Date:         Sun, 13 Aug 2000 18:43:04 -0700
Reply-To:     Mark & Kate Sheflo <skjeflo@telebyte.net>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark & Kate Sheflo <skjeflo@telebyte.net>
Subject:      Re: Big doh! by mechanic
Comments: To: jgh3rd@mindspring.com
In-Reply-To:  <Springmail.105.966214448.0.26369600@www.springmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

John,
        Thinking about this oversight, not checking ALL of the brake work done is
downright scary. Your taking your life in your hands along with everyone
else on the road.  If you were to lose both bolts out of a caliper it COULD
fall completely off, leading to an ungodly noise, and you stepping on the
brake.  This COULD cause both pistons to be ejected from there bores, with a
large amount of brake fluid close behind.  No brake fluid means no brakes,
on one side at the very least!

Double check all the brake work done!!

        As to what the initial cause of your problem was, I really doubt that the
bolt was never re-installed.  You would have had problems right away.  The
clunking noise you heard was most likely the caliper moving against a loose
bolt, which over the miles worked its way out eventually, leading to your
discovery.  I'd certainly jump all over the shop that did the work, as they
bear some fault in this matter, and I'm sure the owners would like to know
that this occurred.

Torque wrench, Muir method, or just really, really tight, anything is better
than leaving it as is till winter.

For what it's worth, others please disagree if you see the need,
Mark
82 Westy

-----Original Message-----
From:   Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of
John Haddad
Sent:   Sunday, August 13, 2000 5:54 PM
To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject:        Re: Big doh! by mechanic

Sorry about the confusion.  I mentioned in my original email that these are
the Teves calipers.  These do not swing up for pads.  Instead, you drive out
two pins and just lift the pads out.

I like Joel's idea of replacing and checking the torque of all 4 bolts in
light of the oversight.  I plan to do the front bearings this Winter, so I
might do that then.  In the meantime, I was able to track down the part # of
the single bolt from my handy dandy ETKA CD.  Funds are kind of tight for us
now, anybody with a torque wrench near State College, PA?  Or should I just
do the Muir method?

Thanks again,

John Haddad