The car has been sitting a good while and hope to begin some work (fuel tank repairs) now that I am retired. Any thoughts on freeing the rotors/pads which it seems are very stuck?
Douglas,
What year and model Jaguar are you asking about?
Paul
Sorry. It’s a Series III. 1986.
Depending on how they are ‘stuck’ BFH
Depending on how long it has been either sitting, or little used, but in many instances,
the pistons and seals will be partly or fully frozen in the caliper bore, so it becomes necessary to remove and dismantle each caliper, free and inspect the piston and bore and in many cases, replace the seals and pistons
If the brake system has not been apart for 10-20 years, one should also replace the 3 rubber hoses
Of course you can try to free them, at first just by attempting to move the vehicle a little, or try and get a prybar, or hammer & punch and lever or knock back the brake pads
Thanks for your thoughts. I am mostly concerned with the calipers being inboard on the IRS. Don’t know if they are accessible without dropping the IRS?
You can change the pads easily, dropping the rear suspension is manageable if required.
Front, rear or both???
Just saw a You tube channel “Mordske” dealing with that, but on a different specie. same techniques!
CHJ
CHJ
Not easily if the pistons are stuck in the calipers ?
(unless you know some little magic tricks that I do not know) 
my general verdict would be if the car has sat mainly or completely unused for 2-5 years, the rear caliper will basically need to be removed, split, cleaned and re-assembled.
This is not easy, so if you can free up the rear brakes, that would save you doing this
If the pads have any meat, they will be ok
Most of the braking is done at the front, but the rears need to checked to be working, mark the discs with chalk…are they rusted on?
In the instance of needing to remove the rear calipers;
In some vehicles it is possible, but never easy. after taking out handbrake calipers you can unbolt the caliper and slide it down and out, some Jags it will, some wont fit (you need to be able to assemble handbrake caliper back on without sighting, which is not easy, I witnessed a pro Jag mechanic do it on my S2 XJ12)
If you do not have a hoist, have never done it before, or do not consider yourself to be of above average home mechanic, then it would usually be best to withdraw the entire IRS
This is not overly difficult, and does not need a hoist.
Detaching the exhaust is required
Cross that bridge when you get there, but I have had to do it on an XJ and 420G
Shipwrights sets in though and you end up you overhaul the entire IRS
They are accessible. Douglas - but for extensive work; dropping the cage is really necessary…
The first step is to see if the pistons/pads can be forced back from the discs - and will show the access difficulties. The prime cause of ‘storage’ binding is usually disc rust between pads disc - which applies to both main and handbrake pads…
Two alternatives of continuous binding; one or more piston is stuck or the handbrake does not release - the latter a direct consequence of handbrake applied when parked.
The handbrake action is observable by looking - and may respond to brake to cable attention. Checking main brakes requires prying to get movement - and if stuck requires respective calliper removal…
Frank
xj6 85 Sov Europe (UK/NZ)
Agreed - the rear calipers are accessible, and it is possible to remove, refurb and replace them in situ (I did that earlier in the year on my '86 XJ12) but it is a real pain to do and you will probably swear a lot.
On mine it was necessary to unship the handbrake calipers, slide both the main caliper and the two halves of the handbrake assembly in and then fix the two together inside the cage. Not technically difficult but just awkward.
If you know that there is lots of work to be done, it’s probably going to be easiest to drop the cage and work on it with lots of free space around.
Nope, certainly not 