Hi again. A special thanks to John C. Smith, a list member from Ohio, for
the many helpful e-mails he's sent me advising me on how to extract my
caliper pistons for a rebuild. If you want to see how horrible the seals
looked, I've posted pictures on my project page:
http://www.ohms.com/spitfire/projects.shtml down near the bottom of the
page.
My biggest surprise was the discovery that one of the pistons had no circlip
or outside seal whatsoever. No WONDER this thing couldn't hold fluid in the
reservoir! Duh! Is it possible that the clip and seal became dislodged and
lost somehow? Or did someone get sloppy when they last rebuilt the caliper
seals way back when? I couldn't BELIEVE that when I saw it. As I stood
there staring at the missing seal, the importance of doing this stuff
yourself really hit home for me.
Unfortunately, one of the pistons is stuck and I can't seem to get it
dislodged from the cylinder no matter what I try. I've attempted to wriggle
it out using needle-nose vise grips (not on the surface that comes in
contact with the cylinder!), I've tried tapping the outside of the caliper
with a hammer to break it loose and I've given up for the day after an hour
of trying. I've sprayed the edges of the piston liberally with WD-40 with
the intent of trying again tomorrow, after the lubricant has hopefully
penetrated further into the piston cylinder. Now that I've sprayed WD-40 on
there, are there any special precautions I should take before refilling the
system once I DO get that piston out and the new seals in place? In other
words, will traces of WD-40 cause problems with either the new rubber seals
or the silicone DOT 5 that I'm going to use? Thanks!!
Jeff
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