remanufactured caliper brackets??

[DannyW]

I was just surfing in rockauto.com, and came across a listing for brake caliper brackets, and they were listed as "remans". What the heck could there be to doing a reman on static chunk of metal?? They even wanted a $5 core exchange. Could it be that the ID where the pads ride gets wallowed out after a number of years, letting the pads rattle up and down? Also, I noticed listings for "abutment clips" (think rattle clips), and some brands are rubber coated, where others are bare. I"m thinking these two things together may be the source of that &%^% brake rattle I've been chasing since the last overhaul.

 

[Dreamer]

I was just surfing in rockauto.com, and came across a listing for brake caliper brackets, and they were listed as "remans". What the heck could there be to doing a reman on static chunk of metal?? They even wanted a $5 core exchange. Could it be that the ID where the pads ride gets wallowed out after a number of years, letting the pads rattle up and down? Also, I noticed listings for "abutment clips" (think rattle clips), and some brands are rubber coated, where others are bare. I"m thinking these two things together may be the source of that &%^% brake rattle I've been chasing since the last overhaul.

When you refer to "caliper brackets I think the big chunk that holds the pads and the pistons. The pistons are the important part that is remanufactured or overhauled. They are honed, new seals and possibly new pistons so you won't have any leaks or sticking pistons. I replaced mine due to the lousy bleeder valves snapping off no matter how careful I was trying to bleed them off.

 

[MarkEkberg]

Might have the slides manufactured into the brackets too?

 

[BarryG]

What they do to reman them I have no idea as exactly what can they do to them besides paint them up. However when I replaced the calipers on my 01 I bought replacements from NAPA and they had different lines the cheap, the med, the high end and the higher end. They also came just caliper, semi loaded which was caliper and bracket as well as fully loaded caliper, bracket and pads. I didnt want the fully loaded as the pads were lower end. So I ended up buying the semi loaded as they were only 5 or 10 dollars more then just the caliper I figured with close to 300k miles on the original brackets I thought for the 5 or 10 dollars what the heck. I also needed to change out the rotors (well one of them anyway) as one got destroyed when my caliper hung up and trashed the pad which quickly trashed the rotor. And after checking the others for thickness and runout I just went ahead and changed them all since one was defintiely onits last leg and the other two stil had a bit of life in them but not much. So everything at the wheel was new, well remaned, which resulted in the best brakes the truck has ever had even when new. The new brackets looked new and obviously werent since they were remaned but they did have a nice fresh coat of paint on them other than the dirt and fresh paint I could see no discerning differences.

 

[jhenderson]

Brackets wear at the slide and pad contact area. I had 1 that I had to weld up and machine on my buddies Bridgeport. The anti rattle clips that are rubber coated are the best thing ever.

 

[jelag]

Calipers are re-manufactured by taking them apart... in some cases special tools are required to quickly remove the pistons and seals... next cleaning of all the parts... its common for some of the phenolic(plastic?) pistons to be damaged... they are often scratched from dirt... in some cases the steel pistons have their outer hard chrome damaged and their scrap as well... so once the cleaning is done all parts are inspected for wear and either replaced or repaired... new seals, boots, are installed in the caliper and the pistons are re-installed... . they are charged with brake fluid and tested... surface cleaned and either painted or coated to prevent rust...

This process used to be done in repair shops but the skill to dis-assemble, clean and re-assemble quickly has been lost with the large quantity of part numbers... when I was in business we re-manufactured many industrial caliper sets that were not available on the shelf... when it came to the hot lick numbers... cars, light trucks, etc it was more cost effective to purchase them from a large re-manufacturer than do it our selves...

The key to keeping calipers clean and functional is to keep the boot around the piston clean and in place... once the boot is breached... dirt will enter and will get trapped between the piston and seal... this will make the piston drag as it returns... thus damage to the piston... there is no mechanical means to retract the piston and the pads... . when you take your foot off the brake pedal, the pressure falls off, and returns to the master cylinder... as the fluid rushes back... it will retract the piston and pads... in some cases the pad might drag on the rotor...

We would test our work on a slight grade... we'd release the brake pedal and expect the vehicle to roll under its own weight...

Hope this answers your questions...

 

[S.Morris]

The caliper brackets come with the reman calipers up here. Have seen many brackets with broken off caliper bolts and or no threads left in bracket when bolt removed. A little never sieze will prevent it but the first time removal of factory stuff in the salt belt sometimes is a Pain in the Butt.

 

[DannyW]

Read closer, guys... . talking brackets here, not the calipers themselves.



jhenderson nailed it. A reply from the tech desk over at Cardone (one of the parts makers) said the area where the pads ride gets worn, and bolt holes get boogered up, etc. I'm going to try out some new brackets to see if I can get that rattle to go away. Makin' me nuts.

 

[jelag]

Danny... I've owned a lot trucks(business, small fleet) over the past 20 years and would run them for 400K plus miles... I've never, on any of my trucks had to replace any of these brackets..... I know who Cardone is, they are one of the low $ guys providing stuff to most of the major discount parts stores... . I can assume that there might be an issue where the pad contacts this bracket and there might be wear... we've always never-seized that surface when we do brake work... . OTOH all my trucks ran exhaust brakes and we usually saw 125-160K miles per brake job...

But you might be right about the rattle... I use hearing aids and can't hear most of that outside the cab... .

 

[jhenderson]

At 330,000 miles I'm on my 3rd set of brakes. This was the 1st time I replaced all of the mounting hardware, not just the anti rattle clips on the pads. The flimsy rubber bushings in the calipers were very tired,and the cad plated steel bushings that run through them were worn and corroded. I'm sure this added to the wear on the brackets at the pad mounts.

 

[DannyW]

SUCCESS!! Note to selves. Whenever you do a brake job, use the "rattle clips" made by Raybestos (available from rockauto.com). They're rubber-coated. It makes all the difference in the world. The pads have about 1/16" of vertical clearance. Without that rubber coating, it's just metal-to-metal contact, and that's the rattle you hear on broken pavement