Rear brake calliper rebuild

[Paulprior]

Hi
I am having difficulty refitting the spring for the handbrake lever on my rear calipers, is there a knack to doing this?

[Paulprior]

Hi Spaceman, I will try that tomorrow, but the difficult part is the main spring is not actually mounted onto anything, so when you pull on the locating finger the whole lot wants to pivot on the lug at the other end, but I will try, it came apart easily without suddenly springing off, we will see

[Paulprior]

I think i will wait until its mounted, hopefully it will be easier if im not just trying to hold it with my knees, but first i have to get the spring and circlip in under the piston, another one that came out easily but not so easy to get back in, any thoughts on that?, i have tried using a G clamp on a socket but that doesnt hold it exactly square as it needs to be?

[Paulprior]

good point, i actually bought another one a few weeks ago but dont have it mounted yet, i was trying the G clamp route as i imagine using the vice will prove difficult to gain access with the circlip pliers to refit the clip, i will try tonight

[Paulprior]

they look the business, i removed the circlips with straight ones, but even that was not so easy, i have 90 deg ones but the prongs are only half the length of the ones you have shown, i will check my local garages and see if someone has a pair i can borrow like that.
I have also powder coated my calipers, the vice could work with a long reach socket, but it will need to open pretty wide, please let me know how you get on rebuilding yours, have you done it before? i am also seeing that getting the cage that surrounds the spring to be perfectly in line and compressed to exactly the right depth will be a challenge, i think when i removed mine i must have compressed a little to much as the flats at the end of the cage fingers have bent backwards a little, i assume that they should be at 90 deg to the cage body, any deformation here will prevent the circlip engaging, there doesnt seem to be much of a window on centering or depth

[Paulprior]

m4tti said:

You should be able to do this with the G clamp and socket. The vice will get in the way, as it won't help compress the piston mechanism. This isn't the work of a blacksmith either. My caliper bodies are being powder coated so won't be seeing the jaws of a vice.

What circlip pliers are you using. Are they like this? If not your attempting a krypton factor final challenge.

Edited by m4tti on Tuesday 14th March 21:40

Edited by m4tti on Tuesday 14th March 21:44

Hi m4tti
Where did you get that photo?, a quick look around the web and i cant yet see anything like that

[Paulprior]

tofts said:

Not understanding all the fuss, grab the spring with a pair of mole grips, just next to the bend of 90deg, twist in to the hole. Takes longer to set the mole grips up, doesnt need a vice, just hold with one hand do it with the other.

I must do this 2 times a week on various calipers? If done rght, it wont even mark the coating!





Just like that!


Besides, if you think thats tough, try refitting the circlip that holds the spring retainer inside the piston, thats quite tricky!

Edited by tofts on Wednesday 15th March 00:31

Hi tofts
Any recomendations on fitting that internal circlip then, yes i have tried, yes its very difficult.

[Paulprior]

m4tti - sorry, I mixed up the tasks, I have done the inside of the pistons, it's the spring, cover and circling inside the calipers that goes over the hand brake adjuster screw that im struggling with, unfortunately the write up in the link made that sound rather easy "24 Refit the washer, spring and spring cover.
Compress the spring and refit the circlip, then release the spring compressor."
Not sure what this spring compressor looks like so I am thinking of just making a metal bar with a threaded hole in it and then while supporting this inside the outer calipers fingers I could screw the bolt in to push on a socket and hopefully still have space for my circling pliers, if not I will buy one of those long 99 deg ones.

[Paulprior]

Paulprior said:

Hi tofts
Any recomendations on fitting that internal circlip then, yes i have tried, yes its very difficult.

Thanks Todts, the mole grips did the trick, much easier, amazing what difference an experienced view makes to what appears a simple operation

[Paulprior]

m4tti said:

Before that section it mentions you can use the adjuster nut from the piston to compress the internal caliper spring. As I understand the original tool looks like this:

That tool would be good, i have tried local ford garages but they dont have such a thing and cannot sell me one, i will try with the piston nut, otherwise maybe make something like this

[Paulprior]

Has anyone actually managed to rebuild the rear caliper and get the circlip back on over the spring and cage that goes over the hand brake adjuster screw?, i tried using the nut from the piston but its not easy to screw that down and it seemed to bottom out too early, i tried the Ford garages to but they only stock tools for cars less than 10 years old now and i cant buy the tool either, i spoke with brake specialists but they only offered a full rebuild or buy a reconditioned set, they suggested that i have no chance of doing it myself, does anyone know any better?

[Paulprior]

Hi tofts. Thanks for the tips, unfortunately I don't live anywhere near you otherwise I would take you up on your kind offer of assistance..
I will be traveling this week and should get access to a small workshop, I was thinking of making something like the pic below to help centralise everything and then use a tool as in the above thread to act on the calipers fingers and compress the spring, what do you think?

Sorry about the rubbish drawing, and the scale is terrible, but maybe it will help, probably need to get some of those long noses pliers as well though.
One other thing, how do you get the depth right without bending the fingers at the end of the cup?, I did bend mine on removal, but I have straightened them up and the fit ok with a circling without the spring.
Paul

[Paulprior]

Hi, no I haven't, I found a specialist brake company not far away and a guy said he would do it off the record as they only offer a full strip and rebuild, but now he changed his mind and won't do it, so I will try and get them back tomorrow and will have to try again unless anyone has any other suggestions?

[Paulprior]

Hi m4tti
Where did you find it in this Forum, the link takes me to the main page, but there is a lot of other stuff there.

[Paulprior]

Thanks m4tti
I just had a good long read, I have ended up with almost identical way as the first guy, the other 2 methods also have some interesting ideas though, I got so close tonight after several modification to my spring compressor, I just needed a good torch and a long thin screwdriver to locate the circling, my only concern is compressing it too much and damaging the spring cover, but not enough and the circling wont go in, there is not much tolerance there, hopefully tomorrow night I will finally crack it, I must admit that this is by far the hardest task I have had yet doing a body partial lift and full suspension arm, shocks, brake rebuild, so far anyway😀
Thank you.
Paul

[Paulprior]

I remember night shifts, I was electrically based so I had other challenges brought in for me to keep me occupied😀
But no, the calipers were working fine, but after painting all the chassis, new shocks and powder coated suspension arms the calipers just looked shabby so I had them coated, not realising what a pain that would be, the fronts were very easy, £40 the lot including sand blasting, no flashy colour, but I think they look good

[Paulprior]

Hi m4tti
Glad yours went together easily, mine did after I found the right tools, I tried with the nut on the central screw and even tried to find an old one that I could weld an Allen key onto just like the original tool pic you posted, but anyway there are done now.
I found fitting the boot the easy part, I lubricated everything, put the boot onto the piston at the back end, make sure it doesn't twist inside out, push it as far back as you can without it coming off the piston, locate the boot into the calipers lip then just push the piston in by hand and start to rotate when you feel it touch the screw, now just screw it in and when you go in far enough the boot will just pop in to the piston groove, obviously the calipers seal needs to go in before this 😀

[Paulprior]

So everything is installed, now I need to bleed, I read on another post about bleeding a single line to just crack open the bleed screw, top up the reservoir and have a cup of tea, so as I have the system completely drained is it just 4 cups of tea and starting with the furthest away?, if so do I need to bleed in the normal way for each corner afterwards or will gravity do that for me?
Also, how oil would you recommend I need assuming my system is completely empty?
Thanks
Paul