The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support Fuel Injector Clinic
Please Support Rix Racing

Caliper "Lock Pin" stuck

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jdlohr

Probationary Member
9
0
Jul 16, 2012
Bloomington, Minnesota
I have a '97 GSX and I'm trying to replace my brake pads. Simple enough, right?

I was able to get the passenger side done without problems, but the drivers side is being difficult. I got both the Lock and Guide pins what seems to be all the way out (thread-wise), but they're stuck in the holes.

I've searched and searched, and I even followed one guys advice to hit it with a hammer--didn't work. I have the ECB manual but there's no useful info in there.

How can I get the Lock Pin to be unstuck?
 
You could remove the entire assembly then get it off the car so you've got some room to work. Not sure if this will work but stick a pair of pliers under the head and hit the pliers with the hammer. You might get some leverage that way.
 
I've had to clean the crap out the caliper with brake parts cleaner and then use quite a bit of wd40 or PB blaster to lube it up and then pry or hammer. It was a b!tch.

Good luck.
 
I just did mine a couple days ago and pushed on the bottom of the head of the pin with a pry bar while spinning the pin with an impact. Takes some coordination but it ended up working for me.
 
If the other bolt is free spin the caliper upwards and try pushing it out. Or just disconnect the brake line from the caliper, take off the mounting bracket, put the caliper on a vice and then hammer the crap out of the bracket. And if you can just get a big flafhead, and hit the underside of the bolt, the flanged part with a hammer. You need a new mounting bracket and bolts after this anyway.
 
WD40 + Workin' it. I used a 17mm as a wedge. I wrapped the open end around the bolt head and jiggled / hammered it loose.

What's probably going is the bolt is rusty and rubber seal(?) is torn and jammed.

You can force it out but you will need to clean the hole with a wire brush to get the rust out.

You will most likely need a new bolt(s) as well. Local parts store will have some. There are 2 types, with and without rubber seal(?).

Make sure to clean out the rust before putting the new ones in. Grease that hole good and slide her in ;)

Tom (been there, done that)
 
If it were my car, I'd get a new bracket and caliper. Maybe you are a better machinist than I (which is probably automatically true, as I stink), but my experience is that, when a pin has rust-welded in the tube, you will never get it to be smooth-sliding again. And the effectiveness of a floating, one-sided caliper lives or dies on the smoothness of the sliding. Any binding causes the pad on one side to be pressed to the rotor more than the other, decreasing the braking torque and potentially damaging the rotor. If the caliper on one side slides better than that on the other side, you start with more brakes on one side and it gets progressively more imbalanced as the rotors heat up until you start pushing on turns in one direction and snap-spinning on turns in the other direction. They need to be the same and the best way to achieve sameness is to have both move very smoothly.
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top