Sunday, January 18, 2009

Let's save some money on the rear brakes, now that doesn't mean cutting quality. I don't know if anybody has priced new or rebuilt Isuzu Rodeo rear calipers or not but they ain't cheap. $80.00 per side for rebuilds. So I did some checking and got a rebuild kit from Auto Zone http://www.autozone.com/home.htm part number 071-7983 caliper kit made by Beck/Arnley http://www.beckarnley.com/ and covers both calipers for $36.99. Comes with piston seal & boot, wire snap ring, bolt boots, bleeder covers and grease. I'll walk you through the rebuild which is not all that difficult if you know the proper sequence.









Started by disassembling the old caliper by forcing (LOW PRESSURE) air through the hose hole and slowly ease out the piston till it's almost out then remove by hand. (Be careful here as it can go flying if you build up too much pressure, and keep your fingers from between the piston & outer brake pad flange). Remove the bleeder & inspect the bore and piston for any pitting. Mine were really nice. I plugged up the piston bore and bead blasted them, courtesy of my cousin who has http://classicjunkyard.com/ and some of the big tools I don't have (hey whats family for), then soaked in kerosene & blew them out. Hit it with degreaser, plugged up the bore and threaded holes then etching primer and the mandatory red. Here's what comes in the rebuild kit.










Start by lubing the piston seal and bore and install seal in groove making sure it is seated
















Lube the piston groove & boot and install boot, then strip down over piston as shown.




















Insert piston into bore until it reaches the bore seal then work the bottom flange of the piston boot into the groove using a blunt probe seating then install the wire snap ring. You can rotate the piston and boot to simplify this procedure.

















Then taking a length of wood across the piston compress it all the way into the bore. If everything was lubed well this should go pretty easy. Install the bleeder and rubber cap and the caliper is done.















Now the caliper bracket. This was prepared in the same manner as the caliper but then took a wire brush from a gun cleaning kit to clean out the bolt bores.












Lube up the bores and bolt boots and push into place.


















Now load them up with your favorite pads, I used Wagner http://www.federal-mogul.com/en/AftermarketSolutions/NorthAmerica/BrakingSolutions/Brands/Wagner(Brake)/ part number WAG ZD580 which are equal to OEM purchased from the friendly boys at B&S Auto Parts in Pine Grove for $33.71 So for a total of $70.70 and some paint we came in under half of rebuilds.
















Now all I gotta do is figure out where the rest of these parts go.