Front Brake Caliper refurbishment on my TD5

Following on from some of my other posts I thought I'd put the brake caliper picks all in one place for ease when I want to circle back and read the comments in the future.
My 2005 TD5 brake disc and caliper refurbishment is taking my ages because of lack of time.
New vented discs and wheel bearings fitted.
Took the old drivers side caliper off to give it a proper clean up and replace the corroded pistons that were pretty much stuck .

Bought a set of 46mm stainless steel pistons which came with the new washer kit.
One side of the caliper was missing the top ring and wiper washers completely

Decided to paint them red, just because.

New replacement piston kit then to go in, it was HELL to get the retaining ring to seat properly or squarely when trying to push it in.
I got one in ok, and the piston in ok and the one opposite it.

But I got through 4 more of the metal retailer rings that just would go in squarely and would buckle or catch and would then need to be binned.

I though it might be because of the one side of the caliper that didn't have them in before, but I got one in that side and one in the side that did have them.
Damned frustrating and the retaining rings are so fragile you can't even 'tap' them in if it's not perfect.
Any suggestions ?

I can’t help but think the very first pic.

Has been welded on for some reason, just looks it to me. is that the 1 you had trouble getting the clips in?

J

One of them yes, I got one piston in of the side that looks fresh, and one piston in on the side that looks a bit beaten up, so it just seems pot luck.

Justin-JP said:

Damned frustrating and the retaining rings are so fragile you can't even 'tap' them in if it's not perfect.
Any suggestions ?

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I would split the caliper to give you better access, If you do this you will need to replace the gallery seals. Looking at your pics you may have already done this. Couple of suggestions that may help below, they certainly made a difference for me.

• Use OEM or genuine only. Order more than one set!
• Carefully and gently run a file around the outer edge of the retaining ring to smooth off the "burred" edge.
• Use a radius arm washer as a suitable drift to hammer them in
• Once lined up and in place on the caliper do not try to tap it in, give it a single hard sharp clout with a heavy hammer, this will either seat it or bend it, if bent start again, if seated then go around tapping to fully seat. By doing this I ended up with about an 75% success rate, gently tapping it in was about 10%!

Like the trick of smoothing the edge of the retaining ring, will try and see what happens.
I haven't split the caliper itself, I understand that might help with access.

The difference between britpart and genuine steel rings is noticeable. I've used both.
Britpart around 4 yrs ago with no real problems, decided to redo the rear calipers again just last week as one piston was stuck due to a corroded ring lifting out of the recess and jamming the piston.
Ordered britpart seal kits and it was almost impossible to get the wiper seal located in the ring. The seal then popped free sliding it down the piston. Never had this issue when I first did the job.
Got my self 2 genuine kits and the job was a doddle, the quality of the rings was superior.
It's very important to scrape the ring recesses spotless.
Thinking about my troubles again, maybe the seal kits I used 4 years ago were britpart 'G' which may be as good as the LR genuine ones but the standard britpart non 'G' ones I used last week we're rubbish.
I've got SS pistons all round so they just needed cleaning up a bit.
I must confess to damaging the last of the 4 rings from over confidence I think.
If you fit it upside down in the recess and use suitable punches you can gently tap it back to shape which saved the day for me. Prying it back out of the recess without damaging it again is possible if you are careful.
I fit piston seal then piston then slide wiper seal and ring assembled together down the piston. Use fingers to get the ring part way into the recess then a piece of pipe which I had lying around just ever so slightly less diameter than the ring and use that to knock the ring home.
Lube all rubber bits and the piston with clean brake fluid when assembling.
I split the caliper, so much easier.

those retaining rings I used a small tack hammer, a very small one ans tap tap tapped it in as they caught on their way home. I did slightly dent them but I thought it made them stay in the recess more firmly.

Definitely split the calipers - it's hard enough to do "right" without the rest of the caliper in the way.

The wiper seal retaining rings can be straigtened as per Flossie post - it's a royal PITA, but can be done ... Also as per Dag019's post - don't be gentle - it'll end in pain - I'm guessing lockheed will have walloped them home in a robotised press thingy ....

Also, Flossie's suggestion of a bit of pipe round the piston is the way forward - I actually made a mandrel which I fitted the rings onto, and then wallop - but flossie's idea is probably better

And to add - forget the aftermarket seals - they are sh*te - genuine lockheed ONLY - I sent quite a few "good quality aftermarket" POS back after issues - and the genuine ones just fit ..... 90% of the time anyway

Further progress on the 90 at the weekend on replacing the brake discs.
Took the opportunity to get the wire brush to the wheel hub to clear off as much crud as I could while I was at it.
Got the passenger side front and rear all back together and on.

Press the outer rings into the caliper with a bit of flat plate and the vice. Once I tried it I had 100% success rate unlike trying to tap them in with a hammer !
Mo

So finally got round to fitting all the pistons and seals and retainer rings to the calipers with help from a local Defender specialist.
Definitely one of the more fiddly jobs but now all done and now back to repainting before refitting, or trying to refit before I find something else I need todo.