Rebuild K/H Calipers Versus Remanufactured???

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neilskiw

neilskiw

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I can purchase "remanufactured" Kelsey Hayes calipers for $100-$150 a pair (depending upon the source).

Or... ... ... I can purchase a hone, rubber kits, and 8 new pistons for about the same money, and do it myself.

Who rebuilt those calipers? Did they use "NEW" pistons? Made of aluminum, steel, or made of what?

Which is a better way to go? Why? Thank you FABO community.
 
neilskiw said:
I can purchase "remanufactured" Kelsey Hayes calipers for $100-$150 a pair (depending upon the source).

Or... ... ... I can purchase a hone, rubber kits, and 8 new pistons for about the same money, and do it myself.

Who rebuilt those calipers? Did they use "NEW" pistons? Made of aluminum, steel, or made of what?

Which is a better way to go? Why? Thank you FABO community.
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I don't know if you can still get them but years ago I got rebuilt original calipers from stainless steel brake in New York. They stainless steel plated the body, put stainless steel pistons in, stainless steel retainer clips and a stainless steel tube connectiong the two sides. I haven't had to touch them in 30 -35 years accept for flushing and replacing pads. Back then they would either exchange for ones in stock or redo yours. One of the best things I ever did for the GTS Dart.
 
I rebuilt a set on 66 Mustang GT a few years ago. I got all parts from NPD I think there the same kits as Mopar KH kits. Before you undo brake lines remove pads and step on brake pedal to push the pistons out. More than likely some will be stuck so push the loose ones back in and put pad back in and step on brake to push out stuck ones. This may take some time trying to get all pistons out. Really nothing to hone as piston seal with rubber rings and dust shields. Just make sure groove are cleaned out.
 
"Reman" = garbage. Send your originals to one of the outfits that sleeves calipers in brass or stainless steel. Pay a little more now...don't have to mess with them again for a much longer time.

(pistons for these calipers are chrome-plated steel)
 
I understand that Stainless Steel Brake Co. (or similar name) got their start by rebuilding the K-H calipers w/ stainless pistons (and/or sleeves?). Very similar calipers were used on early Mustangs, i.e. a mega-market.
 
Best I can tell no one sleeves these. I'll explain in a minute, but, essentially Dan is correct that the problem is rust. If your calipers are in decent shape, or you are set up to really clean them up, then go ahead and give it whirl.

The rust issue is mostly with the pistons. I had a new NAPA one in the box for 10 years and it pitted. Not sure why the chroming flaked and it rusted, but when I've taken the calipers apart, there is always a piston or two that's rusty. Of course I wouldnt be taking them apart if they weren't hanging up...

The other place that is rusty is the lip on the caliper where the boot sits. I've have gone years without problems with just a standard parts store (NAPA) rebuilt since flushing the system every year and using valvoline's synthetic dot 3 & 4. I was using Castrol's LMA before that.

The reason the K-4 4 pots don't normally get sleeved is because a) the groove would need to be machined into the sleeve. b) the pistons are the real problem. A few places out there do have (or claim to have) Stainless pistons.

All I can say is no matter how much you pay, check them over. I got a set this year and one of the assembly bolts was not seated! Took them out, ran a tap in, and reassembled. Actually, maybe a little overboard but I bought high strength small head bolts from McMasters that look like the original bolts used in the 60s.
 

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Super important to make sure the boot grooves are clean-clean-clean on these calipers. I've seen "remanufactured" calipers with compacted rust and trash in the boot grooves, that can be chipped out with a sharp screwdriver. If there's trash in the groove, the boot won't keep out water, and then you're gonna cry at least ninety-six tears.

