Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 09:21:24 -0700
Reply-To: Tom Carchrae <tom@CARCHRAE.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Carchrae <tom@CARCHRAE.NET>
Subject: Re: burning smell - brakes or tire?
In-Reply-To: <51E35E08.80401@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Yes, you are correct Todd. The Bentley says they are locking bolts and not
to be re-used. Despite that, I reused them, but I will now look at a more
correct solution. Can one apply one of these thread locking glues you find
in the brake grease aisle instead of sourcing locking vanagon bolts? (a
quick google says yes:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=428838 )
Thanks Stuart - a torque wrench is at the top of my shopping list - I have
been looking here in Canada for one that is decent and not too expensive.
I've done some reading about the types and which ones are more accurate.
The one you posted looks really nice.
The spec for caliper bolts is 26ft/lbs (I think, from memory on Friday). I
gave it a gentle second or two of full body weight on the end of a breaker
bar. I realize I am asking for all sorts of trouble not tightening to
spec, and for peace of mind, I would much rather know how tight that is. I
used a similar technique on the wheel bolts - being careful to alternate
before tightening as I have heard the tales of warped rotors.
I replaced the sticking calliper with a rebuilt one, but am considering
giving the other side a thorough clean and lube. I realize in a world
where I had more money I would replace both with rebuilds. I might still
do that.
I also flushed the brake fluid. It was dark and nasty looking and I wonder
how long it had been in there. Flushing the brakes was pretty easy
although time consuming. We used the two person, pump pedal, hold pedal,
open bleeder, squirt, close bleeder, repeat - taking care not to push the
pedal down too far or let the reservoir empty. I had installed the new
caliper before we tried to flush, and it was very slow going until I
thought to bleed the air out of the new caliper. The brake pedal felt very
solid after the flush/bleed - that is job I am glad I know how to do now.
One very strange and somewhat alarming thing. The rear left (driver side)
brake drum had no bleeder on it. I suspect it has been broken off. I
can't imagine that to be a fun job to replace. On to the list of van jobs.
:/
We took the van for a 500km trip on the weekend, including around 100km of
quite rough and some very steep forestry service roads.
http://goo.gl/maps/xjQrC - it was really beautiful. We were travelling in
a large group, otherwise I would not have considered such a trip - and even
so, I was pretty nervous about it. The brakes were perfect.
The only incident was one alarming occurrence of the coolant light blinking
because of low coolant from backup in the reservoir (behind licence plate)
on the way there, just as we drove through Whistler. This was my biggest
fear - and I know I owe the van a head gasket and/or cracked head
replacement - although this issue has been there for a while. The van is
unhappy trying to maintain highway speeds on mountain roads. In that
moment, I had to decide if we bailed on the trip or continued. Brave or
stupid, I waited 10 minutes, bled the radiator and drained the excess from
the reservoir and poured it back into the pressurized tank (while the
engine was running and coolant hot - yes, yes, I know...) and we continued.
There were no further coolant backups during the trip and I tried to be
more gentle on the hills. When I bled the radiator on our return journey,
there was definitely some air in the radiator, but not a tremendous amount.
I really want to attend to all the things on my van. We made a big list
while we were driving and tried to classify things into the immediate,
sooner-is-better, easy and quick, and nice-to-have. It is not a short
list. But we knew this would be the case when we bought it - and it is
time to pay some more into the van future fund.
Tom
On Sun, Jul 14, 2013 at 7:27 PM, Todd Last <Rubatoguy@comcast.net> wrote:
> If I recall correctly, at least two of the caliper bolts are of the "not
> to be reused" variety according to Bentley.
> I forget which ones they are. Also make sure you clean the calipers
> well, get all the dust off of them and use caliper lube on the moving
> parts (not the brake pads.) I once had a re-occuring problem where a
> caliper would stick and get the wheel too hot to touch. The system was
> bled well, cleaning the calipers and greasing them with caliper grease
> solved the problem.
>
> Todd
> '88 Westy
>
>
>
> On 7/12/2013 9:19 AM, Stuart MacMillan wrote:
>
>> The only thing you need is a good 1/2" drive 50-250 lb torque wrench and
>> socket, like this one:
>> http://www.sears.com/**craftsman-1-2-in-dr-digi-**
>> click-torque-wrench/p-00913919<http://www.sears.com/craftsman-1-2-in-dr-digi-click-torque-wrench/p-00913919>
>> 000P?prdNo=5&blockNo=5&**blockType=G5 Rent one if you don't want to own
>> it,
>> or maybe your FLAPS has one they will loan you.
>>
>> These are your brakes, don't mess around. And get sockets for the wheel
>> nuts and studs and torque them to spec too! My Bentley is not handy or
>> I'd
>> look up the torque specs for you.
>>
>> Stuart
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.**com<vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>]
>> On Behalf Of
>> Tom Carchrae
>> Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 12:16 PM
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Re: burning smell - brakes or tire?
>>
>> I got the calliper bolts off - I needed to borrow a breaker bar and then
>> stand on the end of it. And yes, I do need a better socket set.
>>
>> I did notice that the bolts (19mm) seemed nearly the same size as the
>> wheel
>> bolts - and considered using the tire tool, but it was a small loose and I
>> didn't want it to fly off or round them.
>>
>> When I reattach these bolts, aside from a good amount of torque, do you
>> apply anything else to ensure they don't vibrate loose?
>>
>>
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