Posted on 01/31/2012 9:47:56 PM PST by djf
I have a mid-80's Blazer with disc brakes on the front, one is hopelessly seized and took me about an hour and fifteen minutes to get off... so new calipers on both sides is in the planning stage, but I am wondering. I will be able to almost fill the calipers w/brake fluid before I attach the main brake lines, or I can mount them empty, open the bleeder valve, and fill them from the top.
Which is best? Why?
/johnny
It’s the S10 not the big K Blazer
Typing in the dark... well, almost
Broad form gives you liability only. If you drive your rig off the cliff, they don’t pay you a dime for repairs.
But I can drive any one of my 3 rigs and my entire insurance bill is < 650 bucks a year.
If someone hits me, their liability will cover my rig.
Seems to me you could even pump it yourself if you had no assistant, with the nuisance of having to keep stopping and refilling the master cylinder, if your clear hose is long enough to run into a jar where you can see it. Use a clean dry hose and don’t put any purged fluid back into the system. (Absorb the waste into kitty litter or whatever your local environuts say, although if non silicone then it will be water miscible, non-hint non-hint.)
Wait - it took you an hour fifteen to get a caliper off of a chevy?
(shakes head)
If you disconnect the break line and reattach it to the new caliper with any fluid in it you will be sure to create an air bubble in the line and the system will not function properly.
If you don't know how, see here for some decent instructions: How To Bleed Brakes
Or for around $25 you can get a "bleeder kit" and skip the helper in the above example. The kit is handy but if it were me, I would find a helper. The old fashioned way (as described in the link) works just as well and you can use the money saved to buy some beer :)
Hope this helps and good luck.
It isn't pre computer, but it is pre-Onstar, and that's something...
I have a 37 year old van I keep in running condition, and still use as a backup commercial vehicle when the fancier stuff goes down. If it comes to bugout time, it's going with, simply because I can fix it.
I tell ya, that puppy was SEIZED!! Even after I got it off, I can’t budge the piston at all.
Oh, mount them empty and bleed the system. You’ll likely be amazed at the crud that you get out of the lines—so keep bleeding until the fluid is clear.
Hard to find an American Made C-clamp big enough nowadays--the Chinese ones break.
I promised to be nice tonight. So I'll practice that with you.
What kind of break?
Arm?
Leg?
Are we using a user adjustment tool?
Or did you mean 'brake', as in a wood shoe against an iron tyre (archaic, but correct) or brake as in calipers and rotors?
/johnny
That old GM stuff, I can get an alternator for it for like 50 bucks.
My Nissan will cost me a good 150-180 bucks for an alternator, and that’s still me doing the install!
Chevy rotors slip off. Toss the rotor and caliper.
Pull tire, bang out caliper pins, hammer on rotor, toss all of the above.
Rotor is $25, caliper about $10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=L0oUejw5Edc
If it’s an S10, I’m not sure it’s worth the trouble. ;)
Ford F-150 Calipers are - get this - $6
The heck with repairing them.
Being judgment-proof seems like a better option.
The opposition lawyers look at your net worth and don't even bother filing a claim.
Dirt poor (on paper) and toothless has advantages.
Who wants to sue someone standing on a banana peel at the corner of Broke and Dead?
/johnny
I work at an auto parts store, we also sell “one man bleeder kits.” This post interest me since I just got a 1999 Blazer myself.
Agreed.I was assuming that the guy would purge the system of all the old brake fluid first.I hate brake fluid.
The new motor is on my 'to do' list along with a host of other minor repairs and some bodywork and paint, before I 'retire' it to pioneer vehicle status at 40 years old.
It won't be a commercial vehicle at that point, but one ten dollar set of tags and it's good forever (no annual registration fees).
It was a mere pup of seven years when I got it...
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