Front brakes RESOLVED Need help with rear calipers RESOLVED

[RRoller123]

I bought one of those little widgets and threw it away after about 15 minutes, Piece of crapolla. Couldn't remotely get it to fit tight enough to the caliper to make any reasonable leverage. Ended up using a long file which fit well into the slot and didn't slip/twist out every time I put pressure on it like the stupid widget did. (but be careful because if they break they are brittle!) I was able to get enough torque on it to turn the piston. It gets a little easier after a few turns, but not much!

[dmwhiteoak]

I had the same problem that you are having with one of my rears. I actually had to take it off and rebuild it. The other one I used a c-clamp and a piece of flat bar to move the piston. The one I rebuilt was very nasty. Good luck.

[4uall]

I am going to try losening the bleeder screw tonight and see if that does anything Hopefully keep you posted with some photos etc

[4uall]

SOB! The brake bleeder completely removed did nothing for me. Looks like I will have a nice off season project of rebuilding the calipers etc. Through some miracle I was able to get it all back on and all together


Rear passenger caliper by itzebtze, on Flickr


Rear passenger caliper from HELL by itzebtze, on Flickr


Old rear brake pads by itzebtze, on Flickr


Old rear brake pads by itzebtze, on Flickr

[Marmeister]

Hi Jay,
Rebuilt my rear calipers earlier this summer because although hydraulics worked and I think PO had very recently replaced Front and back with rebuilt calipers, ebrake didn't stop car. When I first got Luigi, ebrake barely stopped one side, after a couple of months, ebrake didn't stop either side. I don't think purchased rebuilt calipers were rebuilt properly

I did use flat file to screw in the piston (it wasn't easy), but had already removed ebrake cable (being replaced) and flexible brake line. Although the miafiori article was the best one I found to show how to do this, it didn't show the orientation of the wedge - and of course neither did the service manual. I emailed the article author, Sam, who turned out to be in Australia and he was kind enough to try and find anything that could help me. He ended up faxing me another diagram that showed cross section of caliper and was helpful in showing how the wedge fit. Email me if you'd like me to look for it and send it to you.

In any case, my service manual said there should be two spring washer pairs "()()" + a thrust washer. The article said 3 spring washer pairs "()()()" + a thrust washer. Unfortunately Luigi calipers had 3 spring washer pairs + NO THRUST WASHER !!!

So ended up going with 2 spring washer pairs and added a "thrust washer" that "looked" about right diameter with right hole size... Hardest part was finding a C clamp big enough to go around caliper but with a small enough clamping end to press down on the threaded stem while adding the wedge and pushing through the shaft of the ebrake handle through the top of the caliper body to hold the wedge in place over the threaded stem.

Good luck, buddy!!
Adham

[jdeight]

The left front wheel on my new-to-me 1980 is rubbing against the upper control arm when I turn all the way to right. The car has done this since I got it. I had it up on jack stands and the wheels turn freely through the full range of steering until I hit this rightmost limit, then only the right wheel will turn. I've been reading up on suspension fixes in advance of starting repairs this weekend, but this thread suggests the problem might be related to brakes? Jay, I don't understand what you did to solve the rubbing you had after brakes service. Can you please explain further?

[DieselSpider]

The left front wheel on my new-to-me 1980 is rubbing against the upper control arm when I turn all the way to right. The car has done this since I got it. I had it up on jack stands and the wheels turn freely through the full range of steering until I hit this rightmost limit, then only the right wheel will turn. I've been reading up on suspension fixes in advance of starting repairs this weekend, but this thread suggests the problem might be related to brakes? Jay, I don't understand what you did to solve the rubbing you had after brakes service. Can you please explain further?

You need to determine if the car was aligned properly with the steering box centered (you have to count the turns of the steering wheel so you don't align it with the steering wheel one rotation off to the left or right).

The first simple check is to turn the steering wheel fully to one side to the stop and then counting the turns over to the stop other side, divide that number by 2 and turn the steering wheel back that amount of turns. If the wheel are not pointing straight ahead now then your car was not aligned with the steering centered and will likely rub on one side with the wheel turned to lock.

A center link with idler arm suspension like the one on our Spiders will toe in dramatically when you take the weight off the front wheels and tow out as you put weight on it. When properly aligned the wheels will be toed in and rub at the front when turned to lock with the car on jack stands and the front wheels off the ground. If the car is aligned to the specs in the owners manual without the car laden (meaning resting on the wheels with 150 lb of weight on each front seat and 130 lbs in the trunk for my 1978) then the wheels can toe out so far when you sit in it that they will rub at the back.

While its possible that someone installed the caliper mounts incorrectly or when replacing the control arm bushings put the left control arms on the right and the right on the left this should have been so obvious when it was done that it should have been immediately corrected.