Rear Brake Caliper Rebuild - HELP

[JGalarse14]

Good day,

Has anyone seen any guides/instructions on how to rebuild the rear brake calipers on S550 Mustangs? Disassembled them a while back to get powder coated, fast forward half a year later, now putting it back together. My dumb mistake was not documenting it, thinking there will be numerous guides on the internet. Now I am having issues remembering things and have difficulties with the assembly. Any help would be much appreciated! (Yes I have searched the internet and I can't seem to find any leads specific to the S550)

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[AlphaTheBum]

did you completely disassemble the caliper or just remove it as a whole?

 

[MrMike]

Unless I'm overlooking it, the shop/service manual doesn't appear to include instructions to fully rebuild the rear caliper. E-brake issues end with replace the line then replace the caliper.

 

[JGalarse14]

did you completely disassemble the caliper or just remove it as a whole?

I completely disassembled the caliper itself.

 

[JGalarse14]

Unless I'm overlooking it, the shop/service manual doesn't appear to include instructions to fully rebuild the rear caliper. E-brake issues end with replace the line then replace the caliper.

I didn't find anything in the manual either! Surely someone has ran to the same issue as me!

 

[MrMike]

I completely disassembled the caliper itself.

Pics? I'd honestly like to see this. I have a brand new set of calipers (all four corners) in front of me and I can't imagine taking the e-brake portion apart.

 

[MrMike]

 

[Dana Pants]

Caliper rebuild is definitely an undocumented procedure because ford only replaces the caliper. Good luck!

 

[JGalarse14]

Pics? I'd honestly like to see this. I have a brand new set of calipers (all four corners) in front of me and I can't imagine taking the e-brake portion apart.

I'll take some pictures later when I get home. I would definitely record the whole process in detail if you do the disassembly, ha!

 

[FUN2RIDEFAST]

Good day,

Has anyone seen any guides/instructions on how to rebuild the rear brake calipers on S550 Mustangs? Disassembled them a while back to get powder coated, fast forward half a year later, now putting it back together. My dumb mistake was not documenting it, thinking there will be numerous guides on the internet. Now I am having issues remembering things and have difficulties with the assembly. Any help would be much appreciated! (Yes I have searched the internet and I can't seem to find any leads specific to the S550)

You can find a lot of pictures you can zoom in on for orientation. The biggest pain is getting the spring compressed to reinstall it. You compress it with channel locks, use a zip tie pulled really tight to keep it compressed, put it in position and cut the zip tie. The rears are a real pain in the ass. I've done a couple of sets and don't want to do them again.

 

[JGalarse14]

You can find a lot of pictures you can zoom in on for orientation. The biggest pain is getting the spring compressed to reinstall it. You compress it with channel locks, use a zip tie pulled really tight to keep it compressed, put it in position and cut the zip tie. The rears are a real pain in the ass. I've done a couple of sets and don't want to do them again.

Thanks for the response. I will keep all that in mind!

 

[jputnam]

Yeah, kinda need the same thing here. I have been having problems with the e-brake not returning and thought it was the cable that needed to be tightened. After I printed a 3D shim for the 1mm and 2mm spacing the perform the adjustment I noticed the e-brake portion of the caliper was frozen and took a lot of effort to return to the stop. I shot some brake cleaner and WD-40 on it and worked it somewhat loose with the handbrake a few times.

A week later I noticed that my car seemed to have reduced power and when on the interstate I noticed a vibration from the rear. It was not in the wheel or the shifter, so I assumed it was the brake. Soon after my brake light came on and I realized the handbrake was not down all the way. My brakes would also sequel on first press of the brake when the mechanism was locked up.

I ended up taking off both wheels and attempted to free the lever. I removed the brake cable from the rear of the caliper and clamped some vice grips on lever. I slowly moved the lever back and forwarth a few times until it loosened up after I sprayed it with brake clean and WD-40. Then I pulled back the dust boot on the back of the mechanism and sprayed lube behind the boot. I then worked the lever with the vice grips until I could do it quickly without much friction and the spring would forcefully return the lever back to the stop.

After repeating on the other side and reinstalling everything the handbrake returned back to normal and had a nice firmness to the cable. I also notice the car was moving along without much effort at and could not feel the drag in the drivetrain. With 120K miles on her I figured my loss of MPG's was from the carbon buildup on the valves, but I think this was more of the issue.

Anyway, I was thinking about doing a rebuild instead of replacing them. They are about $130 each and take about a week to get since no one has them in stock. Rebuild kits can be found and are about $18 for everything.

This is how I attached the vice grips to the "lever":

 

[FUN2RIDEFAST]

Yeah, kinda need the same thing here. I have been having problems with the e-brake not returning and thought it was the cable that needed to be tightened. After I printed a 3D shim for the 1mm and 2mm spacing the perform the adjustment I noticed the e-brake portion of the caliper was frozen and took a lot of effort to return to the stop. I shot some brake cleaner and WD-40 on it and worked it somewhat loose with the handbrake a few times.

A week later I noticed that my car seemed to have reduced power and when on the interstate I noticed a vibration from the rear. It was not in the wheel or the shifter, so I assumed it was the brake. Soon after my brake light came on and I realized the handbrake was not down all the way. My brakes would also sequel on first press of the brake when the mechanism was locked up.

I ended up taking off both wheels and attempted to free the lever. I removed the brake cable from the rear of the caliper and clamped some vice grips on lever. I slowly moved the lever back and forwarth a few times until it loosened up after I sprayed it with brake clean and WD-40. Then I pulled back the dust boot on the back of the mechanism and sprayed lube behind the boot. I then worked the lever with the vice grips until I could do it quickly without much friction and the spring would forcefully return the lever back to the stop.

After repeating on the other side and reinstalling everything the handbrake returned back to normal and had a nice firmness to the cable. I also notice the car was moving along without much effort at and could not feel the drag in the drivetrain. With 120K miles on her I figured my loss of MPG's was from the carbon buildup on the valves, but I think this was more of the issue.

Anyway, I was thinking about doing a rebuild instead of replacing them. They are about $130 each and take about a week to get since no one has them in stock. Rebuild kits can be found and are about $18 for everything.

This is how I attached the vice grips to the "lever":

I've done the rebuild and they are a pain in the butt compared to the fronts. A little trick to putting the spring back on is to compress it with a big pair of channel locks, zip tie, install and cut zip tie. Good luck.

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