Had to put new U-Joints in the front axle of my 89 XJ. Took the opportunity to install new brake rotors and pads. The Calipers (only) were replaced by a brake shop about this time last fall. I found the brake shop had put some sort of a sleeve (teflon?) on the caliper bolts. Thought that was kind of weird - never seen that before.

The other thing that was weird was the pad wear. I replaced the rotors as the brake were pulsing a bit and they were pretty corroded. Weird thing: the inboard pad (i.e. piston side) of the passenger side caliper was worn just about to the metal backing while the other three pads showed little wear. I wasn't getting any wheel pull when applying the brakes so not clear why I would have wear on only one pad on one side. Also wondering if the sleeves mention above are inhibiting smooth caliper moment as the pads wear.

 

The uneven pad wear happens because the pads wear grooves into the knuckles over time, preventing the pads from sliding back and forth how they're intended to. Google something like "Jeep Cherokee XJ forum grooved knuckles" to read up on it. You'll have to get them welded up, shouldn't be a big issue.

 

I don't think that's my problem. The knuckle 'bars' that the pads 'ride' on had a little surface rust, easily removed with a wire wheel, and otherwise flat - no grooves to speak of.

 

They sleeve on the caliper bolts... are you talking about the guide pins? maybe the inner sleeve just came out came out?

 

Yes, I'm referring to the pins the calipers slide on. Are there inner sleeves? If so, I've never seen them before, but then, these are new calipers (as of about a year ago) so maybe the new calipers came with inner sleeves. Regardless, there was no obvious way to set them back in place other than to get them started in their holes then push the caliper pin/bolt in along with the sleeve.

 

mine looked like these...

 

Ahh. OK. I see what you mean. On my XJ the calipers slide pins have one end threaded and a Allen head on the other end. I don't have bolts like yours. The sleeves I'm referring to are very thin - think electrical tape thin - and made of plastic or maybe Teflon. The sleeves wrap around the pins but don't quite make it all the way around so there's a gap down the entire length of the sleeves. Wish I had taken some pictures.

 

Oh.. this pic shows a bushing...its supposedly from the 84-91 manual. If you want I can send you via PM the link for it or just google it and do image it'll show about half

way down click on pic and it'll take you to the link to download

 

Hi country2. My calipers aren't exactly as shown. My caliper mounting bolts are in the main body of the caliper unlike the ones shown in your pix which shows the pins more on the 'ears' of the caliper. In any case, I have the bushings as shown (or similar to what's shown) but I also also have the thin 'sleeve' which extends along almost the full length of the bolt.