leaking piston

[Dangeranger3]

89 ranger 2wd
After doing some work and taking off the brake caliper I'm having problems getting it back on. The caliper was hung by some wire off the frame to keep it out of the way. Now while trying to pound it bacl on (wasn't going on smoothly) a decent amount of what I assume is brake fluid began leaking out of the piston. Any ideas on this as to why its leaking and how to get it back on?

[krugford]

When the caliper is hanging free, the piston is bound to move out a little due to the pressure in the brake lines. What you need to do is gently push the piston back into its bore to get it back on the rotor.

It sounds like you might have damaged the piston (are those steel or plastic pistons?) while you were pounding on it. Probably time for a new caliper.

[MAKG]

Yeah, pounding on it was not good and might have broken a seal or distorted the housing.

You can push the piston in with your fingers if the cap is off the fluid reservoir, and then SLIDE it onto the rotor. Then TAP the slide pins in.

[Dangeranger3]

Yes, I did mess up the piston seals. It was slowly leaking fluid. The piston is metal for the record. I just replaced the entire caliper the other day. While bleed the brakes I couldn't ever get pressure.....thats when I see the large puddle by the left rear tire. Brake fluid is spraying from where the hard line meets the rubber hose for the rear brakes. Its rusted up pretty bad back there so I want to replace both the hard line and rubber hose. Does anyone know where I can get the hard line or do I have to bend it up myself?

[MAKG]

OK, I'm scratching my head. 'Cause your rear rubber line should be VERY far from the rear brakes -- right above the differential. If it's leaking at the brake, find the leak PRECISELY and fix it. The most likely place is the wheel cylinder. The thing that might look like a rubber brake line is the parking brake cable. If it appears to be leaking, it's coming from inside the drum (and just about HAS to be a blown wheel cylinder).

If your hard line really is f***ed, your best bet is to bend it yourself. Buy a decent double flaring tool and bending tool and go to town. Or else have a brake shop do it for you (shouldn't be too expensive).

[Dangeranger3]

No no no, wrong end of the rubber hose. Where the metal line from the master cylinder meets the rubberline is where the leak is. The fluid ended up by the tire (but under the vehicle, inboard side of the tire if you will) because the fluid landed inside the frame rail and ran along inside it until it had a spot to flow over the edge to fall to the ground. Does anyone have tips on what tools and or techniques to use. I know this will be a real pain, but one more experience under my belt the way I figure it.

[metalmacguyver]

best thing to do is replace the soft line. and because the fittings and hard lines are probably rusted solid, you will also end up replacing the hard line to the rear as well as the lines to each wheel cylinder. FYI, the fittings on each end of each hard line will be different sizes.

[Dangeranger3]

So I took off the hard line today. It was rusted to shit. Does anyone have advice or opinions of brake line bending tools or flaring tools?

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Bend it by hand, dont waste your money on a bending tool

[Sprag-O]

i picked up the $3 tool just to make the bends right, and not crimp the line.

But it's just as easy to bend by hand, as per Sasquatch_Ryda

[Dangeranger3]

I ended up getting lines that already had fittings on them :biggthump: It is really easy to bend by hand. Thanks for the advice guys.

[Evan]

You don't need a flaring tool or a bender. Bend the line carefully by hand, and buy some lenghts of line with the fittings and flares already on them. Connect line lengths with a junction if need be.