked in the bore and got quite rusty. A trick we figured out when compressed air didn't work, is he had a really big 10,000 psi grease gun. We made a grease nipple that would screw into the bleeder hole, then blocked off the other one with an old banjo fitting, then pumped the caliper up with grease. It was going to come out or break one way or the other. The nice thing with the grease method is, as long as there's not too much air trapped behind the piston, is it won't pop out violently since grease acts like a hydraulic and doesn't compress much. Grease cleans off quite well later with brake cleaner solvent.
What the Eric O. needs to do is put this down and wait for help, even a smaller child strong enough to press down the spring and hold it firmly and pay for their x-mas presents or food to help him. That is the most logical without a root beer capping tool or bullet re-loading press to help said child to give poor dumb dad a hand.
I think this body needs put into an ultrasonic cleaner overnight.
So we send the left and the right to China to be rebuilt and they only send one side back? They really are trying to destroy the West.
I gave up buying seal kits for brake calipers a couple of decades ago.. the issue you had with pitted pistons was too common, not even worth the time to strip them out & see if the thing's good enough to rebuild, just buy a caliper.
Only time to even check is when new calipers aren't available.
Back in the dark ages, before ECM…..Yup, especially for 'foreign' vehicles, it was virtually impossible to get alternative sources for parts, and you had to resort to all the methods shown or made your own. Thanks for the Old School video, brought back grim memories hahahaha
The ability to stay calm and press on when it doesn't go as planned is invaluable