EA caliper o'haul tool ideas ?

[jono]

This part subjected to editing

 

tool number 925471000 - disc brake cylinder puller - for pressing cone spring front disc brake.can be replaced by a simple 4" G clamp. A 3" G clamp may also work. Going to flatten one side of the round foot of the G clamp where it sits on the screw pin top.

 

On assembly need to ensure the pillow shaped connecting link is still sitting centrally between the hand brake lever spindle and screw thing

 

is used to press the spring loaded handbrake section to piston screw, once pressure is off the handbrake lever spindle can be extracted by hand.

 

Other "tools" I have used are small plastic wedges from ceramic tiling trade stuff

 

Got some 0000 fine grade steel wool for cleaning up piston and bore and other sensitive bits

 

Note to self: also need the heel of the right angled pointy end of the marking scribe tool to help seat the piston dust seal into the groove of the body of caliper and drive it curved heel direction not the pointy end forward.

 

In place of part # 925600000 I got some clear soft/flexible PVC? tubing that was a tight fit to get it over the spiral screw thread in order to slide the O ring over and along. Pushed it right up to the shoulder which rendered it non-removable without destroying. A little ` 10mm excess length to cut once in order to make a ramped funnel shape to introduce the O ring to its new path ....

 

The PVC was actually a special size sold as a joiner of standard reel supplied pvc tubing made or supplied by Pope

 

I marked the outer edge of the O ring to determine if it made it to its groove as it was born, not rolled inside out in its final working place. I used a paper correcting fluid before coating things with the white/clear/opaque silicone grease. Wiped corrector fluid off after in place.

 

Notes on the handbrake boot. Mine came off a 92 model so 23 years old and in great condition - like new inside where exposed to Subaru's RX-2 grease so I retained them. Gave the outside some time cleaning up with degreaser, scrubbing brush and some CRC556 to restore their look and get rid of crusty mud, dirt and grit. The flat spring retaining band join seems to end up at the position of a a seam of the rubber boot in most easily seen and accessible section of the caliper when fitted to car would face passengers in car.... .

 

in the same fashion that the piston can or must be wound in on the handbrake screw at the back of the piston the pistons can be would out with same tool - eliminating the need to blow a piston out - sprays brake fluid about no matter how you rag things up or potential to damage piston or fingers !

Edited January 6, 2016 by jono

[bratbro]

I need to do this also. Only person I have seen post any info. On it was from lvsarge but he never did say what all he had to do to remove and install the handbreak bracket. Good luck keep us updated on what you find. I'll be doing this after I gets headers and fuel pump changed.

[sumoco]

If you're trying to press the piston back into the caliper you're not going to get anywhere. Our calipers are twist release calipers meaning that you have to grab a pair of pliers, grab the little middle nub and twist clockwise or counter clockwise

[idosubaru]

do you need to take the emergency brake stuff off?  i just rebuild them without touching the ebrake stuff i think  - it never fails.

if it does just get another used one, not worth rebuilding something that has an extremely low failure rate.

 

otherwise they're really easy, no special tools needed for a rebuild. 

 

you probably know this but the pistons are on a threaded spindle as he just said and need turned to move - there's a tool that's like $5 or less at any auto parts store for turnign the piston, just slap the side that engages the piston the best and put your socket wrench on it, looks like this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_20553.jpg

[jono]

yeah , thanks for the tips , shoulda said I have done a few calipers over the years even just steel wool clean up, same bore seal and never any trouble , never done, never needed to do a Subaru one in over 500,000km of driving many different old ones !

 

I should have mentioned that a brake guy mentioned the seal - O' ring on the handbrake screw device can be a pain coz they can leak and yes. this is what I am asking about.

 

edited out the thinking parts

Edited January 4, 2016 by jono

[jono]

got it undone ! - thanks for your ideas

 

OK, got as far as pull apart on my practice EA82 front caliper.

 

Manual says to do handbrake end first. I have already done reverse, piston is out - much like as if you were only doing piston side stuff. Note from completion - all I needed to do was wind piston back in on screw to go against manuals order

.

