My Kodiak brake calipers have rotten piston boots

[dannyual767]

I have a 2004 Magic Tilt tandem axle, aluminum boat trailer. In 2014, I replaced the non-functioning drum brakes with Kodiak 10" disc brakes. All worked well for several years and then the brakes stopped working. I removed the both brake assemblies from both sides and it looks like I found the smoking gun. The caliper piston boots are very rotten and falling apart. I'm sure that is the reason that my brake system doesn't have any brake fluid and, of course, is now inoperative.

I went to kodiaktrailer.com to see if I could order new parts and rebuild the caliper. These are either stainless steel or "e-coated" calipers so they're worth rebuilding. Kodiak says on their website that they're moving (physically) and their "online store will be unavailable until further notice." I tried calling and leaving a message. No call back. I just tried calling again. No luck.

I'm a 100% DIYer and do all of my own work but rebuilding a caliper is something that I haven't done. There are lots of youtube videos so I'm not worried about the work. I just need to know how to purchase the parts that I need to rebuild the calipers. I'm going to assume that I will have to take the piston out of the caliper and measure it's diameter. I'm going to ***assume*** that I can buy the piston seal and boot at a local auto parts store. Can anyone give me some advice on this, please? I want to get these brakes working again ASAP. Thank you!

 

[tpenfield]

Kodiak is the manufacturer . . . how about getting the parts from one of their retail outlets . . . such as Eastern Marine. or etrailer, or Pacific Trailers. I could not find them on iBoats though . . .

 

[dingbat]

Which is it?

Ecoat calipers are blue. Stainless is well, stainless.

Went through the same thing this Spring with a pair of Dacromet calipers.

Did some shopping around and was able to find new dacromat calipers for $15 over the cost of the rebuild kit.

Ended up ordering two new Koda-guards for $50 over the cost of the rebuild kits

Tried tearing the old calipers down to rebuild as spares. Both pistons frozen in place. Messed with them for 20 minutes or so before throwing them in the trash.

The only way I’d consider rebuilding is if they where stainless.

You can get the rebuild kits at just about any trailer parts store. Just need the Kodak model number. Probably model DBC 225

 

[dannyual767]

dingbat, my calipers are stainless steel.

I did find Kodiak caliper rebuild parts:

 

[dannyual767]

And the piston seal:

 

[dannyual767]

It looks like the seal and boot are $10.50 X 2 plus shipping. This weekend, I'll take the pistons out and make sure they're not frozen or have other problems. If its just the boots/seals that are bad, I'm just going to order them and rebuild.

Thank you, guys for the advice and recommendations!

 

[dingbat]

It looks like the seal and boot are $10.50 X 2 plus shipping. This weekend, I'll take the pistons out and make sure they're not frozen or have other problems. If its just the boots/seals that are bad, I'm just going to order them and rebuild.

Thank you, guys for the advice and recommendations!

https://www.easternmarine.com/kodiak-225-caliper-rebuild-kit-dbc-225-kit

 

[dannyual767]

I needed to come back to this thread for an update. I found the caliper rebuild kits on napaonline.com. They were $4.29 each plus tax and it took two days for the NAPA warehouse to get them to my local store.

I installed the square o-ring and then had to fight some to get the piston in along with the outer dust boot. Got it all together and then it was time to do the other caliper.

I installed the square o-ring and fought the piston to go in. Same as #1. However, I couldn't get the dust boot to seat into the caliper. After fighting it for about 30 mins, I gave up and went inside to have dinner.

Back out into the garage after the dinner break and I was sure I'd get this dust boot seated into it's groove in the caliper. I even removed the piston and tried again. I just couldn't get the OD of the dust boot to seat into the ID of the groove. It was as if the dust boot's OD was too large. Eventually, I tore the boot and I was done for the night.

Since the parts were so cheap from NAPA, I ordered two more and they should be in today.

I'll come back in here and post my results later this week.

 

[dannyual767]

I just called my local NAPA to confirm that my caliper rebuild kits came in. No they did not. In fact, NAPA told me that they were coming in from one of their warehouses in PA. They didn't have an estimate on when they'd arrive. Stand by for my next update.