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Autozone has flipped my lid tonight....

RootBreaker

RootBreaker

3/4 ton status
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I have always used ABC Autoparts..they were bought out by AutoZone.. so the same people I have been dealing with... at a person level.... so no biggie.. I notice that they cannot get as many products and I hear the same thing from the workers...
I used to be able to get that... well when we were ABC....

Ok so I have been living with that...
now I have done my rear 14bolt disc conversion :bigthumb
azkickin's brackets and hose kit... all went on without a hitch...

Used d44 calipers as my caddy ones seemed that one was bad...

Brakes work great.. but wife isnt happy that I dont have an ebrake... and I dont feel like getting into that one... Yes I put the tutu on when I get home...


anyhow.. I ordered 1 eldorado caliper... $74.99 + $6.75 rush shipping + $70 core + 6% NJ stickit to ya fee

so I returned the core when I picked up the caliper.. I realized that the caliper piston was sticking out a bit and there was a piece of wood wedged in there.. so I figured that it needed to be pressed back in....

now I get home and take my truck apart but cannot get the piston in.... so I call them up and complain and they order me a new one...
2 days later (tonight) I go in there and bring the defecto back.... I look at the other one and it is the same way.. so I already know it wont work but maybe.....

so now I am there for 1.5hrs as they are trying to refund my special order part to which they seem to have problems... credit me for all of it then ringing everything up and the core wont come off... as the computer automatically rings it in.. dunno why they couldnt take it off... so finally the guy throws his hands up and says.. NOW I CANNOT EVEN RING YOU UP FOR THAT PART!!! the computer seemed to not want the part anymore.. so he looked at me and said... see ya and have a good day...

so a free no good caliper.... I go home and try and press it in... no go....

so I figure that both couldnt be bad.. I take it apart.... then I take the old one apart....

THE MOTHA FUDGE SICKLE MO FO PIECE O CRAP NEW PISTON IS LONGER THAN THE OLD ONE!!!!!

so now I know my problem.. I remember that someone sold the piston.. so I went to autozone (as it is right around the corner) and show the guy... he looks and they dont sell the piston... so now the guy looks at the 79 caliper and it is REAL FRICKEN SMALL!!!! so no good...

I then leave and goto NAPA - right there maybe 500 feet from autozone....
show the guy and he looks...

Get a load of this...

the piston is $125 and a new caliper is $65!!! WTF!!!

so I said frickit and ordered 2 new calipers.... so they will be in tomorrow and hopefully I will be putting them on tomorrow night.....

I am gonna drink heavily tomorrow.. I see it now....

so I bought the used calipers for $48 to my door... $130 for 2 new ones.... $180 roughly for these caddy calipers....

glad I got the used ones as they came with the springs and ebrake plate.. and the parts stores dont give ya that part.....

oh well time for me to go get a beer....
 
You do know that you cant "press" the piston back in on a Caddie caliper don't you? That parking brake feature ratchets the piston out to minimize how much it retracts. It has to be tuned back in when you replace pads.

Did you order it loaded? while the front pads are the same thickness the Caddie caliper is not especialy if you got the newer ones from like 80. THe ones I bought were for a 77. didn't have a problem.
 
mine were like that when i got my caddy calipers. i used a break tool to turn them in more to the cylander, then they fit fine. bring them to a brake shop, they should be able to do it in 5 minutes
 
just use a c lamp and push the piston it, I had to do it with my caddies, just dont turn the e-brake nut.
 
Ok.. with the ebrake lever off you can just push them back in...
now Like I just said... the new piston was LONGER than the old one.. so no matter how hard I pushed.. the piston would not go in as it was bottomed out in the caliper... thus I needed different ones.....
 
every rear caliper with the ebrake assembly ive seen you have to twist the caliper back in, you can't just push. you need a $5 tool and a 3/8" extention and ratchet.

not sure about the caddy calipers, but im sure they are the same.
 
For new parts in South Jersey... I've mainly shopped at Advance Auto and sometimes even Pep Boys in the Atlantic County area. The Advance Auto in Hammonton actually had my one piece manual flywheel IN STOCK! I had to drive to Vineland to get my shocks and Tri State Spring in Pensauken for my U-bolts. Fazio's also had some of the parts I needed.
 
I had an issue at autozone about getting the right part. They look up the vehicle and hand me the wrong sensor. No other parts store had it in stock and i need it the same day. Autozone's website has a OEM part number look up. typed in the OEM part number, and it gave me the aftermarket part number. Which autozone carried. :rolleyes:

nappa and carquest is what repair shops use. They are great and can get things within a day unless its something unique.

Most of the calipers sold are rebuilts. On some of my cars, the calipers cost more then the rebuild kits. So i just rebuild them on my own. Either 100 dollar caliper, or a 15 dollar rebuild kit.
 
big83chevy4x4 said:
every rear caliper with the ebrake assembly ive seen you have to twist the caliper back in, you can't just push. you need a $5 tool and a 3/8" extention and ratchet.

not sure about the caddy calipers, but im sure they are the same.
Click to expand...

I will make sure to try and turn in when I get them from napa...

the biggie is that I took the piston out.. used a tape measure... the piston is longer than the hole it came out of so no matter how much twisting or pushing... she aint going in flush :frown1:
 
Ok got my new calipers... the right side is correct... and the left is wrong...

the guy even got the tool out.. AND IT DOESNT TURN IN!!!!

so I bought the right one and paid the core....

now I am going to use the right caliper

take my new autozone left and pull the piston... pull the piston from my right core... and swap them... use all the innerds of the new one in the old piston and use that...
then it will work fine...
 
autozone

I think they rent those tools at autozone also... (joke...)






______________________________________________________________

I bye all my good stuff from etrdp.com
 
Auto Zone: 10 isles of car polish/ 2 isles of car parts and the "professionals" that have all the answers rarely have a single answer. I have all but stopped buying from them.
 
I have yet too find a parts store counter person that knows anything about a car/truck that is not on the screen infront of them.
 
Then you clearly don't know Nick (mosesburb). And I've seen others from time to time...
 
BadDog said:
Then you clearly don't know Nick (mosesburb). And I've seen others from time to time...
Click to expand...
I'm talking about when I've gone into local parts stores, not members. Sorry if I offended anyone.
 
LOL, no I'm sure you didn't offend anyone.

But there are others out there like Nick who are members, and those that are not. Problem is, the "industry" does not treat them well enough to keep the "tallent", so they tend to move on when they can, or get fed-up attitude; and we wind up dealing with high school drop-outs and part timers who "just needed a job" and have no clue or interest in what is going on beyond the screen and when their next break is.
 
Ever think if pulling the piston out and taking a grinder to it to shorten it :D

Yep most parts store employees suck. The best one I ever met was actualy the daughter of the local hotrod club president. She knew more about cars than the rest of the people there combined + she had a great memory and knew most of the common part #'s off the top of her head. To bad she graduated college and now has a real job :(
 
Gettin really fed up with the Checker round the corner from my house as well. I've never seen such a collective bunch of idiots in my life. The worst part is they usually only have two idiots in there so if there's more than three people needin help it could take the better part of an hour to be told we don't have that but we can order it and it'll be here in a couple of days maybe.:mad:
 
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