Leaking rear caliper

Shawn T · December 13, 2005

On my 03 HD the left, rear caliper is leaking. Not from the line, it is inside the caliper, piston seal, I'm sure. Is this an easy change? I only recieved one reply on the HD forum and he said it would be easier to buy a new caliper and change the whole thing out instead of just the seal. I am not a genious, but wouldn't that be really expensive compared to the cost of the new seal? If I break the lines to change the caliper I should have to still bleed the lines. My question is, can it be done like the old pre antilock seals? Pull it, extract the piston, change the seal, bleed the brakes? I don't want to turn this into an expensive project if I don't have to. This sucks. I never once used my warranty, and now, just as it expires, I have had two problems like this. The other, a pressure control valve in the power steering pump. Talk about a bi&*h that was to change.

GM-Tech · December 13, 2005

I'd never replace the caliper for a leaking seal. The caliper is just a big hunk of metal, almost nothing can go wrong with it. At worst, the piston itself could have some corrosion, but that's available separately too.

Yes, it's just as simple as it has always been. Pop the piston out (it helps to have air pressure to do this), clean it all up, put a new seal and boot in place and put it back together.

Shawn T · January 16, 2006

I'd never replace the caliper for a leaking seal. The caliper is just a big hunk of metal, almost nothing can go wrong with it. At worst, the piston itself could have some corrosion, but that's available separately too.

Yes, it's just as simple as it has always been. Pop the piston out (it helps to have air pressure to do this), clean it all up, put a new seal and boot in place and put it back together.

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Long story short. Pulled caliper, did not want to screw with honing cylinder, changing pistons and seals. We get a huge discount out here on parts. Every GM HD truck out here has blown rear caliper seals, and they just decided to stock caliper sets because the man-hours are cheaper on a 20 minute job compared to properly rebuilding the calipers themeselves. I grabbed one off of the shelf and it only set me back $50. Changed it, piece of cake. It lasted 2 weeks and started leaking. Is this a huge coincidence? Did I just put a faulty caliper on? Is there something that is causing these seals to fail? I replaced it under warranty this weekend. It sure makes a mess of the wheel, tire, and fender well. Brakes work great, no pulling, plenty of pedal, fluid full.

Mr. Smith · January 16, 2006

I'd never replace the caliper for a leaking seal. The caliper is just a big hunk of metal, almost nothing can go wrong with it. At worst, the piston itself could have some corrosion, but that's available separately too.

Yes, it's just as simple as it has always been. Pop the piston out (it helps to have air pressure to do this), clean it all up, put a new seal and boot in place and put it back together.

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Long story short. Pulled caliper, did not want to screw with honing cylinder, changing pistons and seals. We get a huge discount out here on parts. Every GM HD truck out here has blown rear caliper seals, and they just decided to stock caliper sets because the man-hours are cheaper on a 20 minute job compared to properly rebuilding the calipers themeselves. I grabbed one off of the shelf and it only set me back $50. Changed it, piece of cake. It lasted 2 weeks and started leaking. Is this a huge coincidence? Did I just put a faulty caliper on? Is there something that is causing these seals to fail? I replaced it under warranty this weekend. It sure makes a mess of the wheel, tire, and fender well. Brakes work great, no pulling, plenty of pedal, fluid full.

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Unless it was a GM reman I would just say it was a POS from the get go. I have not had a GM or Ford reman ever give me trouble yet.