I had a dragging brake caliper =
problem
several years ago on my ’82.
After much frustration and work, I decided to disassemble and =
inspect
the master cylinder. I =
found that
the piston inside consists of two halves that screw together in the =
middle, and
that they had come partly unscrewed, causing one of the two circuits to =
hold an
air bubble in it, since the bleed port to the reservoir never opened to =
that
circuit when the pedal was released.
I screwed the pistons back together tight, and the problem was
solved. I guess it’s =
possible
that you may have a similar problem.
Mike Moery, =
Anchorage,
AK
=
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=( =
o )--------( o )=p =
'Ol Bessie
'82TD Westy
-----Original =
Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing =
List
[mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Sent: Friday, November =
02, 2001
11:26 AM
To: =
vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Frustration in =
Brake Land
I have a '80 Vanagon Westie =
here
that is trying to drive me insane. The guy brought it in to have =
some
brake work done. He could see that one of his calipers was leaking =
and
draging and the pedal was feeling soft.
He told me to replace the brake booster, the master cylinder, and the =
front
calipers and whatever the brake system needed.
I had a set of known good, used calipers that we decided to use for the =
front
and I set my helper on this project because I was busy with two other =
vans.
My helper replaced the booster, the master cylinder, and the two front
calipers. We then bled the system. Pedal was still low and =
it seemed
that you could pump it up, then let off of it, and after a few seconds =
it was
low again. I then inspected the rear brakes. One wheel =
cylinder was
bad, I replaced that and I also had a thin drum on one side. I put =
a new
drum on and also a new set of shoes. We bled it three more times.
Still low pedal, kinda smooshie. I went out and bought a =
power
bleeder (Mity Vac). I had wanted one of these for a while any way.
Bled it again, still the same. I inspected the metal lines =
and the
rubber lines and found that all of the rubber lines had bulges in them. =
I
thought I had finally found the problem. I replaced all of the =
lines with
new ones. Bled the system again. Still the same!!
Any suggestions? I am starting to suspect that my helper did =
something
wrong when he installed the brake booster, however I can't figure out =
how the
brake booster could cause a low, smooshie pedal. The only other =
thing I
can think of is that the one of the parts we put on is defective. =
Any
help would be appreciated. Usually brake jobs are so simple, this =
one is
starting to get to me.
Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com
Phone: (856)-765-1583
Fax: (856)-327-2242