95 W124 brake problem - front caliper not "floating"
 

Hi,

I am in the middle of replacing the front and rear rotors/pads/calipers on my 1995 E300d. The car has 122K miles so I figured rotors/pads were due. I pulled the rear wheels and the calipers were quite rusty so I decided to replace those as well.

We started the brake job with the right front rotor/pads. We pulled out the pads, removed the caliper and rotor. When reassembling the caliper we noticed that the lower bolt with the rubber boot on it did not "float" like the top bolt. We also noticed uneven wear on the pads. Pulling back the rubber boot on the top floating bolt we found that everything was in nice condition and greased. Under the boot on the lower bolt there was no grease and corrosion was present. At that point I decided that it would be a good idea to just get new calipers to be done with it.

The calipers arrived today and I found that the bolt assembly I need to replace was not included. Apparently there is a bracket and the caliper bolts to that.

Does anyone have parts diagrams...I think that this assembly will be a dealer part? Anyone ever run into this problem....how is that floating bolt attached....can it be replaced by itself....what is the part number. Thanks in advance for your assistance!

Chuck
willmart@aota.org

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help?

That bracket part is not a common replacement item, as it has no moving parts. The pins and rubber boots should be available.

The problem you observe is not unusual. Generally you can just clean and lube, and get on with things.
Unless the pins are scored or pitted badly, they can usually be polished up with green abrasive pad or emery cloth, cleaned, and put back into service. If the rubber boots are not torn, you can usually pull them out and clean them out with brake cleaner.
I use silicone grease for this application. Holds up well.

Unfortunately, you have probably replaced calipers that were not part of the original problem.

Best of luck.

"Pin and bushing set" -- I have the same problem with the Volvo -- bad pins either stick or allow the floating side to go sideways, this wears the pads on a taper and greatly reduces braking effectiveness. Can also cause the brakes to clank and "chuckle".

Peter

Thanks for the replies.

Today we disassembled the caliper to get a closer look. The lower pin was really stuck. Eventually got it loose, cleaned/polished, lubed it up and reinstalled. Whew! I'm glad I didn't need that bracket. If you pull off your calipers it might be wise to inspect these pins while your in there. The other pins were fine.

Getting new front calipers didn't fix this problem, but upon inspection we found the seal looked marginal so rather than sending them back we went ahead and put them on. I bought them for $150 each, which was better than the first quote at over $300 each (!).

Here are some pictures. The first picture shows the caliper bracket and the pin that was giving us so much trouble.

This is the pin in question

Here is the finished product...the right front brakes with new rotor/caliper. I've installed pads/rotors/calipers all the way around. I suspect the dealer would have charged a pretty penny for parts and labor! Thanks again for the advice.