Rear Brake Overhaul
Discussion
Looking to do a complete overhaul of the rear brakes on my Trailing Arm 350. Looking to use reworked callipers including handbrake and replace discs at the same time.
I have a pit in my garage which makes getting access to the difficult bits a little more comfortable. However, what do I need to do to get enough play in drive shaft to get them off the diff flange? Does taking the pin out of the trailing arm at the transmission tunnel end create enough play?
Is it possible to do whilst keeping the wheels on? Otherwise use of the pit may be difficult due to requirement to jack car up!
I have a pit in my garage which makes getting access to the difficult bits a little more comfortable. However, what do I need to do to get enough play in drive shaft to get them off the diff flange? Does taking the pin out of the trailing arm at the transmission tunnel end create enough play?
Is it possible to do whilst keeping the wheels on? Otherwise use of the pit may be difficult due to requirement to jack car up!
Im not au fait with the trailing arm cars, but I would definitely jack the rear of the car up and diconnect the trailing arms. To be honest, you probably ought to disconnect the hub from the trailing arm, as you need to angle the halfshaft as far as it'll go away from the inboard flange nut youre trying to get to. BTW, theyre 11/16 imperial nuts. i.e. if you rotate the halfshaft so the nut youre getting at is at about 11oclock, the halfshaft needs to angle over to 5oclock so you can get a socket on the nut.
For a full rear brake overhaul, I would budget 20 hours. You might want to know about Ward Engineering: theyre a good bunch, and stock all that you will need including the lockwire which you absolutely will need in order to secure the caliper bolts when they go back on. It will fail its next MoT if this isnt present. Not joking.
Ward Eng also sell the camber shims which go between the diff and disc (to get the disc central in the caliper, and slightly different shims which go between the disc and driveshaft flange & set the rear wheel camber. Count the old ones as you remove them. New shims are well cheap, so its worth replacing the inevitably rusty (NOW THICKER THAN THEY WERE WHEN NEW!) old ones with new'uns.
It is a long laborious job, but actually quite rewarding.
Oh, and dont do what I did and overadjust the handbrake to get it thru its MoT. I nearly set the rear brakes on fire due to binding on the M3 going for my first proper drive...
Ed.
P.S. Also, measure the thickness of the old shims if you can find a non rusty bit, as there are a few different thicknesses available! A good quality pair of vernier caliper should do this, or a screwgauge mic.
For a full rear brake overhaul, I would budget 20 hours. You might want to know about Ward Engineering: theyre a good bunch, and stock all that you will need including the lockwire which you absolutely will need in order to secure the caliper bolts when they go back on. It will fail its next MoT if this isnt present. Not joking.
Ward Eng also sell the camber shims which go between the diff and disc (to get the disc central in the caliper, and slightly different shims which go between the disc and driveshaft flange & set the rear wheel camber. Count the old ones as you remove them. New shims are well cheap, so its worth replacing the inevitably rusty (NOW THICKER THAN THEY WERE WHEN NEW!) old ones with new'uns.
It is a long laborious job, but actually quite rewarding.
Oh, and dont do what I did and overadjust the handbrake to get it thru its MoT. I nearly set the rear brakes on fire due to binding on the M3 going for my first proper drive...
Ed.
P.S. Also, measure the thickness of the old shims if you can find a non rusty bit, as there are a few different thicknesses available! A good quality pair of vernier caliper should do this, or a screwgauge mic.
Edited by ed_crouch on Monday 14th May 19:55
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