Soledad

I've got the rear calipers off doing the brakes and was wondering if the knuckle bracket attached to the caliper is supposed to float fluidly on those rubber bushings and big 19mm bolt? Should that knuckle bracket slide off the caliper once you remove the single 19mm bolt?

Mine don't move at all and I wasn't sure if it was supposed to or not.

Thanks!

Soledad

Yup, they are supposed to float and neither of mine do. Damn. I couldn't even free them up with a press without potentially causing damage. Had to put it all back together so I could order up some new rear calipers.

Also found my passenger side front guide pin that holds the brake pads in had no cotter pin in it. It was about 1mm away from falling out. Who ever did the brake job on this car prior to me purchasing it put new pads on it and that was it. No lube and didn't check squat.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

^Yep, you've experience what is known as a seized rear caliper...VERY common on our 2ISs. I had to replace BOTH of mine on my IS350 EVEN AFTER Lexus performed the recall to "fix" it by installing new rubber seals to that floating pin.

Soledad

Thanks Gville! Yeah, I was extremely bummed when I finally figured out that both my rear calipers had seized. Both of my rubber boots were in perfect condition too. No cuts, tears, cracks, nothing. It rains a ton here though and so the water must have just seeped in over time.

I've been trying to think of some way to keep the new slide pin water proof but I've got no idea. Probably best just to pull them off and re-lube every few years.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

^Yeah, just best to re-lube the seal itself to prevent moisture from seeping in.

scott1256c

Both my rear calipers were seized a couple of years ago. Once off, a friend broke them free by hitting the caliper with a hammer, hitting it sideways. Note, he was NOT hitting the "knuckle bracket", as you call it, but the housing itself, so he wasn't going to bend anything. I sanded the rust off the slide and inside the housing, then used some rust converter, and sanded again, and polished a bit, and they have held up ok. I had called 2 or 3 places and no one had replacements in stock at that time, so it was either see what I could do or wait several days to run the car again. It has worked well enough that I haven't felt the need to replace them yet.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

^That's good! My friend and I used BIG hammers AND used heat to attempt to loosen up the one of mine that was 100% seized. After an hour, I said F it and reinstalled it with the old pads. Ordered new OEM calipers, and installed the new with great results. I still have the old seized calipers in the attic. LOL!