So I recently attempted to change the brakes on my 96 dodge dakota. I followed the instructions in my Chilton manual to do it. The driver side was no real problem and managed to get it done withing an hour. Now knowing how to do it I moved to the passenger side. Once I slid the caliper off the rotor I noticed that the pads on this side were nothing but metal but the rotor was fine. I took out the pads but the piston was hyperextended and there was no way to compress it no matter what I did. The piston eventually just started to crack away. So I went to O’Reilley’s and bought a refurbished caliper. It looked very similar and fit the bolts. However when I tried to attach the brake line it was at a different angle then its fitting. The brake line is a thin metal tube for the last 6 inches with a square piece of metal at the end where the hollow bolt goes through and then into the caliper. But because of the metal section I cant angle the brake line correctly to get a good seal. What should I do? Should I replace the last six inches with flex hose or try to bend the metal or what?
@ltggb it sounds like O’Reilly’s gave you the wrong caliper.
There’s no fooling around with brakes.
You install the correct parts.
Period
No ifs ands or buts
It sounds like they sold you the left side caliper for your vehicle when they should have sold you the right side caliper.
Tester
I agree. When they were Checker Auto they sold me a caliper that the wheel actually hit when mounted. They looked similar but something was wrong with it. Take it back and take your old one along to make sure. You might have to go someplace else.
@Tester @Bing @db4690 Well I’ll go return it and see if another parts store has the correct caliper. Thanks!
You can check for the correct part number on O’Reilly’s online catalog and see which store has it in stock.
When purchasing a part like this, esp a refurbished part from a chain parts store, be sure to take the old part in when you buy it and do a quick visual inspection, comparing what they intend to sell you vs what you just removed. I caught a problem with a starter motor one time this way. I noticed the new starter motor didn’t have the same number of teeth on the starter gear. If I hadn’t noticed and installed it, it wouldn’t have worked, and could have damaged the flywheel, which would have been a major expense.
It turned out the one they sold me after pointint this gear problem out, while the gear teeth matched, it didn’t work either, but at least it didn’t damage the flywheel. After all that, I got my money back after a little tiff with the manager there, then I took the old starter to a local auto-electric shop and had it fixed-up there, and it has been working fine since.