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A common fault when its time to change the rear pads is the caliper pins are rusted solid, so what do you do?

firstly get yourself a couple of new pins from your local Kwak dealer (£4.30 inc vat from Cradley)


remove the caliper from the bike ie 2 allen key bolts holding the caliper & the torque bar bolt.


Remove the plastic dust cover and 2 x R clips from the pins, spray liberal wd40 or penetrating oil if required.
get yourself a bench vice on the floor it makes life soo much easier and mount the caliper in the vice, get a pair of Mole grips and grip them on the pins allowing space for movement to push the pins out, now hit the side of the mole grips with a hammer to move the old pins sideways.Bear in mind the pins are mild steel so you need a very tight grip on the pins otherwise the mole grips will just slide along the pin damaging the pins further.


If you are lucky with a bit of rocking and hitting the pins will come out, if like me they are stuck well fast then no doubt they will snap leaving half the pin in the caliper.


what i did next was to file the remainder of the pin flush with the caliper, this allows a flat even surface for drilling.Use a large nail to centre punch the pin as best you can (obviously it is a lot easier to split the caliper and use a centre punch), then using a 5mm drill i drilled the old pin out, now this is the tricky bit cos you need to get that hole dead level, without making the top hole bigger, ok so mine wasn't 100% but it did the trick.(TIP:use an old pad still fitted in the caliper to get a more or less level hole) If the hole isn't level then your pads wont sit right.


Make sure you remove all traces of swarf otherwise it will just rip your seals in no time.

Refit new pads with anti rattle springs, good idea at this point to smear a bit of copper grease (rubber grease as RedexrobB prefers) on the back of the pads and in the pin holes.Replace new pins with R clips (note the position of refitting R clips to prevent damage to the dust seal.) and then replace plastic dust cover.Refit caliper torquing bolts to 25Nm.

Baz, using copper grease on the back of the pad and in the pin holes is fine but i dont think rubber grease will be, i only use rubber grease on the pistons.

i usually take a 2 or 3mm drillbit and drill a hole in the sealed side of the caliper until i get to the pin then i get a nail stick the caliper in a vice and knock the pins through with a big hammer. that way if it happens again i can do the same thing without having to drill any more holes.

bloody good tip that!

Bloody hell baz, and I thought mine were bad!

RedexRobB wrote:Baz, using copper grease on the back of the pad and in the pin holes is fine but i dont think rubber grease will be, i only use rubber grease on the pistons.

Agreed , silicone grease wont help.

Top tip: cant remember the OD of the pin but say it's 4mm - get a 5mm SS bolt the same length of shank and file the the screw thread off - you should be left with a 4mm shaft to push through.

Or

I can get you SS pins as inserted in my callipers

You can buy stainless steel bar in a huge range of diameters including 4mm 5mm and 6mm

Cut it to length drill a litte hole for the R clips and you've got instant replacment caliper pins.

I've even made replacement screw in pins using this method where the thread in the caliper is damaged.
Just cut the bar a little longer so that it can have an accessible hole at each end then use R clips or lock wire to hold them.
Did this on a girlfriends road bike lasted years with no MOT problems either

mine were that bad after soaking overnight in all sorts of crap still wouldnt budge so I had to split the caliper in 2 just to replace the pads and then re bleed the whole system with new fluid. the old pins are still in there