beataru Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Hey, Im going to do my from brakes and rotors tomarrow on my Scooby, I now realize that I need to take my wheel bearings out, so I am ready to clean and pack em real good, but I have a question about the castle nut, I know that it needs to be tight, but I also know that it cant be slammed on there. Is there an easy way to know this without trial and error? Yes, I know what I am doing when it comes to Automotive Technology, This is the one thing that I can truly do in life, so the terms can be used when explaining things to me. Wow, I dont know what I was smoking but apearantly I am writing a novel.... Thanks for any tips on the brake job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 i always tighten the axle nut as much as my socket and 3 foot pipe will allow. i do not use torque wrench on the axle nut. i know that's not recommended, but i get it as tight as i can and i've never had a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 *I* made the mistake of not reading my haynes manual thoroughly enough when doing my rear brakes on my 2wd soob.. the haynes mnual, under torque specs lists rear hub nuts at something ridiculous like 150 ft-lbs... but then, in the text section, for the 2-wheelers, it says rear hub nuts should be at like 40 lbs or something.. unsure of the ACTUAL numbers, but my point is when I did my brakes, i tightened the living hell outta the castle nuts. THAT NIGHT one rear wheel seized on me on my drive home, and within a week the other had gone out, too. In other words, DO NOT grossly overtighten used rear wheel bearings unless you DO know the torque specs needed. At least, thats what my sooby wants. (I wound up flat-spotting the tire on the wheel that seized, and that was the ONLY set of four brand new tires I've bought in my life. me == po' b!tch) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Just Use the Better D.O.T. 3 Brake Fluid you can and Don´t Forget to Purge the System out of Air Twice at Least... Remember to Start from the Passenger´s Side Rear Wheel, then the Driver´s Side, then Passenger´s Side Front, and Last the Driver´s Front Side. Why Twice? ... Well... Since the intrincate nature of the Pipes, and the Hill Holder System, is Easier to get some Air on the System than other Cars... Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 Oh the brake fluid??? Heh heh, Ive got Porsche dot 4 fluid for my beast, its free, My bro in law is a tech there so, I get "some" and only some goodies that they use, I've been trying to get PCCB for my car but, I guess thats asking too much. Thanks for the help guys I am making preparations to get really really dirty and greasy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 Oh yeah, does anyone put break caliper grease on the backs of the pads? I got this epoxy Noise Eliminator stuff, but, I think these oem style pads have been sitting on a shelf since my car was built... It has hardend inside its protective package. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Just two Questions Before: What is PCCB? D.O.T. 4 is Suitable for D.O.T. 3 Designed Systems? Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 PCCB stands for Porsche Ceramic Composite Brake, Its available on all of their cars, Their in essance, the brakes that you see Get and Stay RED HOT during Lemans racing, Personally I think its a waste of money since porsches brakes are already UN-REAL, but it would be cool to have a brake system thats worth 5 times my car. Oh and Dot 4 can work in dot 3, Its just like premium gas for a car that doesnt have ping with regular, its overkill, Porsches use it to keep their braking status up to the highest standard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Thanx! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 You don't have to take apart your wheel bearings. Take the axel nut off, and the flange and rotor slide off the splines. Undo the 4 bolts that hold the rotor to the flange, and replace it. Bolt it back together, put the flange back on the axel splines, put the washer on with the OUT letters facing out, and put the nut on. Use a breaker bar, and do the one leg stand on it to tighten it down. Don't forget the cotter pin afterwards. Oh, and the caliper pistons need to be rotated clockwise as they are pushed in. Take your time and don't strip the E-brake adjuster inside the caliper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank B Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Yea, what he said...... You will need a "special tool" to turn the caliper pistons back in. It's a round disc with two nubs, or fingers that grab the notches in the caliper piston, and it fits on your rachet like a socket. If you have a hard time keeping it on the piston while turning, it's hard to do, check to make sure the extension on your ratchet isn't protruding out of the backside of the "special tool" and holding it off of the caliper piston. I had to grind mine down a bit. And you will need to turn them all the way in to get it back together. Re-grease the slide pins, the lower one comes all the way out. and put a little dab of brake gease on the upper and lower contact points of the brake pads. I use a torque wrench on the castle nut, 145 ft/lbs on new bearings, and I usually remove it with a torque wrench to get an idea of how tight it needs to be put back on with old bearings. Pick up an injector needle for your grease gun. It looks like your worst nightmare of a hypodermic needle but it fits on your grease gun to inject grease into rubber boots and such. It works great to slip into your bearings and re-grease them while the rotor and hub is out of the way. You'll see the bearings after you take the rotor and hub off. It's easier to loosen up the four 14mm head bolts that hold the rotor onto the hub while it's still on the axle, and to tighten them during assembly. Clean the gunk off of the outer bearing seal while your at it too. Be sure to spray the new rotors well with brake cleaner to remove any oil from the manufacturer. Oh, and just a dab of the brake noise eliminator stuff does the trick. Just on the areas where the calipers do not touch the back of the pads. I do this after the caliper is back on. Ok, that's all the tips I have. I just did all this on my hatch so it's fresh in my head. Rear brakes next week. