Like brake pad replacements and clutch upgrades, ensuring that the brake caliper on your Ranger is working properly will also help your machine stop when you want it to. Adjusting your calipers will prevent them from rattling and potentially getting damaged, but busted piston seals or brake pads that go too far can also cause the brake caliper to break or leak fluid. The easiest option to fix a leaking caliper is to just get a new caliper. However, you can buy replacement seals, pistons/cups, and rebuild kits that are cheaper than buying a completely new caliper, but require a lot more work. If you do go with the caliper rebuild kit, make sure to use dielectric grease and not rubber silicone to seal it up. And when you’re done, you can fill it with water to see if it holds.
If your Mid-Size brakes aren’t working as they should, you can also try bleeding them. To do this, you start with the caliber farthest away from the master cylinder -- you will have to do all calibers. It will help if you elevate the caliber that you are bleeding so that the air will rise easier towards the bleed valve. Keep an eye on your reservoir and do not let it go low so that it sucks in more air. Pump the pedal a few times and hold it down. While the pedal is depressed someone will need to open the bleeder valve momentarily and then close it before you release the pedal. If you release the pedal while the valve is open, you will suck more air into the system. You do not pump the pedal until it's hard, it doesn't work that way. Just give it a few pumps, open and close the mouth, let off the pedal and repeat. It is a slow process, but you could alternatively get a vacuum pump from a parts store to make it go much quicker. You basically put it on the bleeder valve and it pulls new fluid through the system until you have no more air bubbles.
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