Hose-to-caliper fixing bolts - are they prone to snapping?

[Dinsdale]

Well, I'm nearly there with the braking system on the 91 Regal. Today I managed to turn all four bleed valves on the calipers. The method was to hit each valve with some MIG weld, wait until completely cool, then get the grips on. Someone had been at them all at some point, all the hexagons were a bit chewed up.

 

To render the braking system fully serviceable, I now need to check the bolts which fix the flexible brake hoses to the calipers. Do these usually turn without difficulty, or might they snap? Any advice most welcome on this, because if I manage to turn all four hose bolts.........then I'VE WON!!!!!!!!!!

 

Cheers!

[killinprixs]

nice job ! no , the caliper / brake hose bolts will be fine , hit will a little lube first... i've never had a problem or broke one.

[Dinsdale]

nice job ! no , the caliper / brake hose bolts will be fine , hit will a little lube first... i've never had a problem or broke one.

 

Thanks!

 

That's what I wanted to read, not:

 

"Those hose bolts? Never got one out in my life! Common issue with these calipers!"

 

[pitzel]

Yeah no problems here. Also, Dorman makes new bleeder screws that can be fitted to existing calipers if you look through the catalogue. If yours are messed up/rounded off from a previous "mechanic" rounding them off.

[Schurkey]

The brake hoses are sealed to the caliper with a pair of copper washers. You'll want to replace the copper washers, because they work-harden as the bolt is tightened. I have re-used them in the past with some success--but you'll have to keep an eye on them for leaks.

 

Because the washers are intended to be soft copper, the banjo bolts don't need a lot of torque.

[Dinsdale]

Thanks guys!

 

I'll let you know how it goes, though it might be a few days yet. All the calipers are off now so I can clean up the rotors, especially the vented fronts. I did a video for the owner:

 

[video=youtube;6jRG5eOOS0s]

[pitzel]

What exactly are you 'cleaning'? Are the passages plugged with dirt or something?

[Dinsdale]

What exactly are you 'cleaning'? Are the passages plugged with dirt or something?

 

The rotors were recently machined, and the brown you saw on the pad area is just very light coloring caused by the damp air we have here at the moment. The guy who did the machining did just that, with no further cleaning. The passages weren't blocked but there was quite a lot of what I call shale (thin, flaky stone in British English)......bits of rust lightly attached to the metal, which is easy to displace with a scratcher. There was dirt too, and visually a lack of definition to the insides of the rotors.

 

All this stuff would remain damp after wet weather, instead of the rotors quickly drying out, thus accelerating rusting. It didn't take long to do and I reckon it was time well spent. The rotors certainly look better on close inspection - like mechanical parts, and not pieces of junk .

 

I did the video after the cleaning, so the owner could see what I was doing with her car. In the video, then, you only get the clean view. It was pretty grim looking earlier.

 

Here's a pic of a cleaned-up front rotor. Both front rotors are still on the car because I don't have the big Torx tool to remove the bracket:

 

 

In the next pic you can see all the "shale", with an orange appearance....also varying shades of brown:

 

 

With brakes, I go all the way and don't watch the clock. If I see something I don't like, I deal with it. I reckon it saves money in the long run. The goal here is to get everything as clean as possible, so when it comes back after the winter it'll be a pleasant job to simply spruce stuff up a bit back to the state it's all in now.

 

I wrote earlier somewhere that all four of these caliper assemblies looked tragic. Under all the crap and shale, they are surprisingly in excellent condition, and I have nothing further to do except for cleaning out the old slider grease and smearing new on. I'm doing this because I don't know what kind of grease is in there, so just playing safe with the correct type for the job.

Edited November 22, 2014 by Dinsdale