dragging rear brakes

[sday]

Hey all. I'm new to the Spider-fold. Coming home with my new acquisition, I noted that the rear brakes were overheating. Pulling the wheels to free things up, I was greeted by a retaining system unlike anything I'd seen before. I've ordered a repair manual - but it's back-ordered. wondering if anyone has a pdf of this section of a manual they could forward me? Alternatively, a quick word or two about the process of getting the calipers off.

I gather also that the brake proportioning valve may be playing a role. Wondering what one does to service that unit?

thanks in advance
Sean

[racydave]

http://www.fiatspider.com:16080/f08/vie ... =14&t=7205 Karl posted this info on the rear valve especially for you! I had the same problem with my Spider. I ended up replacing the calipers and rubber hoses for the whole system, then the Master Cyl went out too... First, try to loosten the bleeders, if they break, you will definatly need caliper(s).

[kmead]

Fiats do have an unusual arrangement, but it is also amazingly simple and easy to deal with.

Buy new brake discs, pads, flexible brake lines (5 total for front and rear), copper sealing washers, a new emergency brake cable and if possible new calipers (@135 for the front ones and 285 for the rear ones per pair). Also buy 1-2 quarts of synthetic DOT3/4 brake fluid

One can rebuild the calipers if they are in good shape but for most owners its not

The procedure is as follows:
After safely jacking up the car and placing jack stands under the long trailing arm mountings on the rear axle
Remove the wheels
Climb under the car and loosen the emergency brake cable, it will have two nuts on it, one is a jamb nut so you will need two wrenches
Loosen the 2 bolts that hold the disc to the hub. These may both have extended pins or it may be just one of them. It will likely be a 12mm, a deep one for the extended pin bolts. Remove the spacer from the face of the disc.
Remove the 4 small cotter type pins from the locking blocks. There is one in the front and one in the back of each locking block, the pins are just in front and behind caliper with an upper slipper block and a lower one between the caliper and the caliper carrier.
Take a rubber/plastic/dead blow hammer or hold a block of wood on the circumferential face of the caliper and give the caliper a couple of hard wacks to flex the caliper on its mount/springs
Using a suitable drift (a straight blade screwdriver will do if you don't have proper tools) and drive the upper locking block in until it drops onto the ground
You should now be able to easily drive out the lower locking block
Using the screwdriver, apply pressure from the carrier to the caliper, prying it outward from the carrier. You should be able to pull it easily off out of the carrier, you will likely need to slightly offset it to pull it out of the opening in the carrier.
You can now remove the two pads
Using a 17mm socket reach around the back of the caliper carrier and remove the two bolts (an upper and lower) that hold the carrier to the rear axle

Remove the disk and throw it away along with the pads. Fiat discs are not meant to be be turned as they are at minimium thickness to start with. They are also very cheap.

Now thoroughly clean the various parts you have removed.
Wire brush the caliper carrier making sure the surfaces the slipper blocks rid along are clean and not buggered up. A light filing may be in order. If you have a blast cabinet or sandblasting rig you can use that to clean them up. If you are into painting things, do not get any paint on the faces and edges the locking blocks and calipers will ride in. Use good paint, Mike Bouse can steer you towards a source to avoid.
Do the same with the locking blocks. They should be square and not rounded along their sides/edges. Do not paint.

Dealing with the e-brake cable can be a bit trying, as it will be well wedged into the caliper pull arm and the some of the new ones have oversized cups that do not fit into the pull arm or retainer properly.

The rest of the job is typical brake work. Keep the rear axle supported with the full load of the rear of the car on it so the rear compensator valve is in the open position and will allow fluid to flow.

I am emailing an excerpt from my X1/9 manual (which is identical brake wise to the 124). Being a 1 mb PDF I can't post it here.

Hope that is clear and that it helps.

I would highly recommend you buy the Haynes manual and the Brooklands manuals. If possible having the actual Fiat manual is a real boon as well if you can find one. Having more than one source can make the what and how a whole lot easier.