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On 26 Jul 2003 at 3:25, Chris J Valade wrote: > 1970, AT, electronic FI (72 engine), consequentially I have > self-adjusting disk brakes in front and drum brakes in the rear. All disk brakes are inherently self adjusting. > If I can't find a bubble protractor (I'm going to look for one > tomorrow), how can I make certain that the lower torsion arm is in at the > right angle? One thing you can do is verify that the hump and the door sills are parallel to the ground. Other than that, you might want to get some measurements from a good car for comparison. Most such measurements would also depend on the tires, tire wear, and inflation pressure, but you might be able to still work something out. > Second, I had taken the old brake pads out and was attempting to > push the pistons back all the way, and while I got some space I don't > have nearly enough...any suggestions? I should mention that I was doing > this without the brake disc since I needed to replace a seal in the > caliper and then I had to space them to even get them back on to the > brake disc since I had pushed on the brakes for one reason or another and > since they are self-adjusting the were pretty near completely set > together. Also, I haven't tried spacing them with them on the brake > disc. Sounds like you've gotten yourself into a jam here. I often use a large pair of Channellocks to squeeze the pistons back into the calipers, but you have to be REALLY careful not to let anything slip and tear the boot. If the boot is torn it MUST be replaced. If the pistons are too close to get the plier jaws in there, then you can try some kind of prying tool, but the risk of damaging the boot increases quickly. As the pistons come out of the caliper body the chances of them tilting in their bore becomes greater and greater. Prying on the piston when they are tilted can actually break an important part of the caliper seal area, destroying the caliper body. This can happen with no obvious external sign other than a brake fluid leak that you can't seem to find or fix. Obviously you want to avoid this. A caliper with both pistons pushed way out against each other can be almost impossible to fix without completely disassembling the caliper halves. I don't recommend that you do this. If a piston comes out too far it can come past the seal and you'll suddenly have brake fluid all over the driveway.... A couple of suggestions: Never press on your brake pedal when the pads or disks aren't in between. Always press the pistons back into the calipers by using Channellocks and prying between the old pads and the disk. Use the old pad to take the brunt of the damage so that you don't risk hurting the boot. Remove the old pad ONLY after the piston is already all the way back inside the caliper. Then use your finger to make sure the boot is nicely folded into its recess and install your new pads. New pads often need to be filed or sanded on the top and bottom so that they will fit in the caliper slot. Cheap pads usually have some excess friction material there which makes them tight in the slot. New pads should never be hammered into place; that means that they are too tight and they must be free to move. They shouldn't be LOOSE, but they should still be free floating. You may have gotten yourself into this too far to recover on your own. Consider sending them to me rather than damaging them. If you have the rebuild job already partly done I would cut you some slack on the rebuild price if I can get them apart with less than the usual hassle. If you do this, I'd recommend doing both just so that you know that both sides are done and in equally good condition. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org