Real quick brake question

I need to remove my calipers so I can take them down to NAPA as cores for new ones. How can I keep brake fluid from leaking out of the disconnected brake line while the caliper's off?

you can plug em but i think its just worth lettin em drain and bleeding the system. that way you'll have clean brake lines and fluid. all i do is use a gatorade bottle with some tubing and have the bottle end sittin in an inch of fluid. start bleeding when you get those calipers back on. just hook up the caliper with the bleeder bolt cracked open a bit , tube on the bolt, fluid reservoir topped off with cap off. and start stompin away smoothly.

takes like 10 minutes for both sides appx. when i do it.

no fancy tools needed. make sure you have the big bottle of fluid for this though. you'll need more than the walgreens or piggly wiggly size bottle they sell with about 4 ozs in it. those are good for topping off but for bleeding always have plenty of fluid around.

start with the passenger side first. then do the drivers side.

You don't want to let the lines just drip because if the master cyl goes dry, it's a PITA to bleed, you'll have to bleed the whole system, not just the front wheels. If only a little fluid drips out while changing the calipers, you can just bleed out the two new calipers and be done with it. If you want to flush the fluid out, bleed all 4 wheels and make sure the master cylinder doesn't go dry while you're doing it...keep bleeding until clean, new fluid comes out. Yes, this will require a shitload of brake fluid.

First of all, are you sure both your calipers are bad? Don't replace them just for "maintenance", that's a waste of time and money.

I'd get the reman'd units from NAPA, install them, then bring your cores back. You'll get the money back for the CORE charge, you don't have to give them the cores when you pick up the reman'd units.

But, to answer your question, they do make clamps that can clamp off rubber brake hoses. They're rounded so they don't damage the line, vise grips or just about anything else will run the risk of causing damage to the hose.

Agree with Anony91xj...unless your NAPA is far away or hard to reach, do the job first and take the cores back at your leisure. I would try not to clamp the hoses at all if possible to minimize the chance of damaging the inner lining. Just do the job fairly quickly and you won't lose enough fluid to worry about. I would also recommend that you get new copper washers for the banjo fitting on the caliper end of the hose, if they don't come with the new caliper. If your Jeep is getting on in years, and you haven't replaced the hoses, have a really good look at them. If there are any cracks in the outer hose, now is the time to replace them. Even if they don't leak or fail, they will be weakened and may contribute to poor braking.

Matthew Currie said:

Agree with Anony91xj...unless your NAPA is far away or hard to reach, do the job first and take the cores back at your leisure.

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Or you're a poor college kid who can't afford to pay a total core deposit of $108 for two $18 calipers.

Mambeu said:

Or you're a poor college kid who can't afford to pay a total core deposit of $108 for two $18 calipers.

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The poor college student method, then: get some plastic wrap or small plastic bags, and several stout rubber bands. Remove the hoses from the calipers, and immediately wrap the ends as tightly as you can with plastic wrap or bags, and seal around the hoses with several rubber bands as tightly as you can. Now elevate the ends of the hoses as much as you can (hang them or stick them into a spring coil), fill the master cylinder as full as you can, and hie thee to the parts store as quickly as possible with your cores. If you do it tightly you'll lose very little fluid.

I ended up just paying the core, but now I have to drive all the way down to NAPA tomorrow morning before work. Oh well.