Front brakes not going back on?

I bought ceramic brakes pads for my 94 Sierra and now I'm thinking they're too thick? I removed the old pads, compressed the piston, put the new pads on the caliper and now the sleeves on the back of the caliper hit the bracket on the back of the spindle rather sliding past it for the brake caliper bolts to go in. Should that sleeve on the caliper float or is it meant to be stationary? All 4 (2 on driver and 2 on passenger) are like this. If the sleeve that the bolt goes through should slide back and forth, how can I get them to retract into the caliper housing? I've used a c clamp and even tried to drive them back with a hammer and punch but they won't budge.

This truck seen years of neglect before I got it so every thing I touch on it has these types of issues. Anyone else dealing with trucks that fight them every step of the way?

I have a rusty project I have been working on. Shoddy mechanic work in the past has it so I have to revisit things from time to time and the general age of the truck doesn't help much. But I am sure anything I do to my truck will make it better in the long run. With that said I am in the middle of a front brake upgrade. The sleeves on my new calipers don't budge an inch but the ones on my old calipers actually came out with the bolts. The sleeves must come out because you can buy them new with a caliper hardware kit. Let us know how it works out for you.

Nevermind. I used the c clamp to force the sleeves back. Everything that needed grease was dry and everything that should be dry is greasy. Welcome to used trucks.

Dylan1991_1500 said:

I have a rusty project I have been working on. Shoddy mechanic work in the past has it so I have to revisit things from time to time and the general age of the truck doesn't help much. But I am sure anything I do to my truck will make it better in the long run. With that said I am in the middle of a front brake upgrade. The sleeves on my new calipers don't budge an inch but the ones on my old calipers actually came out with the bolts. The sleeves must come out because you can buy them new with a caliper hardware kit. Let us know how it works out for you.

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Dylan, I agree 100%. I make sure if I'm not improving the quality of the truck, I'm not doing it. Of course when it comes to looks, we're all different on what constitutes improving.

The sleeves in my calipers seemed to have some sort of rubber bushing type material around them but it was so degraded it might very well have been just years of grease and road dust build up in there.

It's a crying shame that some people let their vehicles go to the point that they need more new replacement parts than they keep OE. With guys out there like those of us on these type forums, I hope to keep seeing these trucks on the roads in 20 more years. (I can't believe the newest of our body types are 18 years old now)

BigandTall said:

Dylan, I agree 100%. I make sure if I'm not improving the quality of the truck, I'm not doing it. Of course when it comes to looks, we're all different on what constitutes improving.

The sleeves in my calipers seemed to have some sort of rubber bushing type material around them but it was so degraded it might very well have been just years of grease and road dust build up in there.

It's a crying shame that some people let their vehicles go to the point that they need more new replacement parts than they keep OE. With guys out there like those of us on these type forums, I hope to keep seeing these trucks on the roads in 20 more years. (I can't believe the newest of our body types are 18 years old now)

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That goes for many many cars here in NY, there are cars/trucks I would see all over the place 10 years ago, and due to the lovely salt, most have been scrapped. I'm positive that if my project didn't have replaced/southern body parts, it would have been gone.

Even worse for me, growing up cars from the 70's were still common on the road. Now I barely see cars from the 90's. The salt here has gotten nastier too which means even more GMTs will soon find themselves in the local pick and pulls. Good for me I guess LOL!

I always shed a little tear when i'm pulling parts off of a car that is way cleaner than my own. Pretty sure if I ever visited a junkyard in the southwest i'd be uncontrollably sobbing the whole time.

Should I bring tissues the next time we go yard hunting?

Justin S said:

I always shed a little tear when i'm pulling parts off of a car that is way cleaner than my own. Pretty sure if I ever visited a junkyard in the southwest i'd be uncontrollably sobbing the whole time.

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The sheer quantity of GMT400's in my local yards with near perfect bodies would have you bawling. Interiors are so-so, but you don't see many of them that are wrecked. The engine or tranny lets go and their next stop is the scrapper. We get plenty of rain in N. La, but no salt on the roads and no seawater. Worst rust is on the exhaust manifolds. The rest of the systems are usually fine. Damn shame they carve up the exhaust for the cats.

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SAATR said:

The sheer quantity of GMT400's in my local yards with near perfect bodies would have you bawling. Interiors are so-so, but you don't see many of them that are wrecked. The engine or tranny lets go and their next stop is the scrapper. We get plenty of rain in N. La, but no salt on the roads and no seawater. Worst rust is on the exhaust manifolds. The rest of the systems are usually fine. Damn shame they carve up the exhaust for the cats.

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Stop it, damn now I need a tissue