Ford Explorer: What causes a caliper to "stick" ??

What year explorer? The ones prior to 95-96? had a different designed slider
for the calipers. These were famous for needing frequent lubrication. If not
lubricated the pads would freeze and mantain contact with the rotors and
many a rotor was warped this way. This was one reason that the design was
changed.

HTH
Steve
"rayfox" <org> wrote in message
news:W%Hib.69198$.. 
because 
a 
slid 

Rayfox,

Please understand that the following information is intended for a person
that regularly performs maintenance on their automobile. Because of this I
cannot be held liable for the information that I have given below,
performing a brake job is very risky if you do not understand every function
of the repair. The information below is only a collection of tips that I
have gathered from some great mechanics or identified myself. With that
being said...

Whenever I perform a brake job, I always make sure that I clean the caliper
surfaces with a wire brush (with the exception of the hose [rubber]). Next
clean them with brake cleaner and allow the cleaner to evaporate. Finally
after the pads have been loaded into the caliper, apply a light coat of
anti-seize on all parts that slide back and forth (not the drift pins and
NEVER the rotors or pads). Also remember to use the anti-seize sparingly as
it gets EVERYWHERE. This will prevent the sticking or hanging caliper 99%
of the time.

Additionally while you are at it, take a turkey baster (my wife freaked the
first time she saw my TB in the garage, she didn't know that I had bought
her a new one [it is a wonderful prank to play on your significant other
=) ]) and remove all of the brake fluid from the master cylinder and empty
it into a plastic container. Then open all of the bleeder screws on the
system and allow the fresh new fluid to "gravity" bleed, this takes about 15
minutes or so, but you should have clean clear fluid by that time. Once you
do close off the Right Rear side, then Left Rear, then Right Front and
finally Left Front. Remember to add fluid as needed so that you do not have
any air pockets in the system as you are bleeding the brakes. Also do NOT
pressure bleed new systems (you remember, pump the brake then quickly open
the bleeder, then close it once it hits the floor and repeat), like I used
to do on old cars as it can damage the anti-lock sensors. One more note
that is important, is that if you have a brake warning light on after
bleeding the brakes the centering valve could be forced one way or the
other. To correct this issue, open one bleeder screw and bleed the system a
little a time until the light extinguishes. If it fails to, then try the
opposite axle (front or rear).

If you were performing a rear brake job with drums you would also want to
apply the cleaning sequence from the calipers above for the drums. I also
recommend using a coolant drain pan to catch the brake cleaner after you
completely hose down the drum hardware and shoes with brake cleaner.
Remember if the hardware is wet than the brake dust is less likely to become
airborne. You also may want to consider replacing brake springs completely
as the price of kits has dropped significantly in the last few years. Oh
yeah, only do one side at a time as well, that is a good rule of thumb even
for the most seasoned mechanic.

I hope that I have mentioned something that will prove valuable to you.

Sgt Schultz

"rayfox" <org> wrote in message
news:W%Hib.69198$.. 
because 
a 
slid 

Yeah, it's a 96...


"sehaare" <net> wrote in message
news:com... 
slider 
not 
around 
fix 

Yes, these need to be lubed often with silicone dielectric compound. It is
an easy job - remove the caliper slide pins, grease then and channels and
put em back. I do mine yearly.


--
Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

The return address for this post is fictitious. Please reply by posting back
to the newsgroup.


"rayfox" <org> wrote in message
news:0LTib.75211$.. 
was 
or 

I assume you don't believe in the idea that the caliper seals pull the pads back
slightly when the pressure is released? I am not sure I do, but I have seen the
concept described in a shop manual.

Regards,

Ed White

Tim Tompkins wrote:
 

Not to put too fine a point on all of this!

The pads on disk brakes are always in very slight contact with the rotors.
There is no retraction mechanism as in a drum brake with springs to pull the
shoes back when pressure in the wheel cylinder is released.

In reality the pads are pushed back by the small amount or run out that is
always present as well as the heating due to friction of the pad to rotor
contact. And there is usually a check valve in the master cylinder that
keeps a very small amount of residule pressure in the hydraulic system.
The result is a ever present beit slight pad to rotor contact.

Try this, measure the amount of torque required to rotate the rotor with the
caliper and pads in place and then remove the caliper and measure the torque
again. You will find that there is a difference due to the constant
contact between pads and rotor.

In most applications the calipers 'float' and the slide/guide pins must
allow free lateral movement. If the caliper does not move freely there will
be squeel, chatter, excessive pad wear, warped rotors and probably a slight
pull in the steering.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Tim

Hey Sgt. Schultz

Interesting advice about draining the fluid like that.

As far as anti-seize compound, I think it's better to stick (pun alert?)
with the dielectric compound. That's what Ford recommends, and I'm sure it
could have recommended anti-seize if that were better. It is interesting
that Ford engineers actually went through the effort to change the spec,
from petroleum-based caliper lube to the di-electric stuff. So they thought
about what is best to use.

Like you, I also wire brush the slide rails and the rear pad slots and clean
everything really nicely. A coat of Rustoleum black keeps the outside of the
calipers really nice looking, if that matters. I DO use a small bit of
anti-seize on the back of the aluminum wheels, which prevents them from
bonding to the surfaces, especially to the rear drums on my 92. The first
time I took the wheels off, they bonding really made the job difficult. But
I make sure I do not get ANY anti-seize on the studs, since that would have
a force multiplying effect and skew the lug nut torque readings.

I should add that that dielectric compound, which seems gluey when you apply
it, gets very slick and seems to have very good staying power. I really like
it.


--
Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

The return address for this post is fictitious. Please reply by posting back
to the newsgroup.




"Sgt Schultz" <com> wrote in message
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I 
function 
caliper 
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as 
the 
empty 
15 
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have 
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become 
completely 
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around 
fix