Brakes - Mechanical Novice!

[MK1Chris]

Armed wtih a haynes manual and some of my old man's tools, I set about replacing the brakes on my MK1 on Sunday.

New parts to fit:

2x new front discs
new front pads
new rear shoes
new rear cylinders

Eventually managed to dismantle the passenger side front assembly and after a good 30 mins with disc and hub in a vice and use of a big hammer and a whole can of WD40, managed to seperate the two and refitted the front disc with no problems.

Front pads were simple to extract, but one piston on the caliper won't go back into the caliper body - must be siezed... damn

Rear brake shoes... blimey, what a fiddly job to remove them! Is there a simple way of removing the hub from so I can see the whole brake assembly? Seem to need a special tool to remove the rear hub cap... something with two circular pegs to fit into the holes in the hub cover?

Found out I had the wrong brake shoes so couldn't re-fit them anyway.

Would be completely lost without Haynes lending a hand

Questions for somebody who knows what they are doing:

1. How do you stop the brake fluid coming out when you disconnect the calipers and cylinders?

2. Any tips for replacing the rear brake shoes. Appear to need fingers the size of a small child, but with strength of 3 men to connect the springs again!

3. Anybody used Biggred to re-furb calipers before? http://www.biggred.co.uk/caliperpricing.html

[imustloverust]

1. I just left a jar under the hose to collect lost fluids when i disconnect brake lines. They'll have to be bled anyway.

2. I assuming their not mush different from mk2. If you connect up the springs at the top first and get the shoes in place on the brake cylinder but dont put the bottom of the shoes in their place just yet. Connect the bottom spring, should be easier as the holes can get closer together. Then place the bottom of one shoe inside its mount and using a large flat blade screwdrive lever the other side into place. The top of the shoes will probably have moved again so check they're in place. Hope this is clear enough.

3. Front brake caliper pistons are often hard to push back in especially if the brakes are well worn. Sometimes you can bolt them back on without the pads and using a lever push the cylinder back in.

Best of luck!

[MK1Chris]

Thanks for the tips mate - just finding it tricky on the rears to get the little springs in the right places - especially with the self-adjusting mechanism in there as well!

Tried to push the pistons back in using a set of mole-grips and it still wouldn't shift. Must be siezed!

[Luke]

mole grips arnt really ideal for pushing pistons back in - better of with a G-clamp if you've got one

[italjet]

hello.... just joined the club, also just bought mk 1 camper, 1977. my brakes are...... scary. is that why you are changing all yours?.......jim

[baconsdozen]

Use a piece of nylon twine to pull the springs on (cut it off afterwards) and a piece of clear polythene under the filler cap will reduce fluid loss to a trickle if the cylinder is well filled first.