I've been doing a few brakes lately and I always used either a large slip joint pliers or a C clamp to compress the caliper pistons. Always felt like I needed at least two more hands. So I came up with this idea to use a 6 in. C clamp and a cut off piece of a scrap trailer hitch.
I cut the trailer hitch square tubing to 1 1/2 inch then welded it onto a C clamp.
Here is how to use it on a dual piston caliper:
Certainly not pretty but it works! If I had a strip of heavy gauge steel I'd weld it on the bottom to apply pressure more evenly onto both pistons. That will be version 2.0
while that is nice enough..why not use an old brake pad welded or not to the "C"clamp. I just usually leave the old pad in place until I compress the pistons..
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RB wrote:while that is nice enough..why not use an old brake pad welded or not to the "C"clamp. I just usually leave the old pad in place until I compress the pistons..
That is also what I use. The old brake pad.
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FLASH2002 wrote:When the pistons get to this point, the pistons should be taken out and cleaned before squeezing them in or you scrap the seals.
I didn't mention that I only used that caliper to take pics. I wasn't really going to push them back in before cleaning them. I had already done the brakes I was working on and thought I should take some pics and post the new to me tool.
That is a good idea to use the old. On this bike (not the one in the pics) I was just cleaning the spooge hole by forcing the fluid back up through the MC. I didn't want to take a chance on ruining a good pad. But next time I change pads I'll use the old pads. That is what I've always done in the past.