[Jack1133]

Hello Saab family!

I am working on my rear rotors and pads, it is a fairly straight forward job after scouring the forums and YouTube for guidance. (I've never done brakes before). Minor hiccups, no big deal. I know rear brakes only do like 20% of the workload but damn these things were old, rusted and worn!

The rear driver's side brake piston squeezed back into the caliper easy enough to get the caliper and with fresh pads over the new rotor. The rear passenger side piston is NOT going back into the caliper.

I've bent a C-Clamp, used a channel-lock wrench, opened the brake fluid reservoir cap, drained like 3 ounces of fluid from said caliper. Pretty much tried everything to get the piston back into the caliper. No dice.

So the caliper is old and rusty, oh well, I will change calipers on both sides with remanufactured units via AutoZone.

MY CONCERN: It looks like the hose coming off the caliper itself isn't a free spinning connection. It looks like I have to spin the caliper off the hose after I break the connection free. If I try and wrench-off the nut and brake cable, it will bind up. Any advice on getting the caliper off the brake line before I dive in?

THANKS EVERYONE! Pic attached of my setup. Yellow circle is the hose that is attached to the caliper.

P.S. the search function with "rear brake caliper" only yields Aero swaps with no real information about caliper removal. Damn, people were obsessed with Aero brakes backs in the day! B.F.D. ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[Jack1133]

Re: stuck piston, I’m wondering if I heavier duty C clamp will get the job done.

I might have to upload a photo of my bent C-clamp - the one I tried weighed like four pounds - the piston wouldn’t budge.

 

[Jack1133]

The other end of the hydraulic hose has a fitting allowing for removal.

ok thank you - I think this is this is the info I needed. I will follow the hydraulic hose from the caliper to the fitting you mentioned.

What should I expect when I remove the brake line? Fluid to spew out or is more of a heavy drip? I will have the hose and caliper combo ready for an immediate swap, I hope.

 

[Jack1133]

Not sure how far you've gotten with this, but, yes, you'll either have to spin the caliper or go to the other end of the hose. I've always just spun the caliper.

A flare-nut wrench set might be a good investment for you. They're usually used for the bleed screw's nut, but considering how rusty the rest of the things are you might find the additional contact on the brake hose's nut to be helpful.

You should not experience fluid shooting out when you remove the hose. There will be a drip. You should catch it in a pan and avoid contact with painted surfaces as brake fluid likes to eat paint. Capture some of it in a clear container--it should not be dark, and my guess is that it will be. If it's dark, you should plan on a fluid change/flush soon.

Don't have both calipers completely free and then try to compress one; the other may pop out.

When installing new caliper, you will want a brake bleed vacuum pump (autozone has these in the loaner tool arsenal) to bleed air. Use new clean brake fluid from a sealed bottle.

So it turns out AUTOZONE sent me the wrong calipers. They were too wide. Maybe they were for the Aero? Idk, but holy cow that was was annoying and disappointing and set this project back by over a week! I will never order from Autozone again (this was my first time) — I'm only going with FCP Euro and Rock Auto from here on out.

Thank you for the reply! I was able to easily take off the caliper. I just unscrewed the nut where the brake hose ended and did not use the "spin the caliper" technique, haha. The nut wasn't rusty and it came apart easier than I thought — upon first inspection I had no idea how the brake hose would come off from the hard-line because of what it looked like (some kinda clamp or clasp or bracket thing?), thank god it was "easy" and straight forward.

Brake fluid just slowly leaked out and I caught most of it. The fluid was green so that means it is time to change all the fluid. I have a pressure/power bleeder kit I bought from FCP Euro as well as two magnetic catch cans.

"Don't have both calipers completely free and then try to compress one; the other may pop out."
I am doing one side at a time, (driver's side is back together but with the old/orignal caliper which I will swap out as well to make sure I do this in pairs). I will do a brake fluid flush when all is completed.

thank you for the response!

 

[Jack1133]

Green fluid makes me wonder if it might be something like a CHF or Pentosin fluid. US fluid manufacturers tend to sell brake fluid that looks pretty clear, but some euro manufacturers offer fluid of the same spec but in different colors, presumably to facilitate knowing when new fluid is fully flushed through the lines. What color is the stuff in the reservoir under the hood?

As far as parts suppliers go, FCP is a good source, though their selection has dwindled in the last few years for saabs. Rock has a large selection, but they make mistakes, too. Esaabparts is well-priced for OE or oe-level parts and I've never had an issue. My preferred local source for parts is Carquest/Advance Auto parts. Some things are just easier to deal with locally--heavy stuff, stuff with cores, etc.

Ahh, intersting. Welp, I used Pentosin DOT 4 LV in my Volvo a few months ago and it was clear/pink/peach color if I remember correctly.

I'll check what color is in the brake fluid reservoir under the hood. The greenish brake fluid that trickled out was clean and clear looking.

Either way the all four brakes will be flushed and refilled just to eliminate the guesswork. Of course this whole this started with squeaky brakes...inspected my rears and they looked old and rusty and the pads were at or below 50%. Here I am two weeks later changing calipers and flushing fluid. So it goes...
¯\(ツ)/¯