1971 Front Brake Job

[Doug Samba]

My front calipper replacement has turned into a bigger job. The rebuilt unit from http://www.nugeon.com/ failed when I went to bleed it. A friend of mine was stepping on the brake pretty hard when part of the casting broke out of the plunger bore and fluid flowed freely. I'm expecting a replacement today.

[Big Blue's Driver]

Funny - that's place's website is all about quality products. Did they replace it for free?

[Doug Samba]

I installed the second rebuilt caliper and everything went well. Still need to do some more bleeding though. Again, this second rebuilt caliper had the bleeder at the bottom instead of the top... it may make it hard to get all of the air out.

[Doug Samba]

Rebuilt caliper:

[Doug Samba]

I went to bleed the brakes again today and could not get all of the air out. I put a whole can of brake fluid through the line (with a helper) and still no luck. I think it must be because the bleeder is on the bottom of the caliper instead of the top (where the old one was). I hate it when they give you the wrong part. Its not the FLAPS fault, its the way it came (twice) from NuGeon. I've ordered the left side caliper to see if it has the bleeder in the correct location for the right side of the bus. The FLAPS is taking care of me so I won't have to spend more money. BTW, Big O Tires wanted $53 (2009) to power bleed the brakes. I'm getting to be an expert on installing the caliper...

[Doug Samba]

I found this using a Google search:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
So I bought a new set of brake calipers for my '71 bus. They came in the mail and the right one only has one bleeder screw. The 7mm screw that came with the caliper doesn't fit. I haven't figured out whether the screw is too small or the hole is stripped. The caliper mounts and looks okay. Can a bus caliper have only one bleeder?

Original ATE or Girling Calipers came equipped with only one Bleeder Screw. Replacement NEW Calipers come with two screws, but only one is used for bleeding - the UPPER one (remember - air rises). The screw on the bottom is to be used only to drain any water moisture that eventually overtime collects in the fluid in the caliper.

Rebuilt Calipers may only come with one screw and although they're interchangeable Left or Right, they should be mounted so that the single Bleeder Screw is at the top.
__________________
Jim Thompson
[e-mail]
84 Vanagon GL
84 Westfalia 2.1
72 411 Station Wagon

[Doug Samba]

Finally sorted out the brake caliper. The third caliper they gave me looked new and had a bleeder at the top and bottom. Someone told me that power bleeding was needed to get the air out but a friend and I did it manually.