Front Brakes

[3crows]

On my '86' GL wagon, I drove it into the barn and put it up on stands to replace  the front axles and struts ( flapping sound). By the time I got all the parts and got it together a  month or more had passed. When I took it out for a test drive it seemed to lack power. When I got back that little thing that sometimes goes off in my head said 'check the wheels'. All were fine except the front right. It was too hot to hold my hand against. Put it back on stands and found the brake pads fried and bound up. They were half the thickness of the driver side pads which looked pretty good with minimal wear. Don't think I drove over a mile that way but it was plenty hot. Been driving this guy for awhile and never noticed any problem with the brakes before now. Got some new pads and tried to turn in the piston. Couldn't move it. Took off the caliper and put it in my vise but still couldn't get it to turn.  Just bent the tool. Ended up ordering new calipers and got it all back together today. Spent about 20 min. trying to bleed the brakes with my $27 Harbor Freight brake suction pump and it seems it's still sucking out a whole lot of air bubbles. Never had this much trouble bleeding brakes either. Aren't those caliper pistons supposed to torn in? Seems that last time I did front brakes on one of these I was able to screw it in. It wasn't easy but it was doable without having to pull the calipers off. Maybe I'm just getting too weak in my old age.

[Steptoe]

Don't you hate it when you didn't touch the calipers in the first place?

I found if you leave a brake hose open for longer than time it takes to swap things quickly, air bleeds right up to the master and is then an exercise in luck to get right. Did you leave hoses open?

A gentle slow press to the pedal to floor can help gravity bleed things. I use the Mountain Dew method with just clear bleed hose that is best to go up from bleeder nipple so you can see bubbles a bit easier. A short piece of 4? Mm vac hose between nipple and clear

Bleed sequence is sometimes important too

[DaveT]

The piston screws in.  Pressing won't move it until you bend the parking brake screw, ruining it.

Bleeder screws do not seal when loose, so you will always have air visible if applying suction to the bleeder.

The best / surest way to bleed is 2 people, one to pump brakes, the other open the bleeder, and close after each hold down of the pedal.  Some systems the sudden flow helps drag the air out.

[ferp420]

ive had many brake lines fail internaly the rubber hose will deteriorate and clog the line when you hit the breaks the fluid will push past the block when you letgo theres no presure pushing the fluid out of the caliper causing the caliper to stick closed every time i had one break stick thats been the problem if theres 2 breaks sticking thats a different issue

 

they usaly clog by a clamp that holds the line to the strut somtimes you can remove that clamp and thr break will work again ive done that on the road before it works for a while and would atleast confirm a bad line

[3crows]

Well, it's done. Put the car up on 4 stands and pulled off tires. You can reach the bleeders without having to lay down on the concrete. Went around about 4 times with the suction tool and like Dave said, you're always going to get air bubbles and I did. I ended up just using the catchment cup and clear tubing ( similar to Steptoe's method ). I put the catchment cup into a puka I drilled in a 5"x5" piece of plywood then put it on top of an inverted  5 gal. bucket and a piece of 4x4 on top of that so the clear hose would be arched up and I could see any air bubbles in the arched tubing. I also used a piece of tie wire hooked to the coil spring then around the tubing to hold the arch  up. I'd crack the bleeder screw about half a turn then go and pump the brake peddle a few quick shots then scurry back to check the tubing. Went around twice to be sure. I also found that the bleeders in front are 10mm and the back are 8mm. Anyway, it was lengthy but successful.

I'm a one man operation. I've found for the most part that it just ain't worth getting pissed off at the wife ( frustrated ) because she doesn't understand what I want her to do most of the time even though she's willing to help.

I'll keep an eye on that brake hose. If that wheel heats up I'll replace it.

And as usual, thanks for the responses.

[idosubaru]

Good job.  You’re done, yes!  I’ve been foiled by bleeding too. 

[3crows]

I'd never used the suction gun method before and as a one man operation it sounded great. It may have been working but to see all those air bubbles was a bit disconcerting. Decided to stick with the old tried and true.