How to Remove the Front Caliper in a 1997 Ford Escort

The brake calipers on your Escort work similarly to a vise when you depress the brake pedal. The piston on each of the calipers pushes out against the brake pads and causes them to squeeze against the surface of the rotors, stopping the car. Damage to the caliper often happens from a rip or tears in the rubber boot that surrounds the piston. This can cause the piston to freeze due to dirt drying out its lubricating grease. Ford suggests that you inspect the front and rear brake calipers every 10,000 to 15,000 miles. You can remove them for service or replacement right at home.

Instructions

1

Open the driver's door and apply the emergency brake on your Escort. Loosen the lug nuts on the front passenger's-side tire a quarter-turn counterclockwise with a lug wrench.

2

Raise the car with a hydraulic jack no more than 25 inches from the ground. This measurement includes the 10 inches that the car already sits off the ground. Place a jack stand under the frame rail across from the tire to help support the car's weight.

3

Remove the lug nuts completely with your lug wrench. Slide the tire off the studs and set it to the side of your work area. Place all of the lug nuts on the seat within the car so you don't lose or misplace them.

4

Set a 5-gallon bucket down just outside of the wheel well, near the brake caliper. Remove the two inner, lower caliper mounting bolts with your socket wrench. The caliper's piston has two bolts that hold it on the brake caliper. Do not remove the piston's bolts.

5

Grasp the brake caliper with both hands and carefully lift it off the rotor. Set the caliper down on the bucket with the brake line facing up.

6

Remove the banjo-bolt holding the brake line on the caliper with your socket wrench. Hold the brake line plug in one hand. Use your free hand to quickly lift the brake line away from the caliper, then swiftly clog the line with the brake line plug. Discard the two flat washers that sat beneath the brake line bolt and use two new washers during re-installation.

7

Clean up any brake fluid that may have dripped on the brake caliper or ground with a shop rag. Reverse this entire process to reinstall the front passenger's-side caliper. You can use the entire process to also remove and replace the driver's-side front caliper.