Jump to content
Ultimate Subaru Message Board

Recommended Posts

Researching replacing brake pads on my '93 Legacy, FWD with 14" wheels, I kept running across instructions to remove the "two" 14 mm slide pin bolts. More research and I learned the single piston calipers before 1995 have only one 14 mm slide pin bolt (the lower slide pin.) The upper pin does not bolt from the inboard side of the caliper. Instead, it is a 12 mm bolt attached to the caliper bracket.

When changing pads, videos show removing lower 14 mm bolt, then pivot caliper up, compress piston, lube lower slide pin, install new pads, pivot caliper back down and re-insert & tighten lower 14 mm slide pin bolt, and pump up brakes before driving. 

 

If rotors are not being replaced or re-faced it appears there's no reason to remove the caliper bracket. But if the bracket containing the upper slide pin is not removed, there is no way to check and lube the upper slide pin.

My question is not so much about whether to re-face or replace rotors. I'm prepared to do either if needed. 

My question is more about whether one should always remove the caliper bracket from the car when doing a pads-only job to inspect and lube the upper slide pin on these calipers where the upper pin is bolted to the caliper bracket?

I have attached an exploded view of the 1993 front brakes. The upper slide pin is part #8.

Thanks for your thoughts on this.

 

post-50719-0-26770100-1435249848_thumb.png

Edited by BB's93LegacyL
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't ever remember removing the caliper bracket when doing a pads only job on my 91 Leggie. It had the same brakes as your 93. It has been a long time since I have owned that car. Seemed like I just rotated caliper up, used a C clamp to push back the piston, installed new pads, l lubed lower pins, tightened everything up, and was done. I can't remember doing anything to slide pin # 8.

 

I think I used anti-seize as a pin lube, but it is prolly better to use a heavier lube, like white lithium grease. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yes, make sure the upper pin is well lubricated, and the boot is sealed properly after reinstalling caliper.

 

Also make sure the part the lower pin goes thru moves freely as well (part 6 in your diagram) that is the part that is the most likely to seize up and not allow the caliper to move freely. There are "rebuild" kits for these if you need them, you dont have to replace the whole caliper, unless you have other problems, too, like the piston not compressing... there are kits for that too, but...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks all of you. I am ready to tackle this job (hold my beer, watch this.)

While waiting for parts to arrive I sprayed the caliper pin bolt and caliper bracket bolts with Kroil to let it work for a few days. I may just replace pads - measuring the rotor thickness tells me I've worn them only 1/3 of the way from the 24 mm new to the 22 mm discard thickness, and there is no warping. But in case I decide to remove the rotors, I Kroiled the seam at the rotor/hub, and the base of each stud where they pass through the rotor. If I do lube the upper slide pin, I will need to remove the caliper bracket. At that point I may want to see how hard it is to break the rotors loose if I want to re-face or replace them. Rotors and pads have been through 6 winters of heavy road salt, so rust is just a fact of life. As hard as conditions are where this car lives, I am impressed by the toughness and build quality of the Subaru.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

just did brakes on my 95 - new rotors all around, new calipers on the front and all new pads. Stops much nicer now..

 

one of the rear rotors was getting pretty bad...as in down right ugly.

 

What I found after taking the wheel off...

 

rear%20rotor%20outside.jpg

 

and the back side...

 

rear%20rotor%20inside.jpg

 

rear%20rotor%20inside%20close.jpg

 

Fronts weren't nearly as bad, thinking they had been replaced at some point in the car's life... but the calipers were having issues, so decided to replace those too...

 

front%20rotor.jpg

 

note the gunky buildup on the back of the caliper - there were no crush washers on that one (pass. side)...

 

front%20caliper.jpg

 

and the fronts now look like this. =)

 

front%20new.jpg

Edited by heartless
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heartless, wow! We live in the same area, dealing with the same road salt, but holy crap, that's some corrosion!

My brakes had been redone in '06, new rotors and pads all around.

