Last week I did some maintenance on the brakes of my 2004 Tahoe and while working on the rear disk brakes I made a confusing discovery. When I removed the caliper bracket on the passenger side and pulled out the slider bolts to clean and grease them, I noticed that they were both identical (2 straight solid bolts). When I did the same on the drivers side I noticed that one slider bolt was identical to the 2 bolts on the other side (straight) but the other bolt had a cut out at the end with a rubber bushing on it. Not expecting this I paid no attention to it and now I have a few questions. What is correct? Should they all be the same (straight solid bolts) like on the passenger side or should they all be like I found it to be on the drivers side (1 straight bolt and 1 bolt with a rubber bushing on it) or should all 4 bolts have the rubber bushing on the end. Should the passenger side be different from the driver side and if so what should it be? And if one bolt is without the bushing and one has the bushing where does the bolt with the rubber bushing go, passenger side or driver side, top or bottom of bracket? I hope there is a brake expert out there who can shed some light on this, because I don't find any reference to this anywhere. The slider bolts on the front brakes were all the same. However some parts suppliers show the bolts with rubber bushings and others without. What is correct? -- I was told it all may have something to do with 4WD or 2WD. Mine is a 2WD. -- How bizzare. Help, thanks.

Looks like nobody knows enough about 2004 Tahoe brakes to have an answer. Maybe it is inconsequential and nobody cares, but it would be nice and reassuring to know what the correct way is. Apparently it all has something to do with whether it'* a 4WD or a 2WD. Anybody out there that works for Chevrolet and is the brake man? Also I was told not to push the caliper pistons back into the caliper when replacing pads, unless I open the bleeder nipple to let the fluid escape. If it gets pushed back in to brake fluid reservoir it will damage the ABS system. Never heard of that. Is that true?

Bolts should be the same on both sides....

Are you the original owner? If not then it'* possible someone replaced a caliper on one side, and thus the discrepancy.....maybe mixed sliding pins on the opposite side.....

Off the top of my head, I would say both pins should be the same, with a bushing/bellows on each.....

As for retracting the piston, not sure if this is the screw in type or can just be pushed in with large channel locks.....

As for fluid, you will get a debate on this one......Some say you shouldn't push old fluid back into the M/C.......they want you to open a bleeder, push the fluid out while retracting the piston, and then add fluid to the reservoir.....

On the other hand, look at the fluid that is in the reservoir....it is dark and dirty already........I have always retracted pistons, front or rear, with no problems without opening the system, and chancing air to get in....

The ABS is in a "rest" state, already has dirty fluid in it, so how that would harm it is beyond me.....

In the meantime the matter has been resolved. I received a clear and precise answer from a nice tech at my local Chevy dealer and from 2 other brake gurus. The answer is the same from all 3, so I am pretty sure that'* how it is. I post it here for the benefit of everybody and anyone that is picky about doing their brakes correctly. It does have something to do with whether it is a 2WD or 4WD. The front brakes are the same on either one. The difference lies in the rear brakes. On a 4WD the 2 slider bolts per brake are the same. They are solid bolts. On a 2WD one slider bolt is solid and one has a rubber bushing on its tip. The one with the rubber bushing goes on top of the caliper bracket and the solid one goes on the bottom. That'* the same on both sides.