One might be longer than the other, if it isn't you should be fine with putting them in either hole.

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For the future, remove and clean one at a time.

When you reassembled the caliper and installed it, did it feel loose?

Pads are snug against the rotor?

Did the anti rattle clips fit properly?

 

Check out the DIY for front brakes - DIY 2003-2008 Corolla, Matrix, Pontiac Vibe Front Brake Job with PICS!! .

You can see that the two caliper pins are different looking at step 8. One has notches and the other one doesnt.

At step 14, you can see that the pin with the notches is at the bottom.

If you are still on OEM caliper and pins, than you can follow this. Not sure if interchanging them causes any problems.

 

In that DIY, if you look at the photo before the slide pins were removed (see below) you'll see that the pin with the notches was at the top, not the bottom (blue arrow pointing to notches). When he reinstalled them, the notched slide pin was installed at the bottom. I can't remember if the OE pins have a notch for one and no notch for the other. There must be a reason for the notch, but I don't know what it is and it might not make any difference. Some aftermarket slide pins are identical and are prescribed for either top (sub) position, or bottom (main) position.

 

So I should have put the pin with the notch at the top?

 

Nice Catch John. I guess the only way to find out is to order one OEM pin from dealer.

 

I did notice that the pins (I believe I have OEM pins) have different colors. One is gold/brass while one is dark green. I looked up some brake job videos on youtube and in this particular one, the gold one was at the top and the dark green one was at the bottom. Not sure if this is the right order. He starts taking out the slide pins at 5:58.

2005 Corolla Brake Job

 

notched flat goes in "bottom" / "lower" position according to that parts diagram blowup. FWIW that's also how my 2005 corolla came

 

Very helpful, thanks. Just to be clear, you got your 2005 Corolla NEW and the notched pin was in the bottom position straight out of the factory?

In the parts diagram, the diagram doesn't show a notch, but it's just a drawing. It does show "MAIN" for the bottom and "SUB" for the top. My current understanding based on photos I've seen online is that the "MAIN" slider pin is the one with the notch and the "SUB" slider pin is the one without the notch. The main difference between the two is actually not the notch, which I think was for identification purposes for the assemblers of the car (not sure). The main difference is the taper and length of the facets are quite different. Here, look at this:

One thing that has me thrown for a loop is WHY the top pin is identified as "SUB" and the bottom pin is identified as "MAIN"? That makes no sense to me. To me, "main" would be at the top, and "sub" would be at the bottom, BUT Toyota must have a reason for that which is above my paygrade. I just spoke with a Toyota parts counter guy and he agrees that it doesn't make sense, but verified by sending me the diagram which shows this below:

Here's the diagram showing the "MAIN" slide pin is positioned at the bottom, and the "SUB" slide pin is positioned at the top:

 

main in the diagram has flat spots illustrated along the main length of the pin whereas the sub pin from that diagram is fully round, exactly as I removed from my 2005 that ran its pads down clean, nice and even, nearly to the plates.

I also found another reference or two mentioned elsewhere online when searching the other night that mirrored my same layout.

the only thing I'm not 100% on is if the pin positions flip per side or if the notched main pin with flat sides is in the lower position on both sides.

at first I thought whoever did the brakes last may have used cheap aftermarket hardware since I had previously been under the impression both pins were the same and round.

 

the only thing I'm not 100% on is if the pin positions flip per side or if the notched main pin with flat sides is in the lower position on both sides.

As I thought, the MAIN (bottom) and SUB (top) slide pins are indeed in the same positions on both sides. This is verified by Matt, the very helpful parts counter professional at one of my local Toyota dealers (Red McCombs Toyota).

 

main in the diagram has flat spots illustrated along the main length of the pin whereas the sub pin from that diagram is fully round

Ah so what you're calling "flat spots" I'm calling "facets". If you see the photo I posted, that makes sense. The "main" pin (the one with the notch) has the facets for almost the whole length of the pin up to the taper. The "sub" pin has part of the pin below the taper as perfectly round and the facets don't start until farther down the pin a bit (as shown in the photo). There's GOT to be a reason why the engineers designed it that way.

the only thing I'm not 100% on is if the pin positions flip per side or if the notched main pin with flat sides is in the lower position on both sides.

I'll check, but I'm pretty sure it will be the same for the other side: Main on the bottom and Sub on the top

at first I thought whoever did the brakes last may have used cheap aftermarket hardware since I had previously been under the impression both pins were the same and round.

Yeah, the aftermarket slide pins are usually identical. I prefer to use the OE pins.

 

The brake pad video from TRQ shows the notched pin at the bottom. Here is a screenshot.

FWIW I always remove the rubber seals and clean the slider tubes more thoroughly than shown in the video, but otherwise this vid is pretty good.

 

The brake pad video from TRQ shows the notched pin at the bottom. Here is a screenshot.

FWIW I always remove the rubber seals and clean the slider tubes more thoroughly than shown in the video, but otherwise this vid is pretty good.

Yes, the slide pin with the longer facets, bigger taper/bevel, and the notch is "MAIN" and is positioned at the bottom of the caliper. The slide pin with the shorter facets, smaller taper/bevel, and no notch is "SUB" and is positioned at the top of the caliper.

Yep, I always thoroughly clean the bores into which the slide pins insert. I spray with a solvent then use a round brush (kind of like a pipe cleaner, but of the correct size) to clean the bore.

I'm thinking the notches actually have no function other than perhaps it was a way for the assemblers at the factor to quicky know which was main(bottom) and sub(top). It's a lot faster to notice the notch instead of looking very closely to the pins to see which had the longer facets and bigger taper/bevel. So IMO the notches is a feature of quick identificatin at the factory, not a functional feature. If anybody knows differently, please reply, because I see nothing with which the notches interface.