ah, let the Qs begin ^_^

so anyway, I took the front caliper off the bike this weekend, and the pistons are NOT playing nice.  The clymer manual said that air can be used to blow the pistons out of the caliper, but these things are pretty crusty, so I'm not too sure it'll work.  Then again, I've never done this before.  Should I try and shoot it down/soak it in brake cleaner or anything before attempting to remove them?  worst case scenario, I can just take it into shop and machine them out, but I'd rather not if I don't have to.

I'm a little wary of the soaking, since they mention that solvents should not be used... but it's brake cleaner, so it should be safe for ALL the brake parts, eh?  

I had the same problem when I rebuilt my front calipers.  One of the piston refused to slide out.  I took it to a gas station pump (since I did not have any appropriate air tools) and it came out that way.  I just blocked the cooperating piston with wood and c-clamp.  If you decide to do it this way, please take all necessary precautions and then some--the stuck piston will want to become a projectile when it finally breaks free.  I used appropriate and imaginative wood construct and lots of rags to cushion the impact.

Chances are that the visible crusty stuffs doesn't really extend much into the piston wall/receptacle.

I bought the rebuilt kit (some rubber o-rings and plastic c-rings IIRC--check the manual) from my local suzuki dealer.

Cheers,
e.

i don't have compressed air, so i've always removed caliper pistons by hooking them up to the brake line and pumping. works like a charm, just be sure not to get brake fluid on any paint.
on my vw, i've used a cable tie to hold one piston in while i pump out the other.

cheers,
will

Worst case scenario you can sometimes use pliers and rotate it while trying to leverage out. This ruins the piston, but the replacement kits with all the seals plus the pistons is only slightly more expensive than the seals on their own (go figure!).

NONONON no pliers ever.   put the other cup and seal back inside the caliper, using a C-clamp hold the Loose cup inside the piston, then pump and bleed the caliper as you would normaly do (off the bike)  the pressure buildup should push the frozen cup out, keep checking the resivoir to keep it full, continue to pump till the cup gets near the end of travel, place a bucket underneath, and SLLLOOOOWWW pump (with eye protection on please) till the cup comes out of the bore, once loose, push back in Just a hair, remove the c-clamp from the other piston and hold the "sticking" cup with fingers and pump, this will push the other cup out for you.  Brake fluid is cheap enough and will give your mastercyl and good flushing while doing it thisway.

QuoteWorst case scenario you can sometimes use pliers and rotate it while trying to leverage out

whoa now, that's just plain scary... I'm trying to salvage my caliper, here  

guess I can try the brake lever thing again... btwn this and my scirocco problems, it's been quite a week ^_^

oh, just to clear it up, they're BOTH stuck in the caliper.  So if i refill/bleed the system, it might still work? and like you said, at the very least it'll give the front end a good flushing, so it can't hurt