If your slider pins do not slide EASILY, you'll have problems with a pad wanting to ride on the disc. That is why I had no problem with justifying purchasing new components on the back of mine.

It's possible that it is your calipers, but I would check out the slide pins first. To do this, remove the caliper. Remove the pads from the caliper bracket and reinstall the caliper. push the caliper in and out. If this does not move smoothly in and out all the while staying parallel with the disc, you've got slider issues. I found that my old caliper bracket (the good one) had worn to a point that the pins were sloppy in the bores. This can cause binding.

Now to see if the caliper is working properly, you can take a peice of metal that fits into it and have someone else press on the brakes. Once the caliper contacts the metal, you shouldn't be able to remove it while the pedal is still pressed. After letting up off of the pedal, the caliper should release the peice of metal.

Here's a little bit about caliper design. The square sealing ring design in a caliper is such that it retracts the piston a bit to relieve the pressure and most of the contact between the pad and rotor.

Now in a single or double (both on the same side of the caliper) piston design, the caliper MUST slide to put equal pressure on both pads. If it didn't, it would just squeeze down on the pad between the piston and rotor. If the sliders are binding, the system pressure (via the brake fluid) will overcome this and clamp down properly on the rotor. What will mostlikely happen after letting off of the pedal is that the caliper piston will retract, but due to the binding, the caliper itself will not float back to the neutral position and the outer pad will be riding against the rotor.

For 2/4/6 piston calipers with opposing pistons, the calipers are rigidly fixed to the suspension upright and the pistons apply the pressure inward toward the rotor from both sides of the caliper evenly. This is a much more robust design, but it is much more expensive as well. The same design of the square sealing ring applies for these calipers as well.

It is possible that the piston and/or square ring in the caliper have worn to a point where the piston does not want to retract back into the caliper bore. If that is the case, it is best to just replace the caliper and bleed the system of any entrapped air.

Good luck in your repair!

 

Thanks for popping in and posting a reply so quickly swartlkk.

I'm going to pass this info on and get some prices on parts, kits and new calipers etc. as well. We used a slider kit on both sides and I know the old sliders were cleaned up and re-greased/lubricated before putting them back on...guess we were hoping not to have to replace them.

By the looks of it from earlier posts in this thread they should not be too expensive...too bad I will pay more since I will pay CDN$ LOL

If we get this straightened out I'll put a few words in this thread. Might even consider a picture or 2.

 

Yeah, sorry about the lack of pictures, but as usual with me and my projects, things are back together before I ever think of getting out the camera.

 

In that case if I remember to keep my phone handy while the work is being done I'll take a couple of shots..lol

 

I can't get my rotors off. I searched aroungd the internet and found this bulletin. Please tell me theres a better way.

Subject: Difficult Rear Brake Rotor Removal S-10.
Vehicle Involved: 1999-2001 Chevrolet S-10, Chevrolet Blazer, GMC Sonoma, GMC
Jimmy and GMC Envoy
Condition: Removing the rear brake rotor from any of the above listed vehicles
may be difficult, and result in damage to the parking brake
assembly. Here are two known causes for difficult removal:
Repair Procedure: First, when lifting the vehicle with a frame type lift, the rear axle
assembly is typically unsupported. This condition may actually
slightly stretch the parking brake cable and apply the parking brake
enough to make rotor removal very hard. The solution may be to
simply remove the cable stress by carefully supporting the rear axle
with a jack stand. Then remove the rear rotor.
Second, the rust ridge that eventually forms on the inside edge of
the drum section of the rotor, may cause interference. There is no
provision to adjust the parking brake through the backing plate. So,
drive one of the wheel retention studs out the back of the rotor.
Now rotate the rotor to align the stud hole with the parking brake
adjuster. Use a long screwdriver to back off the parking brake
shoes.

 

Has anyone done this with success?

Does anyone know about where the parking brake adjuster is? Like a O'clock position?

And does anyone know what the adjuster looks like?

 

The adjuster at approximately 11 o'clock.

The crappy part about driving a stud out is that you will likely damage it in the process so have another one handy.

 

Take a File A wood file and break the edges of the Pads. Just one or two strokes around the perimeter.That usually stops the squealing. Out of the box, they are like a new piece of chaulk on a chalk board. They chatter and squeal.