88, 245, replacing the rear calipers.

Anyone got any good tricks or tips?

Thanks.

 

Pretty straight forward. Put car on lift or jack stands. Disconnect hard brake line first. Highly recommended you use a line wrench rather than an open end wrench. The lines are tight and you really don't want to round them off. Of course you've pulled the tire already. On the inside are two 17mm bolts that hold the caliper on..after removal, it may be neccessary to pry the calipers off. Assuming your new calipers are pre-loaded, the pistons should be fully retracted so they should slip right on. Re-install the bolts and torque to 43 ft/lbs.

 

you wouldn't happen to know what size line wrench to use or if it is a sae vs metric line wrench?

 

11mm iirc

 

Just did mine and found 10mm front and rear on an '82. Suspect that this was in the middle of the SAE/Metric conversion. Use what fits.

(a few days later) Had occasion to pull a rear caliper off again and the rigid brake lines are indeed 11mm.

 

wow, those flare nuts are really locked on there. Unfortunately I'm supposed to be driving across the country with this car on Thursday and I don't have time to finish this project. I'll have to turn it over to a mechanic unless someone can tell me the secret to getting those *$#& nuts off..

It was an 11mm. But even that didn't fit well enough/tight enough to turn the bolt. Or maybe I've just got a crappy wrench that is too flexible. I found that it's VERY difficult to find an 11mm flare wrench anywhere. most places have 8-10-12-13.

Swift, what do you mean by disconnecting the hard line first? Where would I do that? I was trying to disconnect the line where it meets the caliper. Is that what you were talking about?

Thanks for the help.

 

Yes, the hard line where it screws into the caliper. My 28 YO nuts were also frozen on a couple. I used a large pair of slip joint pliers and gripped the brass nuts very tightly so I wouldn't strip them. The extra leverage worked. Be careful. Stripping the nuts can be expensive.

 

Here we go.

So the shop got the calipers replaced and as I'm driving home the "brake failure" light turns on. Weird I think and head back to the shop. The guy tells me that it's just the combo valve(?) that needs to reset and that it may take a day or two. I figure that I'll see if he's right and drive home. Later that evening I'm driving the car again, brake failure light still on and the brakes are becoming increasingly more mushy but the fluid in the brake reservoir is still fine. Crap.

By the time I'm finished with the meeting I had, I get back to the car and the brakes are nearly useless. I have to limp back to that dang shop using downshifting and the e-brake to slow down. I left the car there so that they will see it first thing in the morning.

Can anyone tell me what the combo valve is? I think the mechanic was just making crap up and it's really the master cylinder. I'm sure they compressed the piston outside it's usual operating zone and it's now frozen. I guess we'll see what he finds tomorrow. I also wonder how much more I'll have to put in his pockets before this is over.

 

It is possible that you need a new master cylinder only, other than the "octopus" which I have not had to replace.

From what I understand it is not an easy task to replace the "octopus". All brake lines run through it and breaking one of the lines is a real possibility.

When replacing the calipers and installing the brake pads, the O rings in the master cylinder may have been damaged.

Replacing the Master cylinders is not a bad job, just make sure you bench bleed the air from it before replacing it. Mine came with fittings, instructions and hoses to do this.

Good Luck