Brake line is quite different than the bleed system. IMO go back and do it by having that bleeder open. You might be going down a rabbit hole here.

1 minute ago, Yarb said:

Brake line is quite different than the bleed system. IMO go back and do it by having that bleeder open. You might be going down a rabbit hole here.

Haha, rabbit hole for sure. Sitting on the bench, with the caliper taken apart in 2 pieces, the brake pads "piston" ought to be able to compress without having to open the bleeder, correct? The fluid should go back the way it came from. Anyway, how hard should it be to move the piston? Can you compress it by hand or do you need a C clamp like I did?

Edited 20 hours ago20 hr by Parman

Did you open the bleeder??

There is still fluid in that assembly. Did you blow everything out with compressed air?

Most calipers I've worked couldn't be collapsed by hand and my hands are pretty strong. Have the calipers been rebuilt?

1 hour ago, Parman said:

Sitting on the bench, with the caliper taken apart in 2 pieces, the brake pads "piston" ought to be able to compress without having to open the bleeder, correct? T

Not sure what you mean by two pieces. But if it's sitting on the bench then, obviously, there's an open port to atmosphere. No way to hold pressure.

The piston should be easily moved by hand if the caliper is new or newly rebuilt and has had fluid in it. Or maybe not, re above. Where did you get the calipers? Might have a bad rebuild. Tight seals.

Edited 19 hours ago19 hr by Zed Head

If you have a caliper on the bench you might as well pop the piston out. Don't scratch the cylinder with the metal dust seal retaining ring.

Images won't load but the Brake chapter describes it.

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I very much appreciate all you guys. I believe they are the original calipers, I rebuilt them. When I had the one on my bench, I tried blowing the piston out of the inside half with compressed air, but trying to hold my fingers over the 2 holes leading to the other half, I didn't like where it was going, so I stopped. Never did move the piston out. I may have not assembled them right, lack of grease possibly, I don't know yet. I have my first car show locally tomorrow 15 miles away, so rather than break this system apart now, I'm going to wait until next week. Then I'm going to disassemble a caliper and see why those pistons are so hard to move.