Explorer Rear Caliper won't compress

[bingham72]

car on stands, hands dirty, kid's hands dirty, please help.
I was replacing the rear brakes on my 1997 Ford Explorer. I replaced the pads on the driver side, no problem. I used a big ol C clamp to compress the piston back in. I went to do the same on the passenger side and it won't budge. The caliper is pretty far out. So far that I can't get the inner pad off until I compress it. So far, the pad had ground away about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch off of the rotor.
Any ideas? Is there a lock on this thing to keep it from popping out completely? I'll try breaking the bleeder free after the kids go to sleep. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

[Steve68]

Brake the bleeder free, clamp the line off so you dont back feed the line into the ABS controller, and try to press the piston back in.

A friend with a Blazer had the same problem, but the pistons were phonalic and out of round, the harder you applied the brakes the more they wouldn't release, time for new ones,

[aonghus]

Time for new rotor and caliper.... and a proper brake bleed

[bingham72]

Thanks all. After a closer inspection, the piston looked a little crooked in the caliper. I tapped the top with a hammer and slid right in. New rotor installed, old caliper. Brakes feel good today. I'll bleed the lines this weekend.
I guess i should expect issues from a car with 180K miles.

[aonghus]

For the $30-60 you'd pay for a rebuilt caliper from a part store, It seems kind've dumb to risk chewing up another rotor... Just replace the thing, for all you know the problem could repeat itself

[bingham72]

For the $30-60 you'd pay for a rebuilt caliper from a part store, It seems kind've dumb to risk chewing up another rotor... Just replace the thing, for all you know the problem could repeat itself

True, though I don't plan on driving it much longer. If I can get the rag joint fixed and breaks blead on my vette, I'll press it back into DD status. It's MUCH more fun in traffic!

[BonzoHansen]

Brake the bleeder free, clamp the line off so you don’t back feed the line into the ABS controller, and try to press the piston back in.

It amazes me how many people don’t do that.

The caliper (and probably the rotor) are wiped, so feel free to treat like trash. Calipers in pairs, so the one you did already made for good practice.

I dread the next time I have to do the rears in my DD (02 Intrigue). One of the caliper bolts was stripped by GM on the assm line. And those calipers suck to start with. Ugh.

[Steve68]

GM's are famous for !@#$ing up the ABS controller when you back flush the system, I did it the other day and the damn car didn't have ABS, and it was a 04 Impala,