Rear Brake job that never ends

[clarkedj]

I would like to first thank you guys for the help on the rear brake job for my sons 1978 Fiat 124. The job has gone well but lengthy. I replaced the calipers, pads and bled the system. I have an additional question. On the driver side the pads seem to rubbing on the disk. The car moves but the disk becomes hot to the touch. The question I have is there an adjustment that can made to the piston in caliper? As these are new calipers I thought they might have to be adjusted. The passenger side is fine and stops nicely. Maybe I just got lucky. Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks

Ed Clark

[So Cal Mark]

there isn't any adjustment, the piston should retract on it's own. You could have a e brake cable that isn't releasing, or a collapsed hose to the caliper. I'd first check to see if there is pressure by opening the bleeder. If there isn't any pressure then disconnect the ebrake cable and see if the caliper still drags

[mbouse]

and, those calipers are meant to float. if the caliper is sticking the pad might not be able to get out of the way. clean the caliper to bracket mounting surfaces.

[clarkedj]

The e-brake cable was not connected when I initially tested the rotation. The brake hose is new and when I bled the lines brake fluid came out but did not shoot out as high on the driver side ( trouble side ) vs the passenger side. The difference was on passenger side the fluid rose about .25 to .5 inches above the bleed screw on the driver side the rise was closer to .125 to .25 inches. Could it be a misalignment of the pads? I had a heck of a time getting the pads to sit correctly. I would think since the pads float any misalignment would be solved by driving the car and forcing the pads into the correct position. I will also try and clean the pad grooves. I did apply pad grease to help them float.

[clarkedj]

I think I just realized what you mean by the caliper to bracket. The pads sit in the bracket and the bracket sits in the caliper groove. So I may need to clean the bracket on the side where it sits in the caliper itself. Is that correct?

[mbouse]

caliper bracket to caliper mating surfaces need to be clean so that the caliper can "float"

it is also a really good idea that the caliper to pad mating surfaces are clean as well, that way the pads can move freely inside the assembly

[clarkedj]

Thanks MB and SoCal

[clarkedj]

Brake job finished. The piston in the caliper was aligned incorrectly. The cut in the piston was perpindicular to the bleed screw. Once I adjusted the cut so that it was parallel to the bleed screw the pads set correctly and the disc moved freely. Thanks for all the help and ideas.

Ed Clark

[So Cal Mark]

I'm surprised you could get the caliper installed without the pad pin sitting in the piston slot.

[AlfaSeltzer]

When doing the rear brakes is the caliper piston rotated clockwise or counter-clockwise to retract it?

[So Cal Mark]

clockwise