How To Remove A Seized Brake Caliper Piston - No Special Tools Used 

Nice one, glad to help and thanks for subscribing. Battle of Britain :) is that from his much I wrestled with it instead of using a longer lever?

@@BikeFromTheBrink LOL...no just the sheer inventiveness and tenacity.

Thank you very much been struggling with seized callipers for a few weeks now tried various methods no luck at all . Tried your idea all removed worked a treat your are a legend thank you

Did exactly this on my dual piston and it worked perfectly!

Literally about to give this a go on fkn BOTH front calipers on my sv650 lol. Been 3 weekends of messing about with it so far 😩

Let me know if it works for you

@@BikeFromTheBrink Worked fantastically for me. The chrome polish and lithium grease both very helpful in this. And thankfully too...as finding parts is expensive or difficult for calipers.

@@ryanscott8217 Hope it goes well. Recommend the chrome polish and lithium grease when you get it apart.

Nice one

Doesn't grow on trees!

Glad to help, give us a subscribe for more bike and money saving tips :)

You made my day

Good work, glad it got you out of a hole. Remember to give me a subscribe, it makes a big difference for me. Maybe I'll come up with some more Yorkshire level money saving tips.

You're very welcome, glad to help.

Brilliant, give me a follow, I may yet come up with more money saving tips.

Good work

You are very welcome

Great stuff. Glad it worked for you. Don't forget to subscribe, I'll try come up with some similar tips.

@@BikeFromTheBrink I would not use WD40 unless you want to ruin the seals by having them swell up. The best way to remove pistons is to leave connected and pump the pistons using hydraulic pressure. No chance of damaging the pistons either.

Glad to help

Great to hear, glad to help.

Glad to help

Nice work

Thanks. Appreciate it. Hope it helps.

Great stuff, glad it worked for you.

Great stuff, glad it worked for you.

Careful, I'd travel for a promise like that

You’d be made very welcome.

Nice one, please say it was a mk1 or mk2 and not the newer hairdresser type.

@Bike From The Brink Hahaha 1994 MK2 donated to me on the brink of death. Only things left are brake rebuild and sill welding and she's ready for the road again :D Not sure what Toyota were drinking when they designed the MK3... shameful 🤣

truth! remember to subscribe, I'll see if I can fathom any more money saving tips

Fantastic, remember to give me a subscribe. It's free, it helps me, and I may yet come up with more money saving tips.

Nice one, what were they on?

Zx-6r 2003

@sitesofelasticy4402 nice, my latest challenge is to replicate a ZXR750H1 Expansion Tank in resin. Can't be bought these days.

Hope you didn't damage it already with the mole grips.

Did you get it?

Nice one, are they 2 pot calipers?

Glad it helped!

I think the WD40 is a double edged sword, sometimes it eases them, but if it doesn't, I think it swells the seals and makes the job harder. If it has a big pot you will certainly need a bigger allen key then you can choose, flex your muscles or put a scaffolding pole on it :)

Glad you liked it!

Your are welcome. Please subscribe, for more money saving tips :)

Superb, glad it helped

Nice work, not everyone has a grease gun

You're welcome, let me know how you get on

Nice one, I hadn't even thought about tony stuff

@@BikeFromTheBrink A brake caliper is a brake caliper... Another nice thing, I'd bought some loctite thread sealant while working on a Saab hydraulic clutch, and also used it on the ebike hydraulic brake line. A brake line is also a brake line! 😉

You're very welcome

If you have an airline you can use it once they start to turn. This one was too stuck for the airline at the beginning. You could put a socket hex in the hole pointing up and put a socket and ratchet on.

You're welcome!

exactly that, did it work for you?

Glad to help, report back how you get on. Subscribe for more money saving tips.

Noice!

The struggle is real

Winner

Nice work

Great stuff

Glad to help, remember to give us a subscribe.

This comment saved me so much time. Thanks!

I wouldn't recommend a vice on a piston unless you have soft jaws. That's why I used my vorkmate ;) I've had it 25 years, not bad for a copy.

Fantastic. Glad to help.

no worries

You'd be proud. The ID was about 1mm bigger than my chuck. I lay some paper towel over and pushed it up snug on the chuck. Once powered on I used 1000/2000/3000 wet and dry. It has come up really well.

@@BikeFromTheBrink Well thought out and glad you rescued the piston. you would be also proud of my "Heath Robinson" blast cabinet made from a 45 Gallon drum, works well even with my 25L compressor, will do a vid about it soon. Writing it all up for the VJMC mag at the mo. No space for a lathe in my shed, have to keep moving the pillar drill on and off teh bench when required.

@@robbateman7987 oh I like the sound of that, I've been considering a blast of some kind

Just flexing for ya :)

You're very welcome! Did it work for you?

Nice one, glad to help.

Glad you got sorted

Thrust and leverage ;)

Let us know how you get on

@@BikeFromTheBrink Worked perfectly using a 6mm socket and a 1/4" extension bar. Thank you!

Great stuff, you're welcome

Just jam the moving piston with a block of wood then the "froze" piston will shift.

