has anybody stripped a rear brake caliper to renew all the seals.i'm trying to get the handbrake arm out to do the seal but it wont release.it goes half a turn freely and rises out a wee bit as it turns but then goes back in again when i continue to turn.whats goin on?

I have but I know what I am doing with Calipers.

All of the internals need to come out before you can remove the handbrake arm. The seal I think you are referring to is mainly a dust seal and if there is any fluid leakage then the whole caliper needs to be stripped anyway.

I would recommend that you get recon ones as they are really tricky to get right and unless you really know what you are doing, you could end up spending more on seals etc than it would cost to get recon ones with a guarantee.