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LS400 caliper rebuild (4 piston)...retaining ring or no ring?
I picked up an used set of LS400 4 piston calipers. One side of the caliper had no retaining rings on the boots and the other side has mismatched retaining rings.
- are the rings necessary?
- where do i get replacement rings?
how any picture and may i ask what year i have rebuilt my caliper for 95 ls and dont remember any retaining ring. i would like to double verify with you which part.
so the seals are...
top right - piston seal
bottom right - piston boot
center left - retaining ring
the seal kit from lexus is missing that retaining ring. one caliper did not have rings. the other caliper did. I assume i should reuse the rings on the one that had it. i would like to get new rings since the old ones look pretty bad. any idea where to get them?
i believe it's from a 98 and up 4 piston LS caliper.
so the seals are...
top right - piston seal
bottom right - piston boot
center left - retaining ring
the seal kit from lexus is missing that retaining ring. one caliper did not have rings. the other caliper did. I assume i should reuse the rings on the one that had it. i would like to get new rings since the old ones look pretty bad. any idea where to get them?
i believe it's from a 98 and up 4 piston LS caliper.
Thats interesting! When i purchased my rebuild kit it only came with the piston seal and dust boot. When i took apart my caliper i did not see a retaining ring. You should be able to go to the dealership and pick up that retaining ring. They probably can show you a diagram of the different parts that are used in the caliper
i hear what you're saying. i've seen all the diagrams but for some reason THIS LS caliper has a ring around the boots. i was confused since like you linked there's no part number or a link to a snap ring like that for the LS seal kit. i got the kit and no ring.
so i was surprised that this one caliper has rings on it...of course the other caliper was ring less.
the pic i linked is a generic pic of rebuild kit/seal kit.
i cant even notice a difference, but to tell you the truth if the rings are holding the dust cover for the piston i wouldnt really worry about the rings. the new dust cover will be brand new and tight so it should fit snug.
i cant even notice a difference, but to tell you the truth if the rings are holding the dust cover for the piston i wouldnt really worry about the rings. the new dust cover will be brand new and tight so it should fit snug.
hmmm...i'll give it a go and see. worse case i'll replace the boot on that one piston. i got all the old rings back on except for one so that one boot w/o the ring is my only concern.
Retaining rings required for front caliper rebuild??
Originally Posted by PK_Celsior
Thats interesting! When i purchased my rebuild kit it only came with the piston seal and dust boot. When i took apart my caliper i did not see a retaining ring. You should be able to go to the dealership and pick up that retaining ring. They probably can show you a diagram of the different parts that are used in the caliper
I've bought the Centric caliper rebuilt kits for my 97 LS400 & they all came w/ the retainer rings. Just completed the 2 rear calipers a few days ago. Very easy to do. I was going to rebuild the 2 front calipers as well, however upon inspecting, they're still good so I'll hold off on it for another 10K miles until the front pads are ready to replace. Anyway, the purpose of the retainer ring is to hold the dust boot in place when the piston is moving so it s/b in use, however once the caliper is in place, there's very very little movement on the pistons when you apply the brake so I'm sure you can get away without the rings but again we should use it.
Btw, I've seen many of Yoda's posts & I can tell he's very thorough. I'm not sure why the Lexus' diagram for the front caliper doesn't show the retainer ring. I don't know but as I was saying, there's very very little movement on the pistons once the caliper is in place so perhaps it's not that important.
Different year - but my 1991's Lexus rebuild kits came with the retaining c-rings on front and rear. Very different brakes, though. I just happened to come across the old ones when digging through the crap in my garage yesterday, and thought to look, due to this thread.
For my 1991:
04479-50020 rear brake caliper overhaul kit
04479-50030 front brake caliper overhaul kit
I would not worry at all about re-using a c-ring.
If it is supposed to have a c-ring, I would definitely make sure I used one.
I've bought the Centric caliper rebuilt kits for my 97 LS400 & they all came w/ the retainer rings. Just completed the 2 rear calipers a few days ago. Very easy to do. I was going to rebuild the 2 front calipers as well, however upon inspecting, they're still good so I'll hold off on it for another 10K miles until the front pads are ready to replace. Anyway, the purpose of the retainer ring is to hold the dust boot in place when the piston is moving so it s/b in use, however once the caliper is in place, there's very very little movement on the pistons when you apply the brake so I'm sure you can get away without the rings but again we should use it.
Finished rebuilding my front calipers using Toyota seal kit.
Apparently the factory did not use retaining rings on the piston external sealing boot.
After extracting the pistons, I observed a ring of crud on the piston lip (brake pad end) that is covered by the external sealing boot.
This suggests moisture and dust are migrating past the seal.
I purchased the Centric front caliper seal kit to acquire the seal rings.
Perhaps the factory dispensed with seal rings due to the close proximity of the bores will not permit proper nestling of rings around external seal
To resolve the issue, I clipped a short section of two of the 4 rings(each caliper) to eliminate interference.
The Centric rubber components were not of the same quality as OEM....and therefore do not recommend them.
Short section removed from two of the 4 external seal retaining rings. Image depicts one external seal ring slightly clipped. Unless you perform this operation, the proximity overlap of rings interfere and will not nestle under the seal...and will likely pop out. Slight shortening required only on one side of each caliper half.I cut the overlap of the uninstalled ring.
12-04-11, 04:05 PM
LS400 caliper rebuild (4 piston)...retaining ring or no ring?