69,000 miles later, I needed new fronts. I just did the job yesterday, or I should say a very savvy car-guy friend did the work after I did the background work to learn how the calipers work on these old ones, what to lube where, possible pitfalls, etc. But the installation of new pads on my '93 went very well. The caliper pistons and boots needed to be cleaned of brake dust & grime before the pistons were pressed back in very easily with my c-clamp. On a 22 year old car from Wisconsin, the caliper pin bolts loosened with no problems. The big surprise was a good one. After pivoting the left front caliper up to change the pads, the rotor fell away from the hub like it was installed yesterday. Maybe because of the Kroil I sprayed at the base of the lugs and at the hub 2 days before, but I don't know.

I measured the thickness of my rotors to see how much they had worn -- only .64 mm, about a third of the way toward discard thickness. I've had no pulsations in the brake pedal, no vibration in the steering wheel when braking, so we decided to do pads only. I wish I had taken photos to show just how nice my rotors looked, mirror smooth. The new rotors I bought just in case I needed them are being returned tomorrow.

The total cost of this front brakes job -- pads & clips, lube, and brake cleaner -- was $35.00. I suppose I should figure in the value of my time spent researching this project. And there is the cost of tools -- my friend's Snap-On torque wrench was $300. And there is the value of his expertise, which he donated to me as a friend.

Anyway, now that I have replaced front brakes on a 22 year old Subaru, I would be very comfortable doing the job again myself.

The important lessons I learned from this project are,

1. Do your homework, so you know what you are facing.

2. Shop around for better quality parts, use Subaru parts when possible if you are replacing highly engineered components such as calipers.

3. Prepare for what can all go wrong, so you have your bases covered

4. Don't underestimate the value of a friend who knows his way around cars.

5. Subarus are very well-built durable cars, in spite of what road salt does to them. Ya gotta love Subarus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haha, yeah, I think the rear rotors were the originals...that is the only explanation I can come up with for the excessive amount of corrosion... the fronts I think had been replaced at some point, but still quite some time ago.

 

the calipers - the pistons wouldnt compress properly, they would go back part of the way, but not all of the way, and the upper slider was seized up on one, the other was on its way to seizing. I managed to free up the seized one to get by until I got replacement calipers, but that pin was in pretty bad shape. I got reman units from Rockauto on a closeout deal - no core charge to mess with - works for me. came with all new hardware and a packet of high temp grease with each caliper. Front rotors also came from Rockauto - Bendix brand, and snagged a set of Bendix front pads as well - price was better than I had been paying for Wearever Silvers at the local Advance Auto...

 

rear rotors and pads came from that local AA store - was shocked that they had the rotors in stock! bought online with a 30% off coupon & picked up the next day.

 

The car had been through a couple of owners previous to me - the original owner, who took pretty good care of it, and then a friend of the OO bought it for thier son...teenage driver... needless to say, the care went downhill... I picked the car up cheap due to a bad tranny (no reverse). Brakes were given a cursory inspection at the time I bought it, had fairly new pads all around, and the rotors didnt look too bad at the time so they were left alone - that was a year and a half ago... the old girl has 221,100 something miles on her now... she was due a new set of stopping shoes. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those spiffy rebuilt calipers won't look that pretty for long. Once the oil burns off that bare iron will be nothing but rust again in a day. Got any high temp paint?

 

At 221 she's still got another 100k left in her... if you can keep the rust at bay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I know they wont look pretty for long, but as long as they function as they should I will be happy. I thought about painting them, but didnt have any high temp paint handy, and needed the car functional asap.

 

and keeping the rust at bay is pretty much a lost cause around here once started...and the car already had it started pretty good before I got it.

I intend to run the wheels off it for as long as I can. I now have another issue that I need to look into - as soon as the weather dries out enough... developed an exhaust leak on the way home yesterday - had been raining pretty heavily and hit a couple of larger puddles in a rutted road & she suddenly started rumbling...

 

Murphy's law strikes again... get one problem fixed and another rears its ugly head... :banghead:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...