Rear Disc Brake Help !!!

[OX1]

Funny you mention this - I remember another prominent member of the EB community tell me about 10 years ago that he had the wierd locking problem with those first gen Mark VII rear discs too.....had almost forgotten about that.

Todd Z.

Well, can't be any worse than the 2 sets of caddy calipers I tried. One set from TSM I put on my mudding 78 and one set on a 79 I use to tow my boat. Neither ideal circumstances I guess (mud and salt water). Guess if they lock up, I'll just keeping swapping them out on the lifetime warantee until they don't. Thanks........

 

[mudford]

Does anyone know how new of cadillac caliper will work? I found a 94 cadillac deville with 4 wheek disk at a boneyard I frequent. He said $25 for the calipers.

 

[9inch]

Does anyone know how new of cadillac caliper will work? I found a 94 cadillac deville with 4 wheek disk at a boneyard I frequent. He said $25 for the calipers.

1979 - 1985 Cadillac Eldorado calipers work best for this application, but be prepared to spend between $50 a pair, "for junkyard calipers", and $150 a pair, "for rebuilt". Autozone or Nappa will charge $75 each, "not to bad for new", but unless you have a core to exchange you can tack on an additional $66 fat ones, EACH, bringing you grand total to $272.00!! Some pre 1978 Eldorado calipers have larger pistons but are also harder to find. So, scour the salvage yards and find the best deal ya can. Also recommend 1" thick rotors.
GOOD LUCK.

 

[67u13]

for a short period of time ford used a plastic piston that expanded when hot.

 

[Apogee]

for a short period of time ford used a plastic piston that expanded when hot.

There are a lot of applications that use phenolic pistons, and Ford was not the only offender. They had the most problems with them initially when they came out because of temperature/thermal expansion issues and trying to use seals designed for steel pistons however resolved most of those issues fairly quickly, but obviously not before getting a major black eye over it. The idea for plastic pistons was primarily cost driven but there's also some argument for the weight savings and associated fuel economy, along with reduced corrosion issues. Most caliper remanufacturers offer "HD" calipers with steel pistons for many applications...just have to check.

The 1976-1978 Cadillac Eldorado calipers have larger pistons at 2-1/2" whereas the later 79-85 calipers are 2-1/8". Since the former were only made for three years for very limited applications they can be difficult to get. The latter calipers are much more readily available and interchange with a couple of castings, one of which was used on the 4-wheel disc Firebirds between 79-81.