A 4" G clamp is my secret weapon. As piston was out, needed to give clamp a square base to work with so a large washer about [ 60mm dia ] to protect things placed over piston hole....held G clamp to use its factory foot to step on the spring loaded part under the axle of the handbrake lever rod and just pulled lever out. Manual says  pull only - means no hydraulic pressing or other damaging tools!

 

There is no powerful force behind spring like there is when undoing a front strut without spring clamps

 

OK tool # 925600000 looks like a glue cartridge nozzle but they don't substitute - I tried. Also tried wrapping screw thread in gas grade teflon tape and rolled the O ring (11.00 mm OD ~ 1.86mm cross section]

 

With these brakes coming up 20 to 30 years old, makes good sense to do job properly .

Edited January 4, 2016 by jono

[idosubaru]

wow, nice hit.  so there's one seal device (oring) between the handbrake mechanism and the caliper bore?  no other gaskets or anything?

[jono]

yeah that is it, piston seal and o ring , and the correct grease and lubricants for the various components.

 

From the rockauto pic of the caliper overhaul kit - three items, piston dust seal, piston bore seal and the O ring

 

I am pretty pleased to see how really simple it is now I have ventured to remove the boots after finding the circlips more to find according to the manual ! Had been put off by the rear boots, the grease requirements and 'looked' hard - thought worth the experts doing, put the job off maybe 3 to 5 years ago due to quoted cost $150 a caliper. No one seems to stock the kits locally so thought I'd better order internationally and bought out Rocks supply from same as in cart

 

I am beginning to doubt the o ring does leak as I was suggesting to brake guy I was thinking of just doing a quickie piston seal replacement, so, he did not have the kit, would have to order it and dust boots if needed, really needed two people to do the job in some part.

 

My caliper that really needs attention - found no rust to internal surfaces, just rust particles floating about from somewhere ... and the piston seal in bore did not sit square to piston side, was pretty sloppy when fitted to the piston. The seal from practice caliper was a tighter, yet still not tight fit on the piston. EA81 and EA82 front caliper pistons may even be same part - interchangable ?

 

Just a warning to anyone using compressed air to pop the pistons out - be FULL OF CARE - those pistons can come out at an alarming rate - break fingers I reckon! I use several pieces of soft wood to stage the piston coming out, 1/4" at a time to soften the blow !

Edited August 23, 2015 by jono

[jono]

got my stuff from rock - reco calipers , one not come with guide pin boots so they are on order ex-Japan. Interesting to see new handbrake lever end boots, one looks genuine, the other an aftermarket made in USA. Were from different suppliers so explains different stages of rebuild..

 

Turns out the handbrake side of things repair kit genuine no longer available. Ended up sourcing a nice little kit of piston seal, piston dust seal, the two different slider pin concertina boots and the 11.00 OD O- ring, also got a 13 mm OD O ring, no idea where it is for ?

 

the Rock sourced caliper repair kits came as piston bore seal, dust boot, dust boot ring clip and a bleed nipple cap - no O ring for handbrake screw ! Sort of explains why those who have put a kit through not needed to do full rebuild ! That O ring on its own is $A20 each exJapan genuine edit  the price covers two O rings 60g of the RX2 grease and a silicone grease sachet

Edited January 4, 2016 by jono

[jono]

OK, a follow up on this stuff. I ordered some reco's from Rock and of course having trouble getting good pedal first up.

 

I think I saw rebuild dates on the calipers suggesting they have sat about with a brake lube on the internals ...for about 20 years !

 

I also just pulled a part a master cylinder that was reco'ed about same era. A dry crusty stuff inside - but no rust

 

Chucked it as they sent me a box clearly marked * wrong product* - put in the claim electronically and Rock were good in that they refunded the buy price plus a calculated portion of the freight and let me keep a master cylinder for a 35 year old LHD Mazda 1800 ute

 

I managed to score a full rebuild kit for the EA81 front calipers and also got the genuine O rings from non other than Subaru of Japan. Twenty bucks got me two o rings about 10mm OD and a few sachets of that watermelon [yep, definitely watermelon] coloured grease for inside the handbrake boots and smother the o ring. The conical springs [that someone described as wavy ?] go on the bolt/screw in pairs forming a hollow between each in the pairs [picture a brass band member with clashing cymbles]

 

The listing details in parts book escaped me, did not see one part number was enough to do one car, so got enough to do another set of calipers. The kit part number is 625025061 and from the label style, my parts manager said it was old stock I pulled outta Japan

 

The whole thing once the spring release task has been dealt with is, well , looks pretty straight forward. There are six flat yet conical spring metal? washers per caliper. They go on the bolt through from handbrake to piston, has the spiral the piston winds up and down on, and where the bolt passes through the body of the caliper is where the o ring sits.

