Rear Disc brakes????

[gorak]

1997 Camry V6.... Rear disc brakes are way different from the fronts. How in the world do you take these apart. I looked at the factory repair manual and it's not just two bolts. Theres one bolt on the bottom of the caliper, but no bolt at the top.

[Safari Wagon]

The one at the top is probably a slide pin. Undo the bottom bolt, swing caliper away from disc, pull caliper off the pin. Not sure about the '97, but on the '93 the only difference (besides minor mounting differences) is the parking brake.

[Yuko]

^+1

After removing the lower bolt, swing it up all the way and push the caliper away from you to remove it. It's easier if you remove the bolt that holds the brake hose to the strut.

[fenixus]

they are pretty much same as fronts just smaller
slide/anchor/guide pins are also different as they go all the way through caliper and screw into bracket on the other side. except for that it's same!

torque spec on this setup is way less in rear though than in front, bracket to carrier bolts only 34ft-lbs, slide pins only 14ft-lbs (vs 79ft-lbs & 25ft-lbs respectively).

EDIT:
oh and the parking brake is a separate system, it's sits in center of rotor (drum-in-rotor), just remove the rotor and you will see it if you like.

[gorak]

Regardless it's a strange setup.... Why can't they just make it the exact same as the fronts? Also does anyone know the braking ratio? Correct me if I'm wrong but the fronts do 60% of the braking or something like that?

[bronzemaxell]

once you removed the caliper bracket, it should come off free, if the parking brake is released, and if the parking brake drum shoes is not holding it,

if the whole rotor is loose and it will not come off
you need to adjust the parking brake through the brake rotor's plug hole with a flat head screw driver,
ply the shoes adjusting screw one direction will either loose or tighten the parking brake.
if the parking brake is too tight, it will spread shoes and hold the rotor in place and won't come loose.

see below link for more detail on how to adjust the parking brake.
How do you adjust the parking brake on a Camry w/ rear discs

[Yuko]

Originally Posted by gorak

Regardless it's a strange setup.... Why can't they just make it the exact same as the fronts? Also does anyone know the braking ratio? Correct me if I'm wrong but the fronts do 60% of the braking or something like that?

The front of most vehicles does 60-80% of the braking. The reason why is not the same was the front is that the rear brakes must have the parking brakes integrated into the system. Not only that, because the rear brakes take less load, they can manufacture is smaller to be cost effective.

[fenixus]

gorak, what's so hard about your rear brakes? is something seized up? you should be able to take them apart same easy as fronts. even easier as they call for less torque on bolts and everything is smaller.

sometimes the slide pins seize up and are hard to remove or the parking brake shoes are adjusted tight and block against the drum in rotor.