Removing piston from brake caliper

[CJ]

Can anyone suggest a way to remove a fully pushed-back piston from a brake caliper without it being connected to a brake line? I know you can use compressed air to force the pistons out but I don't have the luxury of this approach.

CJ

[998cc-keith]

are you removing it cj or pushing it back in

[gt94]

Can anyone suggest a way to remove a fully pushed-back piston from a brake caliper without the it being connected to a brake line? I know you can use compressed air to force the pistons out but I don't have the luxury of this approach.

CJ

If you don't have compressed air why not use a foot pump with some mods like a length of tubing from a brake bleeding kit attached to the pump maybe slow but would work i bet

[CJ]

If you don't have compressed air why not use a foot pump with some mods like a length of tubing from a brake bleeding kit attached to the pump maybe slow but would work i bet :smt002

Good thinking gt :smt023 Now to get a foot pump!

I want inspect the seals and replace if necessary...

CJ

[steelroe]

The piston can be a female dog to get back in. To remove it can you not connect it to the brake line and pump the pedal. Air pump is a good idea also.

[gabico]

When I reconditioned my front calipers I used a plumber plier to get all 4 pistons out. If you can get a good grip you can move the piston left-right and it will slowly go up.. One piston was stuck and it was more difficult to get it out and I replaced it with a new one.
All 4 of them went back in very easily with a bit of gently tapping.

[jayod12b]

I had to do this myself a while ago with the front caliper,

Took the caliper of and tryed remove the pistons with an airline but they were badly seized,

Had about 8mm of the piston sticking out,

Placed 1mm thick strip of aluminium around it to stop it from getting damaged,
Then place a vice grips over that and move it from side to side with outward pressure
(ohh and make sure uve got it well soaked with wd40)

Mine came out easily enough then without damaging the piston.

Give everything a serious clean,
Use sandpaper to get off any marks on the body of piston,

Replace seals and i found the easy way to push back in the piston was with a g-clamp and piece of aluminium in front of it just tighting it together and piston will side in,

Hope this is of some help

Jay

[CJ]

Cheers Jay, I've used Vice Grips to remove caliper pistons in the past, mind you, there was plenty of piston to clamp onto at the time....

CJ

[jayod12b]

I wonder if you connected it back onto the brake line without the pads in and press the brakes would it push out the piston enough for u to do it this way?

[CJ]

I wonder if you connected it back onto the brake line without the pads in and press the brakes would it push out the piston enough for u to do it this way?

I'm sure that would work, yes. I've a set of GPX calipers (cheers Gabico!) that I'll be fitting onto the GX but I'd rather not take off the stock calipers, swap in the new ones and then reverse the process again. Wheres that Vice Grips....

CJ

[finers]

Use a scuba dving bottle with nozzle, have'nt ever used it for this but used it for many other applications , thats if you can get your hands on one, i'm sure 230 bar would shift it.

[gary d]

Use a scuba dving bottle with nozzle, have'nt ever used it for this but used it for many other applications , thats if you can get your hands on one, i'm sure 230 bar would shift it.

I'm thinkin it would be easier to get access to a compressor than scuba gear!