in case any of you are wondering, no i don't talk about anything other than brakes. ask my wife.

but seriously, one piston is out, and the other three are now extended!!!!! YAY!!!! now to grip them with my wimpy little girl fingers and try to pull them out.

thanks to Eric, Dino, Kevin, and anyone else who offered advice!

anyone know exercises to increase one's finger grip strength? i don'wanna use vise grips...

QUOTE (red914 @ Jan 15 2005, 05:32 PM)

anyone know exercises to increase one's finger grip strength? i don'wanna use vise grips...

Do this over and over.

QUOTE (red914 @ Jan 15 2005, 05:32 PM)

in case any of you are wondering, no i don't talk about anything other than brakes. ask my wife. but seriously, one piston is out, and the other three are now extended!!!!! YAY!!!! now to grip them with my wimpy little girl fingers and try to pull them out. thanks to Eric, Dino, Kevin, and anyone else who offered advice! anyone know exercises to increase one's finger grip strength? i don'wanna use vise grips...

Welllll, i can give some really good advice about your finger dexterity--but I need some information first--are you male or female???

stop it, yer killin' me.

seriously, with what can ya grab the piston that won't bugger it up?

rubber strap wrench about 5 bucks at harbor freight or 10 at HD or sears

i tried my little pipe strap wrench, but it simply slid. i need to get a good grippy rubber thingie, i think.

i still can't believe how happy a couple of moving pieces of metal can make me! now to get those babies out, rebuilt, and reinstalled. it has been too long since i have driven my car!

put a piece or bike inner tube under the strao wrench you have now

hmmm... tried that, Scott. still no budge. they are in tight; maybe that is the problem in the first place, eh?

i'll keep at it. thanks for the tip.

odd because the pistons are shiny on the surface that got exposed by cranking them out with the adjusting screw.

btw, one caliper is marked "Ate" and "26" and the other is marked "Ate" and "36." what does it mean? one has just one bleed screw, the other has two.

Here is what I did to remove my rear pistons (mine were also very shiny and not corroded once extended)....

1. got a piece of packing foam (this would be similar to using grippy rubber thing
2. used a set of channel locks on the edge (not the shiny piston part) and slowly twisted and wiggled them out. I believe vice grips would do the same thing as long as you didn't torque down on the tightness..but just tight enough to grip on the edge that is always exposed (mine had kindof a raised lip).

They came right off this way...no marks, but even if they did it was on the lip that isn't the fine smooth cylindrical part that goes into the caliper

Jim

note: I also had my calipers split when I was doing this (widened mine for vented rotors)

Jim, your idea intrigues me. i think i'll try it later on this evening!

Try some channellocks and a piece of leather.

hey, Perry! leather sounds like the deal. just taking a break from getting the kids' lunches ready for tomorrow, then it's off to the garage to try this out. i'll weigh in later with the results.

harumph... nuthin'.

back to the drawing board. soak in liquid wrench...