This morning I took apart the hydraulic cylinders from the front disc brake calipers. The cylinders mount on each side of the caliper and hold the brake pads, which they squeeze together on the rotors in order to slow the wheels.
Here are the assembled calipers prior to taking them apart.
Each cylinder was mounted on the caliper by four bolts, one at each corner of the cylinder. I removed these bolts using a 3/8" socket in my socket wrench. The bolts were not torqued down very tight at all.
With the bolts removed the cylinder was still attached, so I used some persuasion in the form of a few taps from the rubber mallet and some prying with a flathead screwdriver.
In short order the first cylinder came free.
The brake pad had a groove from the center out to one of the narrow edges. A pin on the cylinder slid up into this groove to hold the pad to the cylinder. I slid the pad off.
Then I repeated the same operation to remove the cylinder on the opposite side, beginning with the bolts.
On the rear edge of the caliper was a keeper plate that I removed. It was held in place by a single bolt, which I removed using a 10mm socket and wrench. I then just slide the plate back and off the caliper.
The calipers I plan to clean-up, address any rust, and re-paint using a high-temperature caliper paint. The cylinders I will have re-built. I am thinking of sending them off to
Whitepost Restorations in Virginia, who will completely sandblast, refinish, re-sleeve, and replace hydraulic components in brake cylinders. They quoted me a price of $80 per cylinder to fully overhaul each one, which adds up for four brake cylinders. But hey, stopping is pretty important. Whitepost also offers a lifetime guarantee, so I would never have to pay to have my cylinders re-built again. I haven't completely decided to go that way, but I am leaning pretty heavily in that direction.
