Disc brake problem

ClemsonCruiser

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• Jul 16, 2004

• #1

Hey guys I am a newbie to the 60's series I just bought my FJ62 a week ago, it is Kaderabek's old rig you may have seen it the for sale section. On to my question....my front drivers side brake has been smoking after lengthy drives. The passenger side does not smoke, from what I can tell. The car does not pull to the side when braking. So today I removed the wheels to inspect the disc brakes to see if I could see anything obvious. The only thing I can see that is that the pads are touching the rotor when no brakes are applied. I know nothing of brakes but I would assume that there should be a gap in between the pad and rotor?? Also the brakes were inspected before I bought the cruiser and they checked out fine the shop told me they had 90% life left on them. If you guys have any ideas on what might be the cause please fill me in.

Thanks
JP

 

VTCruiser

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• Jul 16, 2004

• #2

Hmmmm, not positive here but I suppose it could be a couple things...

- Warped rotor? (shudder under braking?)
- Check to see that the caliper is mounted properly/straight
- stuck caliper piston? (does that happen?)

that's all i got...

 

Landpimp

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• Jul 16, 2004

• #3

pads are suppose to be slighty touching the rotor even when not aplied. They might be touching too much, when you spin the wheel(by hand) to both sides feel the same?

smoke makes me think maybe some fluid is leaking onto the brakes or something.

yes a piston can stick in a caliper.

check the bolts that hold the caliper on, make sure they are tight.

(check for duct tape.....sorry bad joke)

 

ClemsonCruiser

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• Jul 16, 2004

• Thread starter
• #4

Thanks for the input guys I believe you may be right about the fluid Pimp. I didn't pick up on it at first when I was looking at the calipers but the drivers side looks very greasy and mosit compareded to the passenger I guess this means my caliper is leaking brake fluid.

Here are the pics of the driverside and passenger, I figure pics are better than words.

 

Kaderabek

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• Jul 16, 2004

• #5

The rotors are new, so unless you've been on the track at Darlington with the truck, they shouldn't be warped. Sounds like something stuck for some reason. If the bearings needed adjusting they'd pull when you braked. Is there an obstruction in there?

Sorry you're having problems.

TJK

 

Kaderabek

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• Jul 16, 2004

• #6

ClemsonCruiser said:

Thanks for the input guys I believe you may be right about the fluid Pimp. I didn't pick up on it at first when I was looking at the calipers but the drivers side looks very greasy and mosit compareded to the passenger I guess this means my caliper is leaking brake fluid.

Here are the pics of the driverside and passenger, I figure pics are better than words.

Click to expand...

Is the brake fluid low? If not, best look above for something else. The master cylinder is new.

TJK

 

ClemsonCruiser

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• Jul 16, 2004

• Thread starter
• #7

Yeah the brake fluid is fine, it appears to be just a build up of grease, that whole side(drivers) appears to have more grease on it than the passenger. I am just gonna clean it up and see if that helps, because the brakes have been working just fine, I imagine once I get the grease off the smoking will stop. Thanks for the help guys, and no worries about this Kaderabek not much of a problem, plus it gives me something to do till I find a job here.

 

Landpimp

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• Jul 16, 2004

• #8

yep something it leaking on there, like todd said check the fluid level. prolly is a caliper piston seal leaking or possibly a leaking front axle............but thats along way from the axle to the caliper....so I doubt it

check the hoses as well, also the fitting where the hose conects to the caliper.

 

VTCruiser

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• Jul 16, 2004

• #9

that explains the smoke...compare caliper temps left to right if you still think it is tight

 

jesterb

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• Jul 16, 2004

• #10

I'm glad someone from the forum by todd's 62. I just went through the brake smoking deal. Mine also had a noticeable drag. Replaced both calipers. Now it will stop on a dime and give you nine cents change.