A couple weeks ago I noticed my Brat was really hard to move and something was dragging so I went right back home. Jacked er up and pulled off the wheel to find the brake pads clamped down on the rotor and I could barely turn the wheel by hand (I had to wait about an hour just to touch them they were so hot)

 

So just to get the car around I've taken out the pads (which have tons of life left in them) which isn't really that safe.

 

Problem is I couldn't tell what to turn/tighten/loosen or whatever to get the pads to retract so they won't drag on the rotor. What am I supposed to do?

Replace or repair. You have a frozen caliper. Disc breaks are self adjusting normally.

 

Subarus are odd creatures, as they have the parking brake on the front wheel, and operate in a rather odd fasion (which is why you need to screw in the pistons). Make sure that there is play in the parking brake mechanisim at the caliper when the parking brake is off. Its possible that it is sticking but rare on a soobie.

When the sliders on the calipers freeze or get rusted, the caliper wont release. This is the more common occurance.

 

The other thing you will need to check is the rotor. It is possible that the rotor is warped since it got very hot.

 

To remove the pads you need to take the cap off the master cylinder, and use a big C clamp OR a long screwdriver to start to pry apart the pads. Somone here will have more detailed information on how to do it properly. Once you can get the caliper off (which is held on by a single bolt at the bottom of the caliper) you can swing the calipeer up and screw the piston in.

 

If you decide to replace the caliper i would install new pads.

 

nipper

"To remove the pads you need to take the cap off the master cylinder, and use a big C clamp OR a long screwdriver to start to pry apart the pads. Somone here will have more detailed information on how to do it properly. Once you can get the caliper off (which is held on by a single bolt at the bottom of the caliper) you can swing the calipeer up and screw the piston in."

 

Odd. All I had to do was unscrew the 2 17mm bolts on the back of the caliper and the 2 pads came out easily. I'm guessing the piston is the white thing that phisically pushes the pad onto the rotor right? Can I lubricate that or is it not worth trying to fix?

Well you may have two bad calipers then. Its also possible that the one that is Hot is the only one that was working properly.

 

Its not the piston that gets stuck, its the sliders. You should have had resistance from both sides that required doing what i stated before.

 

Are these the orginal calipers? Which wheels are the emergency brake on (I dont remeber)

 

Its hard to tell from here

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=67496&highlight=Caliper

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51546&highlight=Caliper

 

nipper

My stepdad and I were working with it and he pulled off the sliders. We tried and tried but couldn't get them back on at all, not with the little angled things in them anyway. But even if I could get them back on the piston is still way way out; it touches the rotor if I bolt the caliper on and using a clamp and crowbar didn't budge it (may have helped if that resevoir thing in the back was cast instead of rubber). I'm not sure if it's all original but I want to replace it anyways. To get home I tied the caliper to the inside of the wheel out of the axles way and put the wheel on backwards so it wouln't hit the brakes. Ultra ghetto, I know but it worked.

Thanks for the info, I'll mess with it some more and get some new parts.

If you need any info on getting the brakes get ahold of me. I am replacing the whole brake system on my 79 brat. You should also replace the brake lines and the only place that I have found those for the front is at rock auto.

Good Luck!