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While examining the front brake it became apparent the caliper would need some time spending on it to bring it up to scratch. On removing the pads from the caliper it was obvious that the pistons were corroded, so I decided the best course of action would be to replace both pistons and the seals - these were duly ordered, this came to about £36 and took just a couple of days to arrive. To remove the pistons I thought the best course of action would be to pump the brake lever until they popped out, what a complete waste of time this idea was. As far as I could tell the master cylinder couldn't develop enough pressure to move the pistons (which I'd had to force back into the caliper to remove it from the fork mountings). Hmm, this was going to be a rain pain! To remove the pistons from the caliper I had to drill a hole in the bottom of the pistons (being careful not to overshoot and drill through the back of the caliper) then insert a self tapping screw with a flat end and screw it in the piston, as this contacted the inside of the caliper it forced the piston up and out. I would have prefered to tap the piston and use a proper bolt but I didn't have access to a set of taps. Fitting the new seals and pistons was breeze, I just cleaned the whole caliper as well as I could then dipped the seals in fresh brake fluid before inserting them into the caliper, following this I lubricated the pistons and pressed them into place with my thumbs whilst trying to keep them as square to the caliper cylinders as I could. From this point it was just a simple pad replacement job, ensuring to lubricate (with copper based heat resistant grease) the back of the pads, the anti squeal spring and the retaining pins to stop chafing. Also be sure to apply thread locking fluid to the caliper retaining bolts and really you should replace the copper sealing washers that fit either side of the brake hose banjo.
ABOVE:- All finished and fitted, good as new? BELOW:- Same thing different side, if you look carefully you can just see the smear of 'copperslip' heat resistant grease!
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