Just flexin' :)

@@BikeFromTheBrink 😂

Same one I was thinking

How did you get on

Let me know how you get on

It was quite a bit more effective and didn’t slip multiple times like the socket extension did! Thanks so much for posting this. Got all three calipers rebuilt but still need to bleed the system.

Good work, thanks for the feedback, remember to subscribe, it's free and helps me a lot.

I disagree. Firstly I didn't have a master cylinder, as it came without one. But even if I did, I got that out faster than you can connect and bleed up a caliper.

Glad it worked for you

no worries, what vehicle was it?

Just wanted to flex for ya

It had soaked in plusgas over night, I've also heard it can swell the seal and make it harder to turn

@@BikeFromTheBrink im gonna have a field day with mine as its a 2006 brake that dont look like has been touched

@Ryan Thomas man up, that's basically new 😀

I had an airline to hand. It didn't shift it. Rather than buying, the point was to fathom a way to shift it with stuff you have just lying around. Stuff regular Joe has. Most people don't have a grease gun.

with you George, just put a grease nipple in the banjo hole and pump it out.

Yes, the grease gun method works great. Air is compressible, grease and oil is not. Use a grease fitting (zerk fitting) with the appropriate threads in the bleeder port. May require a brass hex bushing as adapter for size difference. Another method is to bake caliper in an oven at 250° F (121° C) for 30 minutes then use freeze spray on just the piston and it will come out with ease. Use a penetrating fluid around the circumference of the piston will aid in its removal.

BTW I used four vertically placed Allen keys then stuck my index finger down the centre so it splayed the four of them.... It worked well Thanks again

Still there?

Fantastic, careful with the air, they can fire out once freed up. Give me a subscribe click, it helps a lot and I might come up with more money saving tips.

Glad it was helpful!

Yes, sounds like someone put it back that didn't know. It will probably work but need more brake fluid.

@@BikeFromTheBrink Thanks for the answer!

Do you have a grease gun?

That can work, but if one put its seized it will only push the free one out. This bike cave to me with no master cylinder. Connecting it to another, bleeding it up, trying this then, reconnecting the original would have taken much longer.

Inside the cup? It doesn't matter in there, the outside is the important bit. Half the time an old piston is full of rust in there anyway.

If you gouge it on the slide / outside the piston then even if it's not corroded it'll be scrap...I've gouged a couple of the pistons on my Honda 125 but replacements are available..it's the callipers that are not produced for older bikes and cars...and callipers are expensive so clean them up carefully and especially corrosion in the O-rings grooves...also I changed all 4 on a Kia Picanto for a family member...kits are readily available for most modern cars and bikes...even some classic bikes...I was lucky with the stuck Picanto front calliper...I think passenger side...seized solid...wish I'd had this video as a guide...the inlet for the fluid lined up perfectly with the back of the stuck piston...on my old Black and Decker Workmate (coincidentally) with a 8mm bar I first hit down inside with a 1lb hammer...nothing...so I got my 4lb club and belted it...the workmate was jumping off the ground but the piston moved then...i punched it right out...then set about cleaning with wire brushes in a drill and smaller ones in a Dremel clone...didn't bother painting callipers...fitted each new piston with seals and boots...one new boot didn't fit and tore...I refused an old boot...new pads...do for another 5 years or more...

Perseverance, good luck

Thanks, just got it done, couldn't have done it without you 😎 Now for the bit I enjoy cleaning the calipers.

@@christopherchappell1278 I pushed my piston onto my drill chuck and packed it with tissue to hold it there, then spun it to clean it up

It had soaked overnight, it wasn't playing nicely.

Just wanted to flex. Grrrrrrrr.

Using this method?

@@BikeFromTheBrink no I was able to twist them out by hand.

The important thing is they came out :)

Truth! There's probably a pattern :)

Just wanted to flex for you :)

It is. But this bike came with no brake lever or master cylinder. It was so seized I'm not sure it would have been enough.

@@BikeFromTheBrink Just building the brake caliper on another motorcycle also works!

@@erniegroen1 I thought that, but the point of the video was to add another method to people's arsenal. I think putting it on another bike, bleeding it, removing it, bleeding up the original would take longer than the 5 minutes it took doing it my way.

What makes you think that? There was no caliper damage on mine and no one here has said they damaged theirs. I agree, good maintenance is far better, but we don't always have that option when a machine comes to us used. This was on a neglected 535 I picked up.

I got this bike without a master cylinder. Also if you have 2 pistons that method will only push the easiest one out.

The other piston will come out when you stop the first piston just before it comes out with a "C" clamp or something.

@@bottmar1 it may do. But the point of the video was to do it with no special tools when it's not on the bike as the was the situation I was in. I could have fastened it to another bike, but by the time I bled it up, then put the other back it would be an hour. This took 9 minutes including explaining and filming. So it's a 3 minute job and no cost.

Air didn't move it. Most people don't have a grease gun. This was faster. A few sockets in and swing on it. As opposed to finding a banjo I don't have, using a welder most people don't have, then spending half an hour getting grease or of every little bit. You are overcomplicating something I've shown can be very easy with basic tools we all have.

Tried that at first. It was more stuck than that.

You still need to remove the old piston if you are putting a new one in. Or do you mean the whole caliper? That would cost as much as the bike is worth and be no better than a proper repair.