Calipers: rebuild or replace?

[Tonka]

How easy is it to rebuild a brake caliper? Do I need any fancy tools like a cylinder hone?

Both of my '89's calipers are dragging. Pads look like they're in the middle of their life span, and the rotors feel smooth. I know I'm going to have a ***** of a time getting them off.

I jacked it up so I could spin the wheels by hand to see why I've got this slapping sound coming from the FL tire. I might end up needing new tires too. I'll put that FL tire on the rear axle and drive it to see if the slapping sound moves to the rear.

But for now I'm wondering what I should do about the calipers.

 

[Tonka]

Update: Autozone has calipers for $16.99 each. Kind of makes it a dumb question.

The problem I was having, and this is the 2nd and 3rd time with this vehicle it's happened, .. the piston ends up crooked and gets stuck. The brake still works, but it drags. 10 yrs ago I had the passenger side one get stuck. I was right in front of a Midas, and they wanted $900 to fix it. (Yes, $900) I towed it home on a dolly and changed both calipers myself.

Today I did it again. The pads looked good so I didn't buy any, but when I got them off I noticed the inners on both sides were worn crooked from the piston being crooked. So when I took the old calipers back for the core I got new pads.

If it happens again I'm just going to do the 95-97 upgrade to the dual cylinder calipers.

 

[Mutant Pony]

Yeah, rebuilding a caliper for a ranger is kind of pointless. Parts are cheap and available just about anywhere. That is the best part about owning a Ranger.
If you plan on learning more about auto repair, you should rebuild one of those calipers just as a learning experience. You never know when such an experience could come in handy.

 

[Tonka]

Yeah. But I already replaced them. If the pistons get jacked sideways in the new ones I'm just going to do the dual piston caliper upgrade using the steering knuckle/spindle thing from a 95, 96, or 97 Ranger. I can do that, according to a thread in the brakes section.