Brakes: Front Disc Brake Warning !!

[karterfred88]

Being careful on my Avanti, since it appeared the front brakes had not been looked at in a long time, I tore the front calipers apart and put new seals in them, they looked surprisingly good inside with no rust. The crossover tubes looked a little "weird" but not rusted. Put everything back together, aligned the caliper bridge (when it was off last, all the shims went under one bolt causing the pad to wear in a "V" shape) bled the brakes and was putting my wheels on to do a test drive. My car had the rims exchanged at one time for some Magnum 500s and they are not the easiest to get on exactly right on the studs. I always rotate the wheel, tighten by finger, rotate wobble the wheel, and tighten some more to make sure it's centered on the studs before locking them down. While spinning the rim to check that it was centered on the studs, I heard a distinct drag, loosened and repositioned the wheel, rotated it again and the rubbing noise was still there. Pulled the rim and found that the crossover pipe had moved down slightly on the outer piston housing and was rubbing the wheel. Not only that, but in less than 10 rotations had worn halfway through the tube!! Lesson learned, new tubes on the way, make sure the tubes are back in their proper location, not much clearance to the wheel, and don't spin the wheel at all if you hear a rub, pull it and check the clearances of the crossover tube.

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

And be sure the long side of the tube is on the inside - not the outside.

[karterfred88]

Yikes!! I didn't pull the tubes, took a short cut, just pulled the piston assemblies straight up, off the caliper bridge, popped the pistons, put in the "o" rings and new boots, put them back on after aligning the bracket. The flare nuts on the existing tubes had been pretty worked over from using an open end and over tightening and had a small kink near the first bend, so since they weren't leaking I didn't try to move them and didn't give it a second thought as to whether they were or weren't put on right!! Going back out to the car, both sides are backwards, with the tubes on the outside!!! Guess I should put the new ones on right! And then there won't be a clearance issue. Many Thanks for pointing that out, as I probably would have repeated the error, since putting the tubes on, looks like a straight forward replacement. I guess I should have totally disassembled everything and used the manual to put it back together , then I would have caught the error.

[StudeRich]

A very good lesson for us all, HASTE (or the "Easy Way") always makes WASTE, now or later!

This is just one of the little "twists" to properly setting up a Dunlop/Bendix Disc. Brake System, here are TWO more:

Important tip #1: always replace the (3) 3/8" Bolts in the adapter "L" Bracket on each side that mounts the saddle to the Spindle with New grade 8 Locking Bolts and or Loctight and check the threads in the "L" Bracket.

Tip #2: Always shim up both the Front and Rear Mounting Bolts to center the "Saddle" and keep them equal, to "square" the Pads to the Rotor.

UPDATE: I probably should have mentioned that Tip #1 is not just idle "arm chair talk' about a way to OVERKILL your car to make it more than EXTRA Safe!
This is from real world experience after selling way too many "Disc. Brake Repair Kits" when I worked at Frost & French Studebaker Parts Dept.

People would come to the counter with a Pile of destroyed parts: Crossover Lines, Rotor, Dust Shield, the "U" Saddle, Pads, Pad Stop Plates, and Flex Hose, pretty much everything, after those 3 bolts fell out and the whole Assy. EXPLODED when it spun with the Rotor.

[karterfred88]

A very good lesson for us all, HASTE (or the "Easy Way") always makes WASTE, now or later!

This is just one of the little "twists" to properly setting up a Dunlop/Wagner Disc. Brake System, here are TWO more:

Important tip #1: always replace the (3) 3/8" Bolts in the adapter "L" Bracket on each side that mounts the saddle to the Spindle with New grade 8 Locking Bolts and or Loctight and check the threads in the "L" Bracket.

Tip #2: Always shim up both the Front and Rear Mounting Bolts to center the "Saddle" and keep them equal, to "square" the Pads to the Rotor.

I used Loctite after re-shimming the bridge, but not new bolts, and didn't pull the adapter off the spindle as changing around the shim washers lined up the bridge fine, last one in put all of them under one side unreal misalignment, I guess I should have looked closer after finding that, since there was no attempt to put it back right, I should have guessed other things were wrong--my bad.

[52 Ragtop]

Another good tip, replace the 8 lower control arm bolts with grade 8, and use NEW lock washers AND NEW lock nuts! On my wifes 64 Cruiser they kept coming loose, until I used new bolts lock washers and lock nuts.

Jim

[karterfred88]

Another good tip, replace the 8 lower control arm bolts with grade 8, and use NEW lock washers AND NEW lock nuts! On my wifes 64 Cruiser they kept coming loose, until I used new bolts lock washers and lock nuts.

Jim

I'll keep that in mind when I get that far! Since the lower arms on one side have shims under the shaft at the bolt, I assume the cross member has been fiddled with during a frame repair. From what I can tell the poor things been hit front a rear, and not always repaired to "industry standards" or even well by backyard standards. But I've got what I've got. Looks like my retirement will be mostly taken up trying to get this thing decent!

[Buzzard]

For better stopping power, I used the 2 1/4 pistons from a Jaguar and Toyota Crown from the early 70's. Very easy upgrade if you can locate the pistons. I used Hydra Cyl for the Jag units.
Bill

[Xcalibur]

I learned early-on to always check the lower A-arm mounting bolts before driving any relevant "unknown" Stude AFTER I test-drove an Avanti at triple-digit speeds on the back roads of Iowa. I happened to look under it, unscrewed two left-side nuts with my fingers, got up and tossed them to the owner!!! I told him he needed to do some more work on the car before letting anyone else drive it and that we both had just lucked out!!! I (and my certified check) caught the next flight home!