Brake calipers....why?

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lightning

lightning

Well-Known Member
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High Peak
Why do Defender brake calipers not have dust seals on the pistons? Every car or van l have ever changed brake pads on (including my friend's Freelander 1) has had the bellows type dust seals.
The result is, when you come to fit new brake pads on a Defender, the pistons won't go back into the calipers due to corrosion and so you have to fit new calipers.
This happened on my 2006 90 and my 2003 90.
Now l have just had to fit new calipers on my 2005 110.
Why are they not fitted with dust seals? There must be a reason. You'd think being an off road vehicle it would be even more necessary to have them.
Even my 1970's Triumph Herald, Vitesse and Spitfire front disc brakes were fitted with these seals, meaning new brake pads were all l had to fit.
 
They are fitted with dust/dirt seals, but they are not fitted with rubber gaiters which is a terrible oversight on any vehicle never mind an off road vehicle, on the bright side the britpart callipers are cheap and work well.
You can get rebuild kits but as the price of new ones is so low people dont tend to bother anymore.
Quick look at island 4x4 site rebuild kit for 2 callipers with stainless pistons 39 quid, new callipers 39 quid each.
 
Yes it's the rubber gaiters (or lack of) that l am referring to.
I've had to replace four sets of calipers in the last five years, and now the rear ones on my 110 (l did the fronts recently) need doing.

There seem to be three options. OE, branded and cheap.
Am l OK just to fit the cheapest? In the past l have gone for the middle ground but they cost over £100 a pair while the Britpart ones are about £60.
It's not as if the OE ones are lasting any longer than the pads anyway.....
 
I've recently rebuilt all four calipers on my 110 with stainless steel pistons so hopefully shouldn't have the rust issues which cause problems when pushing the pistons back to fit new pads.
A quick clean up of the ss pistons before pushing them back should result in no more issues again.
 
£42 for ss pistons to do both fronts including all seals and £25 for both rears.
Time will tell but I'm hopeful:)
 
Flossie said:
I dunno...I do me own tis easy:D
Click to expand...
I have not seen or heard of anyone rebuilding the brake calipers in probably 40-50 years especially disc brakes. We just get rebuilt calipers and give them the old ones . You get what they call a core deposit back and then parts store sends them into the parts rebuilders. They come with a warranty and meet factory specs.
 
Thor1950 said:
I have not seen or heard of anyone rebuilding the brake calipers in probably 40-50 years especially disc brakes. We just get rebuilt calipers and give them the old ones . You get what they call a core deposit back and then parts store sends them into the parts rebuilders. They come with a warranty and meet factory specs.
Click to expand...
Rebuilding calipers is simple, but there's not much point when you can get new ones so cheaply, unless of course you're going down the stainless route.
 
It used to be the same here, clutches, starter motors, alternators, dynamos, steering racks but it's slowly moving away from that now, replacement pattern parts have flooded the market meaning it's not worth while for most reconners now.
 
I rebuilt my rear calipers a few years ago with stainless pistons, it was a cheap fix but is still there! The 'real' answer, without the shrouds, is to do a bit of maintenance every time you've been offroading or greenlaning .. clean the buggers, jetwash and blow out, and regularly make sure they work. If you don't offroad or greenlane just check and fettle 'em every month or so ... same as you do for wheel bearings, suspension bushes, diff oils etc etc ..... ;)
 
Flossie said:
I've recently rebuilt all four calipers on my 110 with stainless steel pistons so hopefully shouldn't have the rust issues which cause problems when pushing the pistons back to fit new pads.
A quick clean up of the ss pistons before pushing them back should result in no more issues again.
Click to expand...

Stainless pistons are the way forward - no need for any bellows type seal then. And re-sealing then is cheap too. Though, in all the years I have been using stainless pistons ( and ceramics in other vehicles ), I have never had to re-seal them.
Its worth keeping an eye on them if they get hard off road use - to keep any abrasive crud away from the seals.
IMHO, the oversight by LR is to using hard chromed pistons in the first place, not the lack of bellows type seals - which would probably just trap more crud in there anyway.
 
Maybe rebuild your old ones for the next time the new ones play up.
Quite a few cars even with the gaiter still have sticky calliper troubles, the D3 is one I read about quite often, Im sure other car makes are just the same.
 
The only reason for not fitting the bellows I can think of is to avoid water and mud getting trapped after wading. If you're (un?)lucky enough to own an early model, the calipers are much more expensive. I paid the best part of £200 for a pair, and that was after loads of searching.
 
I rebuilt all the calipers on my 02 Td5 with Bearmach bits. They've been fine for years now but I agree with the comment above that a good clean after muddy or salty roads is essential.

The seal kits are cheap, and if the pistons aren't too far gone you can tart them up again with a grinder and wire wheel (NOT sandpaper). A nice job for a rainy Sunday or two...

I take it there's an engineering reason not to include a boot. Not enough space? Maybe a boot on a proper off-roader like a Defender might be too easily damaged and start to trap dirt rather than keep it out?
 
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