1G 1G rear caliper rebuild - snap ring

[DarthBulk]

I decided to try and rebuild the rear calipers on a 92 Laser RS turbo AWD. I have one of the calipers disassembled to the point where the piston mounting rod and parking brake mechanism is all that is left inside the caliper. According to the factory service manual, you are supposed to use a 19mm diameter pipe to depress the spring retainer cap, and then simultaneously use a snap ring pliers to remove the snap ring in there. Am I reading that correctly? Do they seriously mean that you have to fit both a 19mm pipe AND a snap ring pliers in that tiny cylinder bore at the same time? If that is the case, can someone recommend a place where I can get such a magically slim snap ring pliers? None of the ones I have will fit in there.
I hope I am wrong and there is another way to do this. On a side note, I would be happy to document the procedure on the second caliper for a tech article, if anyone is interested. I couldn't find a guide on how to rebuild a caliper when searching this site.

 

[steve]

Getting the snap ring off isn't a tenth as hard as getting it back in. I bought every different set of snap ring pliers Sears sold looking for something that would fit in the bore. I can't find the set that worked online so I look in the tool box. If I remember right you really don't need the pipe for disassembly but you have to do something like that to put them back together.

I didn't get the chance to see if the toyota special tool (SST #09756-00010) would also work on our caliper but if I ever do it again it would be worth the money to see. These pictures helped alot doing mine. http://www.padandwheels.com/mr2/calipers/rears/rears.html

The special tool threads down the self adjuster and replaces the pipe in our manuals.

That page also shows the pliers (Craftsmen #30353) that work.

Here's some pictures of mine all apart.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118231

Steve

 

[DarthBulk]

Thanks Steve. I was working on other aspects of the car and finally got back to the rear calipers. I went to Sears and tried to buy that snap ring pliers, but apparently they don't have it anymore. The clerk couldn't find that part number listed for the store or for the catalog. I just bought the slimmest, longest reach one they had on the shelf (Craftsman part #47412), and just got the first snap ring out. Wow! You basically have to work blind, because when the snap ring pliers is in the cylinder, you can't see what you are doing in there! I can see the re-assembly being much more difficult. Well, I wanted to try something new (rebuilding the calipers) and I guess I learned my lesson Actually, the reason I decided to try this was because I wanted to powder coat the calipers, and that is best done with everything disassembled.
I think I'll take some pictures of the next one I do, to either encourage (or more likely, discourage) anyone else from trying it. Rebuilding the front calipers was a snap.