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Installing rear brake pads on an EA

19K views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  eskyboi 
#1 ·
Here is a query I have received from Carol. Any help will be appreciated.

"I have an 1991 EA Falcon sedan, and am having trouble trying to put brake pads on the rear tyres. Can you help and let me know any tips about doing this."
 
#4 ·
I was thinking of changing the rear pads on my car. That was until I took one of the wheels off the back and had a look at the brake assembly. It wasn't long before I put that idea into the 'too hard' basket. In a week or two I am having some good quality rear pads installed for $120.00
 
#5 ·
Yeah the front calipers can be pushed in with g-clamps but the rear callipers screw in......... whats the tool called to retract the calipers with ????? , i better go get it cause im going to replace my brake pads from now on. Yeah also when changing the pads take the lid of the resvoir in the engine bay, so you can retract the piston..... RE: make sure the resevoir doesnt overflow , if that means taking some fluid outta the resevoir so be it, but its also a good idea to change the brake fluid when changing the brake PADS!!!!!!....
 
#6 ·
Did this job last night on an EB2 Wagon. You don't need special tools - just some lateral thinking.

1. Jack car and remove wheels, let off handbrake.
2. Loosen handbrake cable under drivers seat
3. Remove circlip from handbrake cable at caliper bracket
4. Pull inner cable out and twist cable hook out of caliper lever. You now have no handbrake cable to worry about.
5. Remove lower caliper bolt (caliper can now swing up)
6. Remove upper caliper bolt and remove caliper from its mount.
7. Ditch brake pads and gain free access to piston.
8. This is where lateral thinking comes in. I used a large flat blade screwdriver and a spanner on its shaft. By putting the screwdriver in the piston groove (between inner and outer 'proud' parts of the piston) twisting it will also cause the piston to turn. I found that by twisting the lower part of the piston towards the front of the car the piston went in.
9. After piston is all the way in, use a small amount of force to ensure piston is bottomed on internal thread mechanism. Also ensure the recess in the piston is at inner 90 degree mark so it will match the index pin on the inner brake pad.
10. Fit brake pads and reverse the caliper removal procedure stopping short of retensioning the handbrake cable at the front.
11. Start car and pump brake pedal a few times (not all the way to floor though). Pedal will gain height and eventually feel normal.
12. Now tension handbrake cable under car (drivers seat area).

This worked fine for me and took less than an hour using stands and trolley jack. If I had a helper I would have done a full fluid change but that can be done when I do the front brakes soon.
 
#7 ·
Just replaced my rear pads today, to discover.. wow.. they screw in.. but damn it wont budge!

Improvise i say.. remove the lever off the back of the caliper (handbrake actuator), and screw that in instead! step by step screwing in and pushing the piston in worked...

Once i worked it out.. brake pads replaced in around 15mins.

Parents laser has the same sorta thing.. but you can rotate the piston so much easier!
 
#8 ·
Aussie Pete said:
8. This is where lateral thinking comes in. I used a large flat blade screwdriver and a spanner on its shaft. By putting the screwdriver in the piston groove (between inner and outer 'proud' parts of the piston) twisting it will also cause the piston to turn. I found that by twisting the lower part of the piston towards the front of the car the piston went in.
Thats the same thing Dad and I worked out when we did mine.


Thanks


Dane.
 
#9 ·
The biggie to remember is that they screw in different directions for each side - ie. counterclockwise on one side and clockwise on the other - AP's comment about moving the bottom toward the front of the car is an excellent way of working it out - ie. it's evidently clockwise on the passenger side and counterclockwise on the driver's side.

eskiboi - well done!! - I did it pretty much like AP but mine were really difficult and took much sweating and cursing - but as I was doing it I was thinking that taking the lever off the back etc. might work - wasn't game to try it tho. In future it will be much easier now that you've shown the way :)
 
#10 ·
Jack_Travis said:
Here is a query I have received from Carol. Any help will be appreciated.

"I have an 1991 EA Falcon sedan, and am having trouble trying to put brake pads on the rear tyres. Can you help and let me know any tips about doing this."
I'm surprised no one mentioned this, but the first tip would be to put the pads on the disk brake rather than the rear tyres :)

Removing the brake leaver is an easier way, just ensure it doesn't all fall out and make sure the shaft is realigned so the handbrake leaver sits on the stop correctly otherwise you could end up with unbalanced rear brakes and/or dragging brakes.

AP's way is the go, handy if you have a large hex shaft flat blade screwdriver you can slide a small ring spanner onto.

You can also shove it down the gap between the inner piston wall and outer piston wall, this gives more leverage and you don't slip off like you can by screwing the proud bits.

Kieron
 
#11 ·
it all sounds easy in theory, hows this.. do one side and find that the caliper leaks, spend and hour taking the other one of a wrecked ea that i have and checking it out, do the other side only to find that the caliper was actualy seized! no hope in hell of getting the bastard to move so spend another hour gettin the other one off the other car... then hadto bleed the system and used a bottle of fluid... took me all bloody day! i tell ya, it pays to have a spare car! the amout of time and money it's saved me!

my 2c

also, those who are too scared to do it, it's a piece of piss providing all goes right, even then things don't get that difficult. and i'm only 17, anyone can do it ;)
 
#12 ·
i replaced the rear pads on my EB S-XR8 a couple of weeks ago. You have to screw the pistons in on the calipers. My XR8 is non-ABS so I presume it's the same as an EA
 
#13 ·
if you have a friendly local mechanic just ask them for the caliper reseting tool, it goes on the end of a socket wrench. I was going to buy one then i found out they cost $40, but that plus the pads is still cheeper than getting someone to do it for you. I tried the winding from behind but the calipers, like I'm sure many of you know, rust up and need a rebuld, so that was a no go. With the tool it took about 2min each side the reset, takes longer to get the calipers off!!!!!
Does anyone know how to rebuld the rear brakes, I'v been quoted about $250, but if i can do it myself it couldn't cost over $100
 
G
#14 ·
Oh yeah, you people forgot to mention that you have to be pushing the piston in while turning to get it to go in. After turning it around and around about 20 times and it not moving anywhere, I worked this out. :Stupid:

Ohh yeah and I found if you first twist it so the piston pushes out a little bit it helps loosen it up a little so that it's willing to go back down into the bore. I used the screwdriver method turning it the direciton to push the piston in the bore and used a g-clamp which I kept tightening until it was all the way in.

BTW, is it possible to get "soft" and "hard" brake pads? Because my brakes are MUCH softer now since doing them. It does feel better at braking though I must say.
 
#15 ·
donuts2003-Yeah you're right, sorry about that. It WAS a few weeks since I did my brakes. It is one of those things that when you've done it once, you could then do it with your eyes shut.
 
#16 ·
Oh.. and not to forget one vital thing.. put the handbrake on and off at least a dozen times after doing it to wind the self adjuster back out.. so you have a good handbrake straight after!
 
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