Now you mention it, Mattax, yeah, I do remember seeing stainless pistons for these calipers. Early Frod Mustang disc brakes are also the Kelsey-Hayes 4-piston caliper system, using the same 1.64" bore and the same piston, and here's availability on that piston in stainless. Too bad 4-lug wheels on the Mustang instead of 5-lug, or we might have had easy availability of new hubs! This outfit offers the 4-piston A-body calipers rebuilt with the stainless pistons, and while I have no experience with them they say all their calipers are done in the United States -- if that's true, it would put them points above the "Assembled in an ISO 9001 Certified Facility at One of our Global Locations to Serve You, our Valued Customer" handwaving bulk wrap we increasingly get at the parts store.

That's an interesting point you make about these calipers being unsleevable. You might well be right. I could've sworn I had a set of them brass-sleeved by White Post years ago, but it's possible my memory is messing with me.
 
buck351 said:
I don't know if you can still get them but years ago I got rebuilt original calipers from stainless steel brake in New York. They stainless steel plated the body, put stainless steel pistons in, stainless steel retainer clips and a stainless steel tube connectiong the two sides. I haven't had to touch them in 30 -35 years accept for flushing and replacing pads. Back then they would either exchange for ones in stock or redo yours. One of the best things I ever did for the GTS Dart.
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They don't do that anymore. I had them do 2 sets for me, also. It is a shame they stopped.
 
Not a surprise they stopped, though...they would rather you plunk down the cash for their new calipers.

That said, there was something not quite 100% about the claim they made about their process. I'm not a plating expert, but I'm pretty sure there's no such a thing as plating stainless steel onto cast iron.
 
Dan,
They may have been sleeved. After all, its not an impossible machining task, just a hard one.

Nice find on the stainless pistons. I had looked a little before deciding it was more work and time to rebuild than I had available. So, if you just read between the lines a little of what above I think you'll complete the picture.

The pistons in my rebuilt calipers are supposed to be stainless and probably are. They are magnetic, but as you know, there are commonly used 'stainless' steels that are magnetic as well as ones that are not. The boots are of US manufacture and thats about as far as I went in checking over materials.

I'll edit and insert pictures. The reason I did not clean and reuse the bolt is because of the way it had jambed and the critical job it does. I went for the 12 point bolts because they have a little higher tensile strength than SAE Grade 8. It's also the type of bridge bolts shown in the service manuals and MTSC booklets. However the later booklets show standard 6 point heads on the bridge bolts. I don't know if the illustrations are exact representations of the particular years - someone familiar with concours or factory correct restoration could tell us.

It is my understanding that there was a somewhat substantial change in caliper design on 11/2/1967. Calipers after that date had second groove for the dust boot. That's all I've every had.

Anyway, some pictures of the piston and caliper that was hanging up this Spring. This tends to happen when new pads go in. Oh well.
 

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slantsixdan said:
.. That's an interesting point you make about these calipers being unsleevable. You might well be right. I could've sworn I had a set of them brass-sleeved by White Post years ago, but it's possible my memory is messing with me.
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Your memory is still good. White Post still sleeves them in brass and Stainless Steel Brakes used to sleeve them in stainless steel. I bet you haven't had to do anything to those calipers either...
 
slantsixdan said:
Not a surprise they stopped, though...they would rather you plunk down the cash for their new calipers.

That said, there was something not quite 100% about the claim they made about their process. I'm not a plating expert, but I'm pretty sure there's no such a thing as plating stainless steel onto cast iron.
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Anything can be done. I seriously doubt it would pay, maybe chrome? I do have 2 sets from Stainless Steel Brakes and they still look pretty good. 20 or 30 years later. I'm debating with myself to spend the coin for White Post to do a third set.
 
66fs said:
Anything can be done. I seriously doubt it would pay, maybe chrome? I do have 2 sets from Stainless Steel Brakes and they still look pretty good. 20 or 30 years later. I'm debating with myself to spend the coin for White Post to do a third set.
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Whatever they plated the caliper with it is starting to show some rust color staining to the plating color in spots. It was worth evey penny when I did it considering how long they have lasted. Too bad Stainless Steel Brake stopped providing the service.
 
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