GL brake woes

[pawn_that_dude]

I was changing the front brakes on my 84 GL (4wd 4 door wagon) and I ran into a couple difficulties:

1. Both caliper pistons won't compress with a C-clamp or the special tool (the one that slots into the caliper like a brake pad). Even if put the old pads back on, it's still not even close to wide enough to fit over them, so it's significantly narrower than when I started the job. Considering this is happening on both I am pretty sure I did something wrong, or I should just replace both calipers. If I press the brake pedal, both of them do push out a little bit, and I can compress them back to where they started but I still need to compress them a good half inch to get them over the pads.
2. The drivers side axle nut cone washer WILL NOT come off. Whereas the passenger side hub basically fell into my lap, the driver side is super stuck. I tried hitting the edge with a flathead + hammer, hammering all around the hub, soaking in penetrating fluid, hammering some more. Even renting a slide hammer to try and yank the hub off. The only thing I haven't tried yet is a blow torch on the hub surrounding the axle threads.

Any advice on these fronts would be greatly appreciated.

[pawn_that_dude]

It seems like the caliper might be the twist variety, something I didn't actually know existed until some post-wrenching beer research time. Is it really that simple? Now if I can get this cone washer off I can get this done no problem.

[DaveT]

The pistons must be screwed in, NOT pressed.  They may or may not have survived, depending on how much force was applied.  Only way to find out is try screwing them in.  It takes a good number of turns.

What I have found effective for loosening the cone washer is a punch at least 1/4" round flat end.  The bigger sized ball peen hammer, probably about the weight of a carpenter's hammer. or a little more.

Trying to use a regular size ball peen, you end up pounding as lot, and deforming the washer more.  The shock force is not high enough with the small hammer, at least for me.

A screwdriver is not effective, because the handle absorbs the shock.

If the washer is stuck to the axle, pulling on the hub will only clamp it tighter, don't do this.

If the washer fell out, the nut was probably too loose.

Use anti seize compound when you reassemble everything.

If you resort to torch, seals and possibly bearings can be damaged.  Seals are probably bad anyway.  Unless it's extremely rusty, I don't think you need to torch it.

[el_freddo]

For the cone washer try hitting the axle shaft with a swift blow to get as much shock through the washer as possible.  This usually gets it sorted for me when mine are stuck.

As for the caliper - any caliper with a built in hand brake function is a screw in piston job when swapping in new brake pads.  I've found this tool invaluable:

Simple to use and works a treat!  Beats using long nose pliers like I used to do!

Cheers

Bennie

[pawn_that_dude]

Thanks everyone.

I feel a bit silly not even knowing the twist type existed before doing this. The car is new to me and I had just done my Land Cruiser rear brakes earlier in the day so I thought the Subaru would go pretty smoothly. I got my butt kicked!

The driver side hub area is notably more rusty than the passenger side, which probably has to do with the difficulty. I will try a punch and a bigger hammer for the cone washer.

[el_freddo]

Make sure the dust boots are in good condition. 

If not it's probably a good idea to pull the calipers and put a new seal kit in them. If the piston on the driver's side is really badly rusted I'd recommend either a replacement piston or a refurbished set of calipers left and right.

Cheers

Bennie