I am repairing the brakes on my sons Citroen AX Dimention. How do i remove the pins which secure the brake pads in? I have coated them with WD40 and left overnight. Also i have tried to heat up the pins, although had to stop when the rubber boot around the Caliper piston caught fire. Having bent two pin punch sets i have run out of ideas. Can anyone help.
{moved to Tech matters}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 28/07/2009 at 21:52
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can you post a picture ?
are they not a spring with a clip on the end so you unclip it with a small screwdriver?
cant remember
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Hi. Thanks for your reply.
If only it were that simple. The pins push through the caliper from the inside out. There are no spring clips unfortunatelly.The Haynes manual says they just need tapping from the outside in with a pin punch. The manual doesn't take into account many years of rust though. Will try to post a picture later.
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for some reason i was thinking rear shoes
so it has pins through the caliper,can you not get a good pair of mole grips on the bell ended bit and spin it round?
be careful hitting with a hammer and punch as i once knocked a lump off the casting doing that many years ago on a sunday sfternoon
you have given the pins a good wire brushing?
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just looked in my haynes saxo book (same car new frock) and they are shown as being put in from inside to the outside which seems right to me
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I use a pin punch and a mole grip on the pin (between the pads) to rotate the pin to loosen it..Best bet is vinegar on the rusty bits...dissolves the rust - leave for 24 hours and then try the rotation bit first.. as the punch tends to bend the pins if badly rusted.
It is a horrible job on an old and neglected car and French engineering at its worst.
I also use a blow lamp taking care not to burn the rubber piston seals..
But rotation and vinegar does work...
You can of course saw the pins in two and drill them out. Halfords sell a kit of repacement pins for about £5 iirc.
(Done the job very recently on a 106- design and parts are the same..)
Punch the pins out from the outer side in - as BB suggests.
The badly rusted part is often the inner section which has a section which engages with a circle in the brake caliper and therefore fills with rust. Smother with vinegar - and cover with a vinegar soaked cloth and leave it to dissolve the rust..
Edited by madf on 28/07/2009 at 16:36
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Will try the vinigar-sounds like a good idea- Having already destroyed the caliper piston seal,assuming i can get the pins out, how do i go about replacing it as clearly no dirt must get into the system?
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Citroen dealers will have in stock or try GSF (on line) or their shops... very good imo.
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I know how I would tackle it.
If money no object, obtain new caliper and flexible hose.
Or, if money is tight: -
Soak parts as advised above.
Obtain caliper overhaul seals, brake fluid, and new retaining pins and a golf tee (long pointed plastic one) and piece of polythene.
Remove brake fluid reservoir cap, stretch polythene over the reservoir and replace cap.
Crack the joint where the flexible hose joins the caliper and nip it up again.
Remove the caliper from the mount, support it so that the hose isn't strained and undo the caliper from the hose. (just before the hose comes fully out, get golf tee ready to shove up end of pipe to seal it.
You now have caliper free of car. mount it in a vice if you have one.
Clamp a mole wrench or similar onto the middle of the pin and use hammer on side of mole wrench to drive pin clear of tapered bit. You may have to cut/deburr pin to get it out.
Remove piston from caliper and replace the seal and the dust seal.
Reassembly is the reverse of the above.
You will lose some fluid, but some rag will catch this.
I always allow the brake fluid to flow slowly into the caliper, with the bleed nipple undone until it starts coming out of the nipple before pressure bleeding.
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Alternatively there are LOTS in scrapyards... and easy to remove once you remove the pads after you get the pins out!
(The ones I removed in the scrapyard 3 weeks ago came out easily...)
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Thankyou to everyone who replied to this thread. One side has been loosened off but the other refuses to budge. Not wishing to take a chance on being able to complete this repair myself have enlisted a friendly mechanic to complete the job and do an MOT at the same time.
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Glad you are getting it sorted.
Just a note. I have just (yesterday) replaced pads on younger son's 106... no the other one: not referred to above.
One pin came out easily tapping with a centre punch. The other did not budge.
Answer? A lump hammer. The shock of one firm bang was enough to drive the other pin out easily.. (the other side was all easy to remove as I had replaced the suspension about 6 months prior (£15 from a scrapyard).
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