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Old 12-06-2016, 05:59 PM
Electronic M's Avatar
Electronic M Electronic M is offline
M is for Memory
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Pewaukee/Delafield Wi
Posts: 14,758
About a week ago I fixed the brakes myself...

Started last week tuesday. I ground the caliper bracket bolt head down (with a rotary Dremel) till I could hammer the next socket size down (11/16 IIRC) onto it. I made sure it was a darn snug fit, then took a breaker bar to it. I kept the socket on the bolt at all times till it was out...After that, the brake work on that side was cake, and I went to the other side.

I had to (gently ) sledge hammer that wheel off after the bolts were off since the wheel/hub/rotor had gotten rather stuck to each other (penetrating oil and kicking did nothing). I took all the lessons from the first wheel and applied them to the second, and I was able to get all the bolts off. Better yet even though one slider pin was getting rather sticky I was able to get the slider pins out, cleaned and re-greased.

I almost had it together when I hit a snag the pads did not want to go in. I concluded the spring clips on that side were bad, and the next day got replacements....Granted the parts store gave me the wrong ones at first (so I had to go back with the originals). With that I got the rear brakes done.



The results were interesting. The passenger side had an intermittent grind...After trying a couple of things I decided to try setting and releasing the E-brake, and that seems to have cured it.

The drive where I found the grind was rather disappointing though...At the end the air suspension which held level PERFECTLY for a week dropped and upon parking it I could hear an air hiss.....The next day after messing with the grind I filled it with air, grabbed a spray bottle of water and went leak hunting. The problem, much to my chagrin, was partially the fault of carelessness on my part. Apparently when I installed that T fitting the plastic air line under the car moved out of place and alighted on the exhaust pipe ....Luckily only a small hole resulted.



I tried to super glue the hole*, but came to realize the stuff never 'dries' in the cold. So I tried warming it with a lighter and promptly set the drop of glue on fire...Who knew super glue was flammable I blew it out (heat may have melted the plastic sealed) and retried keeping the flame farther away. Once dry I tested for leaks (none found), slathered it with Permatex red silicone and wrapped that with heat shrink tubing cut with a spiral from end to end so it would wrap the line securely. I followed up on recurrence prevention by taking some aluminum POTS wire and tying the line away from the exhaust...I may add more tiebacks.

* I made sure to de-presureise the system so leaking air would not blow the glue away...In fact I drew a slight vacuum (what my lungs are capable of making) on the line to draw the glue in.

The results: It has held air for almost a week and survived 2 work commutes.
I found a nice folding table for swap meets at a thrift yesterday too.
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Last edited by Electronic M; 12-06-2016 at 08:49 PM. Reason: add pics
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