Rear Brake Calipers - How to replace.

Replacing my rear calipers was a much easier job than I expected – I had a mate over on stand-by ready for me to shout ‘Help!’ when I got stuck, but the only thing I needed assistance with was bleeding as I didn't have a one-person bleed kit.



So, my ‘How To Replace Rear Callipers’





1. Chock front wheels

2. Release handbrake

3. Jack car up, stabilise on axel stands

4. Remove wheel







5. Undo calliper slide pin bolts (12mm)









6. Slide out calliper









7. Remove old pads.





8. Suspend the calliper by using tie-wraps or similar to prevent damage to the hoses









9. Calliper carrier bolts (14mm) now need to be removed. I couldn’t shift mine so used a squirt of ‘Shock and Unlock’, left it for a minute and the bolts were then removed.














10. Calliper carriers were then removed and cleaned up













11. The rubbers on the slide pins were replaced with new –



a) Pull the pin out







b) Fit new rubber things







c) Push pins back in and ensure the lip of the rubber is over the lip on the pin









12. Calliper carriers can then be bolted back on.




13. Next, the calliper itself needs to be removed. The easiest way I found to do this was to bolt the calliper back on to the carrier – this gave it the necessary stability to enable the 2 x 12mm bolts and pin to be removed.

The flash kind of messed the pic up a bit, but circled in red are the 2 x 12mm bolts and in green is the split pin/pin which all need to be removed.







14. Unbolt the 2 x 12mm bolts











15. To remove the clevis pin, I first levered out the spring pin







Then levered out the clevis pin









16. Next is the removal of the brake hoses but before removing them place cling film or similar (I used a thin rubber glove) over the master cylinder and attach with a rubber band or by re-fitting the top - this will create a slight vacuum thereby allowing fluid to be released from the un-attached hose more slowly. Brake hoses can now be removed - undo the 14mm bolt making sure to keep the washers safe. (Also, cloth and jar at the ready to catch the worst of the leaking brake fluid).









17. The calliper is now free from the handbrake linkage and can be removed (2 x 12mm bolts again – I’d only fitted them hand-tight so were quickly removed)











18. Old and new calliper comparison








19. I wound in the piston slightly using long nosed pliers to ensure it would seat correctly over the pads.







20. Remove protective cap so as hose can be fitted without any fuss and without leaking too much brake fluid all over the caliper

21. Attach brake hose to new calliper ensuring washers on either side are in place









22. Replace clevis pin and clip in place with spring pin









23. Insert and tighten 2 x 12mm bolts after applying copper grease to bolts









24. Apply copper grease to rear of pads (making sure not to get any on the face) and slide into place on the calliper carrier








25. Bolt the calliper back onto the carrier using the 2 x 12mm bolts (copper greased 1st)











26. Bleed brakes thoroughly



27. Re-fit wheel



28. Road test being *very* careful and allowing for brakes not feeling 100%



29. After testing, pull hand-brake up and release – repeat several times until any slackness has been removed ** DO NOT APPLY HANDBRAKE UNTIL ALL SLACK HAS BEEN TAKEN UP BY USING THE PEDAL **



30. If any sponginess remains go back and re-bleed – repeat steps 27 to 29 until the brake pedal is as responsive as it should be (I think mine were bled twice rear only, and then as brake pedal still felt slightly spongy bled front and rears and then finally rear only again). There will be a lot of air in the system due to the callipers being completely empty of fluid and as they fill the air needs to be bled out. You may also find the brakes need bleeding further over the next couple of days.





If anyone knows of any proper technical terms for things I haven’t named correctly, please let me know and I’ll go back and edit accordingly.





The usual disclaimers apply - if you decide to follow this 'How To' and it all goes horribly wrong, don’t blame me

This is an absolutely excellent guide - thanks to Fast Jan!

Could anyone who knows tell me what I need to do different if I went for the big brake (red caliper) conversion? Thanks!