Caliper Installation Fail

[MoparGuy68]

I’ve been trying to install one floating caliper with two pins for over an hour!!

I am unable to engage the threads on either pin with their corresponding threaded holes in the adaptor plate. It’s been 100x more difficult to get the pins screwed in than it was to remove them.

I screwed them in with no problem, BEFORE mounting the calipers and pads. That was just test screwing pins into the bare adaptor plate. With everything in place the threads just won’t engage at all.

Service manual says, “Press in on end guide pins and thread pins into adaptor. Using extreme care so as not to cross threads.”

Is there some trick to doing this?? I thought working on drum brakes was a bitch. These discs are being much more difficult than the drums for me.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Take the top pin out. Roll the assembly towards you. Get the bottom pin lined up. Then stick the top pin in. Something doesn't look like its centered.

 

[pnora]

Lift the outer pad up a bit to make sure the pin is passing through it. Sometimes you are just holding your lips wrong.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

 

[MoparGuy68]

I can see the threads on the pin, coming right up against the threaded hole but both upper and lower pin twirl with no engagement. The photo I posted may not have had both pins lined up with the outer holes. They are lined up properly when I’m trying to engage the threads.

I’ve tested the pins alone, with no calipers, and they both thread right in all the way by hand.. No problem if the caliper and pads are not installed.

This car is just brutal to work on. It wears me down..

 

[MoparGuy68]

I got the upper pin engaged. I had to push the head of the pin in as hard as I could while rotating and then it started to thread in. I don’t know if I’ve cross threaded it..

I’m still struggling with the lower pin.. This is unbelievably difficult!

 

[R413]

I had this same exact thing happen on one caliper one time. The caliber is holding the pin at a slight angle to the threads and they won’t thread in. But they screw in fine with caliper off.

I used large pliers to retract the piston in all the way so I could hold the caliper over one way to get the threads started.

 

[MoparGuy68]

Finally got the lower one engaged!!!!!!!

I yelled to this evil bitch of a Super Bee, “You drive me mad, with your evil games! If I’m committed, your to blame!! Without a doubt, we’re much more than friends! Oh the pain in my head, is this the end!?!?”

 

[1 Wild R/T]

is this the end!?!?”

Nope...

This is...



Glad ya got it... They absolutely can be a PITA, new rubber isolators make it more difficult...

 

[moparedtn]

Finally got the lower one engaged!!!!!!!
I yelled to this evil bitch of a Super Bee, “You drive me mad, with your evil games! If I’m committed, your to blame!! Without a doubt, we’re much more than friends! Oh the pain in my head, is this the end!?!?”

Oh man, can a ton of other guys commiserate with you there!
Kinda cracked me up reading that - "been there, done (ahem, DOING) that" doesn't seem to suffice.

 

[66 Sat]

Has anything you've worked on, on this car gone according to plan?

Most times there's a bit of technique involved, you'll get better the more you work on the car.

Also if you always expect the job to be a total nightmare you'll be pleasantly surprised if it goes well.

Fingers crossed you're on a roll now and the other side goes on easily.

 

[MoparGuy68]

Has anything you've worked on, on this car gone according to plan?

Most times there's a bit of technique involved, you'll get better the more you work on the car.

Also if you always expect the job to be a total nightmare you'll be pleasantly surprised if it goes well.

Fingers crossed you're on a roll now and the other side goes on easily.

I never got to the other side.. I took both front wheels off the Super Duper B, stupidly thinking I was going to install both calipers today. Wasn’t going to attempt to install the other one after the sunset. I almost did but said screw this ****, I’ve had enough misery for one day.

Earlier today, I pumped 2 gallons of fresh gas into the tank, with an electric pump, in preparation to run the engine. Didn’t get around to it, because of all the time waisted on the caliper.

There is an 18 year old kid, across the street, who is completely taking apart (and that is no exaggeration) a 1999 Mustang Cobra Convertible. He is literally rebuilding the entire car in his dad’s garage..

I talked to his father three weeks ago. I asked him how does his son know how to completely rebuild a car at age 18?!?! The dad said he’s been learning from a friend and he’s just gone at it, and has dismantled the whole thing..

I told him his kid will probably be finished with the Cobra before I’m done rebuilding my brakes.. Though the kid is working on his junk pile 5 days a week.. I’m averaging 1 day a week at best. Some weeks it’s zero days.

 

[MoparGuy68]

Oh man, can a ton of other guys commiserate with you there!
Kinda cracked me up reading that - "been there, done (ahem, DOING) that" doesn't seem to suffice.

My quote is actually from an unique live version of a song called “Male Supremacy” by an 80’s thrash band called Carnivore.

I’ve been watching some of the Depp versus Heard trial during my lunch breaks during the week. Tonight, I did call my Super Bee the “Amber Heard of cars”, among several other very colorful phrases. Today, I felt exactly like Depp did in the kitchen video when he assaulted some cabinets. That was me today, in a garage setting instead of the kitchen..

 

[moparedtn]

My quote is actually from an unique live version of a song called “Male Supremacy” by an 80’s thrash band called Carnivore.

I’ve been watching some of the Depp versus Heard trial during my lunch breaks during the week. Tonight, I did call my Super Bee the “Amber Heard of cars”, among several other very colorful phrases. Today, I felt exactly like Depp did in the kitchen video when he assaulted some cabinets. That was me today, in a garage setting instead of the kitchen..

I defer to your superior knowledge of obscure thrash and....well, since I have zero interest in anything to do
stuff like that trial, I guess I do there as well.
Back on the subject at hand though, I know I'd have been finding the misalignment in those pins via use of
a known good, straight philips head screwdriver.
I suspect more like the machining of the threads - or even something bent in the casting(s).
Whose kit/caliper is that and what is the country of origin?

 

[MoparGuy68]

I defer to your superior knowledge of obscure thrash and....well, since I have zero interest in anything to do
stuff like that trial, I guess I do there as well.
Back on the subject at hand though, I know I'd have been finding the misalignment in those pins via use of
a known good, straight philips head screwdriver.
I suspect more like the machining of the threads - or even something bent in the casting(s).
Whose kit/caliper is that and what is the country of origin?

The calipers are vintage Kelsey Hayes, probably original to the car, rebuilt by Karps in CA. The pin kit (specifically for 1971 KH calipers) came from Classic Industries. Mancini and Year One sell what looks like the same pin kit, but were both out of stock. I’m guessing it was made in China..

I examined the pins thoroughly before the install. All four of them were straight and the threads looked good.. They looked better than the old pins, which were chipped and/or bent and incorrect for 71.

I think the key to getting the threads engaged was to push HARD against the bolt head end of the pin while turning them. With all the hardware and boots in place, it required a lot more force on the pin than compared to just screwing the pin into the bare adapter plate. I was going moderate on the force, earlier, because I was fearful of stripping or cross threading.. I think I did ok, because once I finally got engagement, I didn’t feel much resistance to screw them all the way in. I torqued them to 35 ft lbs.

A screwdriver style socket driver would have been a big help, but I don’t have such a thing. Was just using a regular socket wrench.

Oh, and the piston was completely retracted, prior to mounting.

 

[MoparGuy68]

I’ll add that putting even a small amount of lube on the back of the outer pad was a near disaster. That pad slides around while trying to insert the pins. Trying to grab it and hold it in place gets lube on your hand which can get onto the rotor! And then get on the rotor side of the pad if it slides down over the spot your finger touched with the lube.

I’m not putting any lube on the back of either pad when I install the driver caliper next weekend. It’s difficult enough to make sure no lube gets on the rotor or contact part of the pad when inserting the lubed pins!