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There are 55 entries in this Journal. Status: Member Location: O'Fallon MO, USA |
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Woo Hoo – Brakes At Last & Thoroughly Checked
Created on 2007-02-10 19:23:59
Well finally we have brakes back and what a learning process it was! We removed all the wheels and started with a thorough inspection of the rear brakes. It’s all new to me and removing the drums and backing off the adjustment was not too hard. We soon discovered that the pads were a little oily & greasy on one side and the wheel cylinders were a little leaky. Also the pads and some springs were not installed correctly – they were OK just not correct. So a full adjustment was made and new wheel cylinders installed and I learned a trick to getting oil & grease off of the rear brake shoes – laqueur thinner & heat.
By replacing the wheel cylinders we gave the rear brakes a really good bleed and this was assisted by use of a special tool to keep the pressure switch in place. It’s a bolt with a pin welded on the end. This stops the pressure switch from moving during the bleeding process and saves having to make sure this is adjusted correctly once the bleeding is complete.
When we moved to the front we soon found that that calipers had been installed the wrong way around. I had been the only person under the car previously so no-one else had seen this to notice it. With the bleed screw not at the top there was no way the brakes would bleed correctly. It also explained why the hoses seemed so short – not so short now the calipers are on correctly. Although I had read about not having the bleed screw at the top I didn’t realize how obvious this should appear. Since the bleed screws were above the hoses I thought they were OK but they are most certainly not.
It seems odd that you can just switch the calipers around but you can and we did and again only a quick bleed was needed since a lot of fluid was passed as we disconnected the front flex hoses to switch the calipers. Having done all this there was pressure quickly in the pedal and it seemed all was well. It took a while to get things all cleaned up and the wheels back on but it was a VERY good night of effort. I’m happy no know that a complete check of the brakes was done – as has been noted on the forums many times it’s just as important to be able to stop as it is for the engine to run! Hence the Safety Fast!
By replacing the wheel cylinders we gave the rear brakes a really good bleed and this was assisted by use of a special tool to keep the pressure switch in place. It’s a bolt with a pin welded on the end. This stops the pressure switch from moving during the bleeding process and saves having to make sure this is adjusted correctly once the bleeding is complete.
When we moved to the front we soon found that that calipers had been installed the wrong way around. I had been the only person under the car previously so no-one else had seen this to notice it. With the bleed screw not at the top there was no way the brakes would bleed correctly. It also explained why the hoses seemed so short – not so short now the calipers are on correctly. Although I had read about not having the bleed screw at the top I didn’t realize how obvious this should appear. Since the bleed screws were above the hoses I thought they were OK but they are most certainly not.
It seems odd that you can just switch the calipers around but you can and we did and again only a quick bleed was needed since a lot of fluid was passed as we disconnected the front flex hoses to switch the calipers. Having done all this there was pressure quickly in the pedal and it seemed all was well. It took a while to get things all cleaned up and the wheels back on but it was a VERY good night of effort. I’m happy no know that a complete check of the brakes was done – as has been noted on the forums many times it’s just as important to be able to stop as it is for the engine to run! Hence the Safety Fast!
Click the thumbnail to view image:
For Reference This Is How The Front Calipers Should Look When Correctly Installed
For Reference This Is How The Front Calipers Should Look When Correctly Installed
Summary of Previous Journal Entries
Showing previous 10 journal entries:
| Title | Date | #Pic | #Cmt | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yet More Brakes – Getting Like Deja Vue (Unfortunately) | 2007-01-27 | Well since it was 53F on Friday and predicted to be 20F on Sunday I started work on Friday night putting the brake master back into place. It went back in somewhat easier than it ... | ||
| Rebuilding The Brake Master | 2007-01-22 | Well it was the Monday night group therapy session tonight and I took along the removed brake master cylinder. Encourage to pull it apart, that's exactly what we did and quite an ... | ||
| Showing The 77 Some Love - Defroster | 2007-01-21 | Well it snowed overnight and this year's Triumph Club Polar Bear run is coming up shortly. Last year I fixed the car to have heat but the defroster switch would only turn to the In... | ||
| Brake Bleeding …… Bloody Cold ………. Bleeding Brakes! | 2007-01-20 | 1 | Well last weekend I didn’t write it up but I tried again to bleed the brakes. I tried to bleed the master by itself using plastic hoses on the ends of the hard lines that go into... | |
| Brake Bleeding ...... Bleeding Brakes! | 2007-01-07 | 1 | Finally I have started doing some work again and started to look at the brakes and addressing new flexible hoses. I had never done this before so I did some reading first and learn... | |
| Horn, Side Markers & Console Work Plus Fixing Puking Carbs | 2006-11-27 | Despite some incredibly warm weather this Thanksgiving weekend some work and even progress was made. This after the other week I spent the afternoon extracting the remains of my c... | ||
| First Drive (After Seat Install & Other Bits) | 2006-11-19 | 1 | Well today has been a VERY good day! I started off with something simple given I haven’t been having much luck with the driver’s seat. I did have another go a w... | |
| Fixing The Recline On The Drivers Seat | 2006-11-11 | Well I’m back from UK and starting to tackle a few things again. In the pre-vacation attempt to put the seats in I discovered that the recline mechanism on the drivers seat was ... | ||
| Seat Install - Attempted | 2006-10-14 | 1 | So not the most productive day I've ever had with the 72 :-( I did, however, figure out the seat bolts by trying a course thread bolt and that seems to work. Of cou... | |
| Seat Belts Installed | 2006-10-13 | 1 | Tonight I worked on the seat belts rather than the seats. It seems I need some nuts for the screw bolts that attach the sliders to the seat itself and I don’t have those. Also ... |
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This page last modified December 01 2007 20:50:32 pm
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