 

I find it hard to believe that the o ring seals out air n stuff, seals in hydraulic fluid pressure through all heat ranges the things work in , harder to believe than the rubber piston seals sealing everything in !

 

Good golly Miss Molly ! There are four sachets of watermelon grease total weight 66 grams ,and one small one of clear silicone? grease ...and paper details inside state the orange grease is in fact Niglube RX-2 grease 15g x4 and yes silicone grease one of 2g sachet and indicates the white or opaque silicone grease is for the o ring surrounds and orange for under what they call the lever cap [the rubber boot].

 

The English side of instructions get the one diagram, Japanese side gets two diagrams

 

I am going to go against instructions to only wash these calipers out in brake fluid - YUCK ! ICK!

Once all bare, uh oh, hang on a tick, at least the EA82 calipers have roller bearing cages for the hand brake pivot pin - maybe I just need to clean out clinically and ensure they get a wash with metho next, then approach rebuild in my usual anal way

 

Yep, boil the jug , we are gonna scrub a practice caliper in soap suds !

 

OK, while I sit here waiting for the caliper paint to cure - seven days !?! , I nearly chickened out of the full overhaul as it all looked OK under the handbrake boot, and guys in here have said they just do a piston seal thing and go from there. What you don't know is these calipers have done something like a million kilometres if they are the originals and I have my cars right ..... nope, these have only done 455,000kms ...wrong Brumby ! Now I work this out !

 

I have the bits and was still an awful sort of job trying to clean it up so no crud falls into the works while assembling it , so .... as planned, all wire wheel scrubbed up and painted black caliper paint gloss.

 

There is a little piece I found in the EA81 caliper called a 'connecting link' [pillow, wedge shaped]  that sits between the screw bolt and the lever shaft of the handbrake bits. Did not find this in the EA82 caliper - must have a better look. It sort of appeared so did not know exactly where it came from in among the grease but a dry assembly run should give me a good idea, so too the diagrams from the early 81 manuals.

 

Conquering a long held fear this is these front handbrake calipers

Edited January 2, 2016 by jono

[jono]

Just as well I am not in a hurry. And same goes for having a practice run. I find the practice EA82 caliper - I somehow lost the connecting link wedge shaped thing that sits neatly between the screw assembly and handbrake lever shaft - so when I found one in my EA81 caliper was news to me !! Pulled another EA82 caliper apart and found its wedge in place.

 

The screw assemblies that get the O ring - the EA82 is about 10mm longer thread than on the EA81

 

The cone spring washers look to be same

 

The handbrake lever and shaft assembly looks to be interchangeable though EA82 is made of pressed metal, EA81 is cast - visible just where cable ends fit in..... they look to be same length, same diameter where they go through the roller bearings

 

So, some notes for myself to be able to find later would read a bit like the manuals assembly instructions with exception that for some reason I think I will be fitting the piston last as this is how I started the dissembly, piston blown out first.

 

Dissmble needs a pair of flat blade screwdrivers, first to pick up return spring just near small black stopper pin, flick spring up and away from that pin, spring then goes floppy.

 

so, I wanna have the screw with its siliconed up o ring and the greased (check this one ?) cone springs.

 

The higher side of the top of screw sits same side as the black metal pin that secures the big spring retainer.

 

about a 60mm washer or circular plate at piston side to give a square base to run the 4" clamp against to keep things square while holding spring washer tension on.

I can now see how special tool hooks or braces itself under the ridge of the handbrake side of things, so you could make a simple press tool out of say 2mm thick bar 16mm wide and simple bolt and threaded hole methinks. Just need to look at it and think - not a lot of pressure seems to be needed to hold the springs down.

