Front Brakes

[Dennis Shelley]

Needed to replace the front calipers on the 2001 S-T.

O'Reilly did not have any and it would be a special order.

Auto Zone did have calipers on hand. These were calipers only, the brake pads were on hand at the store. Also bought a brake hose for the passenger side.

For both sides the banjo bolt connecting the hose to the caliper would not seal.

Finallly used two of the copper washers between the brake hose and caliper and got a good seal. Seems like the hole the the banjo bolt threads into was too shallow and the bolt was bottoming out before sealing the washers.

The existing brake hose to brake line was so rusted that rounding off the fitting nut (used a correct size flare wrench) was a possibility. the brake hose was not leaking but it seemed like a good time to replace it. Any ideas on the rusted fitting?? If the existing brake line fitting gets rounded off can the brake line be cut and then flared again without removing the line from the truck???

Any help is appreciated.

 

[swshawaii]

Did you stack the copper washers? One goes under the banjo bolt head and the other next to the caliper. Torque @ 26 ft/lbs. Are you referring to the hard line fittings being corroded?

 

[Dennis Shelley]

Two copper washers were used between the caliper and the hose fitting, one washer was used between the banjo bolt and hose fitting. The brake line on the chassis where it connects to the flexible hose, this hex fitting is rusted tight to the flexible brake connection.

If I round off the hex fitting, the alternatives are to replace the brake line, one piece all the way up to the master cylinder,or if possible slide on a fitting, then flare the hard line where it was cut off. Any ideas???

 

[Richard L]

dennis,

Are you the original owner of the 2001 ST? Has anyone else worked on the brakes in the past?



It sounds like someone (previous owner or shadetree mechanic?) may have installed the wrong caliber, Banjo Bolts or brake hose?



...Rich

 

[swshawaii]

Ditto Richard, sounds like the wrong calipers since both sides had the same banjo bolt "bottoming out" issue. Most ST replacements are rebuilt by A1 Cardone using the OEM Bosch cores. I used the NAPA Total Eclipse semi loaded calipers that included mounting brackets that are black powder coated and include a lifetime warranty. Check your part numbers or call Auto Zone. Regarding your hard brake line fittings, you may be better off having a hose or hydraulic shop do it instead of buying the flaring kit for a one time use.



http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx/Caliper-w-Hardware-Left-Front-Eclipse-Semi-Loaded-Remfd/_/R-SEBSE5310A_0248594560



http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx/Caliper-w-Hardware-Right-Front-Eclipse-Semi-Loaded-Remfd/_/R-SEBSE5309A_0248594562

 

[Dennis Shelley]

The ST was bought as a total in 2003 by me. I have done all the maintaince work, not the new trannny or motor replacement.

For the front brake calipers, they were fine and not leaking prior to the swap. Never had this problem on the ST before and this is about the thrid set of calipers. (196,000 miles)The driver side was dragging the pads and thus getting hot. The same banjo bolt that was taken off was reused. I suspect the Auto zone calipers might not be perfect. Used Auto zone as O'Reilly did not have calipers fot the old ST and NAPA is two miles more down the road past Auto zone.

Thanks for the help.