Rear cliper ( caliper even ! ) leak

DaveHerns said:
Also everything is too close to see with my distance glasses, and too far to see with my reading glasses
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I get that too. When I was using a sand blaster, I had to wear my seeing glasses under my safety glasses, and by the time I had managed to get the headgear and welding gauntlets on as well, they had steamed up. :shock:

Richard
 
I agree. I find the biggest impediment to me working on my P6 nowadays is being able to actually see what I'm doing. Latest fugg up was rounding off some small self tapper phillips heads because I had to find them by feel.... :oops:

Chris
 
Hi Stina

As regards bleeding, provided the reservoir is still higher than the bleed point you should be able to simply open the nipple and leave it to drain into a jar under gravity from the reservoir, topping up as required. Then nip it up when you think you have got enough in the jar and the flow is free from bubbles. Saves loads of crawling in an out from underneath and that hard to find and hard to direct second person. Just takes a bit longer.

Chris
 
The last time I changed all the fluid and bled the brakes I used a self bleeder. Worked a treat, much quicker and easier than nipping up the nipple in question between pumps.

Ron.
 
Hi all , got a little further this afternoon . Only had an hour and a half , but got the offending caliper stripped down the bore is better than i was expecting , but not perfect . I've polished it up with a bit of 600 emery and going to reassemble with the new seals . then do the same with the other caliper . I know you'll all be telling me i should be sleeving them in stainless but i don't have the spare cash at the moment ( Christmas is only a few weeks away in Dorset ! ) I'll have to do it again in the future if they don't last , at least i'll know how !
When i re assemble the piston cup assembly will be wound right back in , will it just adjust it's self up by operating the hand brake , or is their more to setting them up ? The self adjusters are working ( or were before i took them all apart ! )
Am i right in thinking you only need the special tool to wind the piston back in when you replace the pads without taking the calipers off ?
 
Hi Stina,

I hope that it doesn't start leaking on you straight away, but don't be at all suprised if it does. You know what you need to do, but as you say, Christmas is coming. Hope you have transport other than the Rover?

The Girling tool as Harvey has mentioned on more than one occasion is next to useless, and having used one numerous times I can agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly, and yes only when replacing the pads without taking the calipers off.

Ron.
 
Providing the bore isn't pitted just fitting new seals will be fine.

You need to manually operate the handbrake quadrants to move the pad up closer to the disc, ideally by removing the disc, then operating the quadrants sliding the disc in every so often until it just slides in nicely with no excess space between the pads and discs, but not so tight that it binds. You can do it without removing the disc, but the end result will never be quite as good as if you do. You could also cheat and achieve nearly the same result by sliding the outer pads in and out. But without doubt the best results are obtained by doing it with the disc. Once it's set, then you need to make sure the quadrants are both back on their stops when the handbrake is off.

Don't forget to make sure the calipers are working properly before you put them back on.
 
Ron . got me push bike if it all goes wrong , or the old mans van ( he'll have to walk to work ) :D
Got the discs off Harvey and am understanding what your saying . Should have time over weekend .
 
It won't, or not as well as it should, (but probably still better than with the discs in place) but if it's just rust you should have cleaned that off when inspecting the discs, and if it's a big lip you should be changing them anyway.
 
My discs have a ring of rust that'll rub off with the grinder . Got the caliper re sealed and plan to test it under pressure of the brake system ( bodged into the hydrolics ) if it fails straight away , i need to sleeve it , if it holds then it goes back under the old girl , and i'll do it again in the summer if needs be . Not totally their yet , but i don't think these old calipers deserve their bad reputation , they are quite lovely the way they are(over) engineered . Not to worried if i have to do it all again as i understand it now . ( it's just nuts bolts "n" springs )
Oh and that bit of paper , what the F<<< is that all about ? reckon that's for the concores judge . I left a fag paper in there to remind me to have a smoke next time i'm in there :D
 
harveyp6 said:
stina said:
Oh and that bit of paper , what the F<<< is that all about ?
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It gets rid of any damp.
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Shame it didn't work on 1/2 pint of brake fluid I once drained out of one :roll:

Good idea to test them before refitting. The night before an MoT I spotted a leaker, no problem as I had a spare set in the garage. So I switched the one which leaked, filled with fluid and went to bleed them only to find fluid running out. The spare was very good other than the fact the hydraulic piston was missing. :oops:

Will you just make up a length of brake pipe to test? I will need to redo my 2200tc rears but might rig up a master cylinder and some pipes.

Colin
 
harveyp6 said:
stina said:
Oh and that bit of paper , what the F<<< is that all about ?
Click to expand...

It gets rid of any damp.
Click to expand...
I know and understand Harvey ! mine had no paper so i put a piece of paper from an old caliper in there when i was done , dry as an old bone , so i wiped a bit of vasaline on it , ( i was looking all around the garage thinking , is this candid camera :? )
May of been a great idea 50 years ago , but i feel i'll be in there again in the next few years :?
As above , left a fag paper in there , just in case :D
 
Hi Stina,

I dare say the paper is supposed to be dry, that way it functions by absorbing moisture. Wiping it with Vaseline will I imagine prevent it from working as intended.

Ron.
 
Geese , Ron! mine had no paper and i went to the trouble of stripping a scrap caliper for the paper - Thinking i'll be back into the calipers before they rust out because of lack of the magic paper . If they do another 20 years without the paper , then i start to worry about the paper ( and re build some calipers in the meantime , just in case )
I'm totally with you Ron , i have the ability to strip the caliper , to understand the workings of the beast , and for a perfect job i would've sleeved it in stainless . can't afford that at this time .
 
Glad that you like doing rear calipers Stina as I loath doing them. Mind the sticky paper though...lol :D

Ron.
 
I thinkl the paper is oil impregnated and gives off oil vapour
I don't think Stina's vaseline will do any harm, even if no good
 
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