 

All the boots need to be on the handbrake spindle peeled back almost inside out prior to fitting up. Also needs to be all greased up.

 

Use 4" G clamp to hold screw down against springs

 

I need to

Edited January 2, 2016 by jono

[jono]

hoo boy, note to self ...listen to others ....

 

just come in for a break

 

not a good idea to be doing this crouching on the floor of the shed for starters, carpet is only so soft

 

got the new o ring on, maybe inside out as I can see the seam on its outside and not compared with the untouched other o ring, suspect seam is only on inside so it got twisted and turned inside out as it went in - teflon tape wrapped screw thread.

 

Tell you what - the new o ring has a lot more resistance to stretch in it than the old one !

 

struggling with the return spring - got the G clamp trick done to line the levers spindle in and through things and trying to comply to "force the return spring back in place" and just had a thought - sort of need something like the little plastic wedges used in house construction adjustments or ceramic tile wedges.

 

This spring does not just flip back in reverse order it came out which was 2 steps if anyone is reading .... first step to remove was flick up the end against caliper base which has a roll pin to lift up and over it, spring comes partially loose, then pick out the two actual ends of the spring tuck into the cut out of the levers spindle [ at first thought they sat in a round hole] they just fit in a ledge that the wedge "connecting link"  also sits in..

 

Might help me to make a bracket to hold this caliper in a bench vice.

 

Glad I am not in a hurry and got a car in pieces !!

 

Already tried zip ties/cable ties to try keep the return spring in its compressed state while under the G clamp, but bulk of cable ties got in the way. May try them with bulk inside away from housing edges... when my circulation comes back to legs and can feel things again !

 

I think it would work better if I could pull the roll pin out, slide spring in place and whack roll pin back in, is so small a pin !

 

OK, note to self - well done boy !

 

 

stand up so not to squash organs,

shove it in the vice while there is no slider/guide pin/ boots rubbers, get a pair of tiling wedges [preferably noy ones with glue stuck to 'em]

 

shove either side of the roll pin to get under spring base above the roll pin

 

straight blade screwdriver to do what manual suggests "force" the spring ends into the channel of the shaft

 

take photo to share secrets with the world

 

left in vice to take pretty picture, so yet to pull wedges out and complete task

Edited January 3, 2016 by jono

[TomRhere]

I so feel your pain..

 

Rebuilt one off my '86 BRAT about 12 years ago, due to leakage.

 

Once I completed that task, I vowed to never do another without proper tools.

 

Have held to that vow since, and have bought rebuilt ones when needed.

[jono]

one more step from here is to get that spring flat with indent in correct place in realation to that roll pin you can just see !

 

Tom, I'd like to think we now have identified the correct tools in the G clamp and wedges I am gong to file or grind a flat side in the G clamps foot so it stays in place better. The pres action goes on top of that screw high side or maybe even just on the spring washers - manual says step on the washers.

 

I may be pulling this apart again as I am not happy with the O ring _ I see the seem of the mould of the O ring on the outside, and if I am not mistaken may be turned inside out as to how it was made and intended. Need to check other o ring still in packet to see if they have seem inside and outside. Both the inside and outside have the seem so leaving it be - it is not distorted.

 

Wiki has a great read on o rings or toric joints as they are referred to as

 

Also asking at Subaru if they can still get in 925600000 the o ring fitting cone tool - result is Subaru don't sell the tools as a rule. Some other multinational company has this and does them for most of the car manufacturers.

 I found some 7mm ID clear poly pvc hose to slip over threads on caliper #2

 

Glad I decided to go this whole hog thing - is easier wipe the body clean as i work on it due to the shiny black caliper paint and inside the handbrake section of the next caliper - found what looked like dirty brake fluid puddling up in the grease ! This ones piston seal also had surface rust mark around the inner side [fluid side] of the bore, and some crud in the chamber which a bit of 0000 grade steel wool cleaned up. Same stuff for the small bore where the silicone grease coated 11.00mm OD O ring goes.

Edited January 4, 2016 by jono