Front brake: How to separate the caliper from the bracket?

[robelst]

I noticed (amongst another series of brake-related mysteries) one of the front caliper has difficulty sliding over the caliper-bracket's slider pins. One brake pad (the one near the pistons) is a lot more worn than the opposite one so I suspect these two events are related. Also, the other caliper still slides happily and the pads are virtually the same thickness, looks like another proof. Unless anyone here thinks differently?

Well then.

I want to split the caliper from the bracket to clean and grease it all up.
Haynes says (chapter 7, paragraph 4.5): "Separate the caliper from the bracket by sliding them apart (see illustration)"
The lovely illustration shows something that is quite dissimilar from what I see in my humbe garage: The caliper hardly slides over the pins, let alone is anywhere near coming apart

Any golden tips from the experts here? Apply brute force? Buy a new caliper? Or a new bike? :P )

Thanks in advance!

[Simon]

The design of brake calipers will always wear one pad out more than the other. They work in that the pad which is in contact with the pistons is forced out first onto the disc. Then any continued braking pressure results in the caliper being dragged over pulling the second pad into contact with the disc. If your pistons are covered in crap then the first pad is going to be under a lot of pressure (binding) and held in contact with the disc continually.

Hope this makes sense.

[africatijn]

You should be able to separate the caliper from the bracket. On of the slider pins stay on the bracket, the other one stays on the caliper. It can be a pain to separate them. Be sure to first remove the brake pads.
And try some WD40, other grease etc.

Not sure if you have a RD04 or RD07, but the above goes for both. :idea: One other thing you can try is to try to loosen the slider pins, this can give some more free play. See picture 2.18d in section 7 of Haynes

The caliper should move more or less freely on the bracket, if this binds too much, one of the pads will continuously touch the brake disc, and thus wearing out faster.

I once had the problem of one slider pin being bent, causing drag, binding and excessive wear as well...

Gdluck,
T.

[HelmetHair]

i try to only use brake cleaner as a "lubricant" in these cases-the thought of getting grease on my brakle pads makes me shiver.
I ',m whipping off the front rhs caliper this weekend (given time)

[robelst]

I ',m whipping off the front rhs caliper this weekend (given time)

Me too. Would be nice to have "caliper-less weekend" just for once

Thanks for the tips. guess I wll just have to try harder

[HelmetHair]

undo the 2 12mm bolts holding the caliper carrier to the bike. seperation is then easy (pull them apart!)
(after taking pads out as previously)