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Woah woah woah... I need a freaking tool to rotate my pistons back into position??? Who the heck thought of that??? What were they smoking back in japan. Tomarrow is going to suck. but thanks for telling me this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misledxcracker Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Those darned pistons arent no fun :-\ cant c-clamp them, and i couldnt find the special tool for the life of me the only time a "mechanic" works on my soob..... brake jobs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Wow, I am actually glad I have rear drum brakes now.. Honestly, the drum brake setup on the soob is probably the simplest I have ever seen, I LOVE the little retainers for the shoe springs that Fuji designed for us.. My brothers are integrating it onto their racecar for quicker rear brake changes... (datsun 240Z) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milemaker13 Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Dudes- That brake tool should be avalible at any napa or elsewhere. Sometimes its a small cube with nubs on all side for different cars. I've seen some OEM tools that looked like a fork. Its a little tricky (especially if you are unaware of it!) but not bad at all. Couple bucks. I'd never pay let anyone touch my car, especially the brakes, except me. Free help is usually appreciated Other people tend to screw stuff up and not give a crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Using a medium pair of channel lock pliars works well too. Just take it slow, and don't tear the dust boot. It's not just subaru that uses that design, anyone who has E-brake integrated with the caliper does. Don't let the parts store sell you the tool that turns and pushes it in at the same time, it's not worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdjdc Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Daeron: In case you hadn't figured it out by now, he is doing the front brakes not the rear. Even four wheel drives have drums on the rear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Daeron: In case you hadn't figured it out by now, he is doing the front brakes not the rear. Even four wheel drives have drums on the rear. *smacks*self*on*forehead* I know SOME models came with rear discs... and in my defense, he DID say "from brakes" somehow in his initial post (i went back and re-checked to see why the ol' reading comprehension failed me) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Wow, I am actually glad I have rear drum brakes now.. Honestly, the drum brake setup on the soob is probably the simplest I have ever seen... Yes! Using a medium pair of channel lock pliars works well too. ... True, That´s the Way we Did that... I didn´t Know about the "Special Tool" ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvexplorer Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Using a medium pair of channel lock pliars works well too. Just take it slow, and don't tear the dust boot. It's not just subaru that uses that design, anyone who has E-brake integrated with the caliper does. Don't let the parts store sell you the tool that turns and pushes it in at the same time, it's not worth it. I had to figure out that the piston has to be turned when I was doing the brakes on a friend's Infiniti G20 a few years back, although he had disks all the way around with the e-brake in the back. I used the channel locks and they worked well enough. Did the front brakes on my subie and did the same thing with channel locks, then got the specal tool, but haven't used it once. I surely will when I do the brakes again though. It isn't extremely difficult to use pliers or the like. It just takes a while. On a side note, the 89 Toyota camry I used to drive has disks all the way around and the rear e-brake was actually a drum setup inside the rear disks (think drum with a rotor welded to it for a visual example). Totally confused me at first but then I realized that the rotors actually did have a braking surface on the inside and outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Ok good, my dad is a plumber and, Channel Locks are everywhere at his house, so I think that I will be allright. Now if only My brother would show up with the jack and jack stands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Ok good, my dad is a plumber and, Channel Locks are everywhere at his house, so I think that I will be allright. Now if only My brother would show up with the jack and jack stands. BAH!! jack-stands are over rated!! I always just use my stock spare tire jack anyh:dead: :dead: :dead: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 ALLRIGHT DAMN.... I have the drivers side apart, its clean, pretty, and well, my pads still had 35% left, It looked a lot worse when I had it in the air at my school. Anyways, I took the old pads off, And am putting the new ones in, I have said a few naughty words when turning the piston back but I think i got it. So Im putting the new ones on, Yes I checked and their the exact fit, as the old ones. But I think the retaining spring on the piston side of the caliper is bad or something, It wont hold the pad tightly, the sliding part holds it nice and tight. Help me please, Do I need new springs?? I have to get these things done today or, Im not going to school tomarrow.. I hate sliding calipers, I did my dads yota, ( monoblock calipers, much better and easier.) and it took me 45 mins, and I was taking my sweet rump roast time!!! (Im not saying I hate my roo, I love working on my car, because, its my car....) So when I turn in the piston, Do I need to go until it stops?? I am buying a Manual after this job is done. Please tell me all the problems and solutions that you guys have, so I dont have to ask for them I have to get this done, oh yeah, I AM NOT ASKING SOMEONE AT CHECKER OR AUTOZONE FOR HELP, I do want this done right, oh if you work their sorry, you guys are probably better than the tards that we have here in AZ. These guys at Checks and Autozone think they know everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank B Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 I'm not sure if the piston stops turning at some point, I just turned it in untill there was enough room to get the caliper over the new, thick pads. Once you get the pads in, and the caliper on and the bolt tight, pump the brake pedal to "re-set" the caliper piston. It will push the pads close to the rotor where they need to be. It's a bit tricky to get the inner pad to set where it needs to be. the forward edge gets caught on the spring sometimes. The first time I did it, I had to pull the caliper back off three times to get it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted March 15, 2007 Author Share Posted March 15, 2007 Ok everything is going as planned, just, alot slower than planned, if that makes any sence. My bro in law came over after work and enlightend me that, if I take the bolt on the bottom of the caliper off, the caliper will swivel and allow me to slap the pads in with ease... that was nice to know.... and they slid in perfectly, I am eating dinner and going back out to finish the passenger side, oh and brake fluid and cleaner really hurt your eyes bad!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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