Itinerant Air-Cooled

I am looking for some info on caliper checking.
They are off the car, no lines attached. The pads are far enough apart to slip onto the disc. They stay in this position. It does not seem possible to open the gap any further. The plungers look partially crusty. R.I.P.?????
FWIW the pads look new (but without the plastic silencing side) and the discs do not appear to have been turned.
Blah, I've never used this one.
Gracias as always

Is there a question ?

? The whole thing is a question. I have not worked on disc brakes and am wondering if crusty plungers are the death knell of calipers, and how to check and verify if they can be saved. I'm thinking NO based on the rust but I wanted the opinion of someone who knows for sure.

I am taking the safety option and am considering them toast.

hambone wrote:? The whole thing is a question. I have not worked on disc brakes and am wondering if crusty plungers are the death knell of calipers, and how to check and verify if they can be saved. I'm thinking NO based on the rust but I wanted the opinion of someone who knows for sure.

I think we can chime in if we were able to share a similar language. "Plunger"?
Colin
(calipers are dead-simple little devices)

Ye gads let me look up the correct terminology.
Let me correct it to PISTON.
The pistons are crusty externally. There is some crunchiness under the lip part of the seal. I'm going to pull them apart and check how deep the surface rust is. I am thinking some surface rust on the external face of the piston isn't too critical.
Yes they do look pretty basic. For some reason, mine don't match Bentley; the piston retaining plates aren't there. Also, the "new" pads already installed lack the plastic silencing pads. Are they just cheaper pads, or the wrong ones?

Here's the rebuild kit. It would be a lot cheaper than new calipers.
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detai ... &ppt=C0066

hambone wrote:Ye gads I am thinking some surface rust on the external face of the piston isn't too critical.

Road Warrior had oem left caliper at 588,238 miles. At around 430,000 miles, the right caliper began to stick a bit. Installed a $20.00 junkyard Vanagon caliper for the next 158,000 miles. They like clean good brake fluid.
Colin

Calipers are shot. Took off the pads and seals, and the rust is deep and crusty and covers the pistons and their bores. I'm gonna see what the word is on FLAPS calipers.

What to do when rebuilt calipers don't come with the retaining plates? Are they critical?

hambone wrote: What to do when rebuilt calipers don't come with the retaining plates? Are they critical?

Can you use the originals? Crusty to shiny with a little elbow grease?

None to work with! Imagine. Installed without them some time in the past. Maybe the rebuilts have all the needed parts, we'll see.

Piston retaining plates do not come with rebuilt calipers, Ask Me How I Know.
On the search.

A question:
for some reason the P.O. has installed Big Honking Washers under the caliper mounting bolts. Any reason for this? Bentley assemblies do not show a Big Honking Washer (2) per side.

Are the washers between the bolts heads and the caliper, if so they are not needed and are extra parts. If between the caliper and the spindle it's to change the spacing of the caliper.....Why they did this, I can't fathom.

I had to use the washers to space the calipers correctly over the rotors. Weird, because they are rebuilt replacements for the late type 3. No rubbing on the stock wheels.
I'm not sure what would cause this variation, but it works, and it worked before so I'm leavin' it.