I’m changing my rear calipers. How do I twist the cylinder in and out? Fronts just push in, but the rears you have to twist.
Also, my e-brake is very easy to pull up and a while ago I actually had it lock up a rear wheel and not let go (causing in a lot of smoke after driving 3 miles at 45mph lol). I want to take care of this as well. Any recommendations? Is that because my caliper is bad or because my e-brake is not adjusted? It used to be good, and I never touched it. Does it tend to go out of adjustment by itself?
ya need a caliper retractor ,advanced has a very cheap knuckle buster version and they have a good version go there and see if they have one the tool rental thing they do …also be careful not to twist the piston boot and so on .oh and ya need the tool in order to retaract em
oh yeah didnt see that post ,the max,s have a very shitty caliper design if thats happenein and the cables are free get new calipers as there not that bad ,also if the caliper is bad the piston wont retract
Well I’m getting new calipers regardless. Do I still need the tool? Or are they already retracted/pushed in? I’m just worried about not being able to fit the pad in. I’ve done the rear caliper job before and I don’t remember how I got it on, but I know I never used any sort of tool.
I’m changing out all the calipers on my car, and painting them black, silver, or red prior to install. I also need to replace my pads and rotors, which is why I’m doing this all in one big install.
Okay. I’ll take your word for it lol. Thanks John/guys.
But what about the e-brake? Why is it sticking/so lose? Because the caliper is f’ed up? Or do I need to do something separate to the e-brake to restore it to it’s former glory?
depends on e-brake setup in rear whether its a ebrake pad or shoes (drum setup) if its a pad setup then replacing the caliper should rectify all issues (assuming ebrake cable is adjusted properly)
When you disconnect the ebrake cables from the caliper you should be able to tell if they are getting stuck by pulling the ebrake lever and releasing it to make sure there is no binding in the cables themselves. As for the piston for future reference when I had my I always just used a pair of needle nose pliers to twist the piston back in; open the pliers, stick the tips into opposite notches and turn.
I used my hand and the handle of a flatblade screwdriver to push the cylinder back in when I did the pads on my vehicle. Is that what you’re trying to do, Ilyo?
Man that hurt but it got the job done…and that’s what counts.
I’m not trying to do anything, yet. I was just searching the Maxima forums and ran across this idea of compressing the cylinder (which I haven’t done before) so I was trying to get a second opinion.
With most Nissan rear disc brakes you have to twist the caliper cylinder in to fit new pads, if you try and use a spreader tool you’ll just break it, ask Gatville. You can twist it with pliers just make sure not to damage the rubber dust seal.
yes the adjustment for the tightness of the cables is under the center console, but the concern is that the cables themselves have got bound up and therefore won’t release properly. Odds are that the calipers themselves were the issue and you won’t have to worry about anything with the cables other than reattaching them to the new calipers and adjusting properly. Btw, I’ve got my old Haynes manual for the 4th gen maximas if you want it, I have no use for it.
When doing my brakes we tried using “the cube”, that tool was not worth it. it made the piston go in about 1mm. We used a brake tool kit from advance. its got this peice in it, works sort of like a reverse vice. heres what it looks like
i also saw people just using these to push it in
