brake disc removal/caliper piston stuck

mosguido · April 05, 2007, 09:46:03 PM

hmmmmm..well thats interesting. According to my dodgy and rather rough ruler skills the front disc "S" - according to that pcd chart is about 67-68mm ish, not exact but semi close, which puts it around 113-115ish pcd, which to me says they\'re probably correct, especially seeing as the holes on these lined up ok.
the philips screw countersink holes are also the correct size, so looks like the front discs may actually be correct..:yes

however checking the rear discs came to something closer to a pitiful 60mm (give or take - i wouldnt trust my measurements exactly) which puts the pcd at 103 ish so miles miles off...they aint fitting ever.

Thanks again for that Grizzly, man you guys are a wicked source of knowledge :god

Guess I\'ll be returning the rears then, dammit!

grinder · April 06, 2007, 10:00:25 AM

there was a thread on here a while back - the FD discs WILL NOT fit a FC

so thats a starting point

Stu

Grizzly · April 06, 2007, 10:37:51 AM

Quote from: grinderthere was a thread on here a while back - the FD discs WILL NOT fit a FC

so thats a starting point

Stu

What i was saying is the PCD of the Hubs are the same so even if they where FD disks they would go over the Studs.

From memory the FD brakes are the best part of an Inch bigger in dia anyway so they won\'t clear the Calipers, thats even if the Offsets on the Disk was correct (which i don\'t think they are).

But Fd front Calpers are the way to go if you have any problems with the stockers.

Initial-D · April 06, 2007, 11:14:23 AM

I have a pair of FD front calipers up for sale at 50 pounds if your interested?

interloper393 · April 06, 2007, 11:31:33 AM

dunno if this has been said but if you remove the brake fluid cap the pressures released and makes poping the caliper n new pads on alot easier, just pop a towel around the filler tho cus it`ll run out lol

Grizzly · April 06, 2007, 06:10:38 PM

Quote from: interloper393dunno if this has been said but if you remove the brake fluid cap the pressures released and makes poping the caliper n new pads on alot easier, just pop a towel around the filler tho cus it`ll run out lol

Check the level before you start too, often people top the level up without thinking its becouse there pads are low. The result being half a Cup of Brake fluid all over the place when the new pads are fitted.

mosguido · April 09, 2007, 05:27:15 PM

cheers for all the advice peeps, took the fronts off yesterday, both calipers are fine (phew), and the discs were all good. One came off fine, the other i spent about 30mins of solid hammer whacking on it and its still not off, so gave up for the day and will try again soon with a bigger hammer to force it off... never easy with the brakes is it, bah!

Anyway the BD front discs fit fine thankfully so only the rears to go back now, and the rear caliper to sort...sweet

interloper393 · April 09, 2007, 05:33:01 PM

have you got a compressure bud? best tool you cn own is a impact wrench lol.. took me 5 mins to remove an exhaust yesterday wit hone, spent 2 hours before that trying to move 1 nut lol

grinder · April 09, 2007, 06:43:49 PM

there is a cheating way to get the disc off

put a nut the same size as the grub screw thread and tighten it - this should make the disc pop off

when you do get it off - when you are putting it back on - smear copper grease on the back of it - if you need to get if off again - it should pop off

hope this helps - failing that - a big hammer - prob with this method - if you snap the disc - it will be hard to get off

Stu

Grizzly · April 09, 2007, 06:58:20 PM

TBH once the Grub screw is out i usaly don\'t have a problem getting the Disks off? Try Pulling one side as hard as you can with one hand and wacking the other side with a fair size hammer (kind of like you would with a rear Brake drum in the Good old days) Its may be just Rust on the Center of the Hub so it may also be worth givving it a Good Wire brush (try and avoid WD40 and stuff like that) Also it has been known to jack it up in a manner where both back wheels are off the deck, remove the wheel, Grub screw and place a pair of Mole grips (if using Mole grips don\'t Tighten up too tight) Or a Pipe lock on the brake Flex of the oposite side to you are working on, Put it in second gear (with the engine off) have a second person turn the wheel with the Flex Clamped off while you keep pushing the brakes from inside (this will brake the Disk free) Don\'t do it this way if you have Braided Hoses fitted.

Also when refitting the disk/Brake assembly make sure all the mating surfaces are spotless (this is most important for the Hub becouse it will throw the ballance of the Disk out if its not sat correctly on the Hub) And be carfull with the Copper Slip, just a Thin smear is enough becouse if you dorb it on the Force of the Disk spinning will throw the Exess every where (including the Disk and pad)

BTW don\'t use Grease if you can\'t find any Copper slip

mosguido · April 19, 2007, 02:28:24 PM

bit of an update! cheers again for all the help there grizzly, and to everyone else! It\'s finally all sorted...

Managed to get the front disk off eventually, took a lot of swearing and effort i tell ya. The way i managed to get it off in the end is probably not the easiest way, but it worked for me! With the caliper removed from the disk you have access to the rear caliper mounting bolts behind the disk. What I did was remove the two washers from each caliper mounting bolt and then thread them back through the corresponding mounting holes until they touched the rear disk surface, tightened the bolts and the disk started to come free. i had to keep loosening and turning the disk all the time until the disk was about a cm further off the hub than it was before but i could tell it was starting to give. Still tight as hell though. Now though i could use the hammer on one side, then the other to loosen it more until it finally freed itself from the hub. Inspection of the inside of the disk and outside of the hub was just rust-tastic, im fully not suprised at why it caused me so much grief now.. removed all the rust, cleaned the bits, and all went on smooth as :Thumbsup!

anyway rear caliper fitted fine, albeit the stupid bottom bleed screw wouldn\'t turn and i had to get creative to loosen it. :mad: but got there in the end

bled all the brakes, went through about a litre of brake fluid or so in all :chat

driven the car a bit now, the brakes are starting to bed in ok, brake pedal is much harder now, think i\'ll rebleed in a week or so. Little bit of squealing at the moment when braking but I think that\'ll go after a bit more use (and when i get new shims - as the ones that were on the prev brakes were useless to say the least)

so yeah all good, thanks for all your help. made my life much easier! :god

few other problems have cropped up but will create a new post for them, unrelated to brakes!

Cher cher

Guy :Thumbs-up

grinder · April 19, 2007, 02:37:21 PM

glad to hear that you got it sorted out

mosguido · April 19, 2007, 02:41:33 PM

yeah, was stressing me out a bit with one bit after the other going wrong!

last quick q - i know i seem to have a lot lately, haha :rollin

I cant remember if i mentioned before, one of my front wheel studs is stripped a bit, so the wheel nut won\'t go on it properly.. i have a tap and die set, but due to the damn (hub??) sticking out so far and the other studs in the way, i can\'t re-thread it as can\'t turn the handle enough to start correcting the thread.:2Mad
any tips on this? i really don\'t want to have to remove the stud.....

grinder · April 19, 2007, 04:23:09 PM

remove the stud - probably the best way to be honest

shouldnt be a big job really

mosguido · April 19, 2007, 05:04:41 PM

is it just a case of tapping the stud out from the rear or is anything special needed to do this or also needed to re-fit the stud again? as if its simple as that, i may just order a new stud from mazda and replace it instead of repairing the thread (i like to be lazy when i can be :Giggle)