[USMCNOVA]

I got everything installed, bench bled the MC and bled the system. Took forever to get fluid to the rear...After I bled the front...the driver's side pads seem real tight. (I had to take one of the shims off the back of the pad on that side originaly to get the caliper on the rotor). That allowed the driver's side to turn more freely than the passenger side after the shim was removed, but now after bleeding the system, it is tight again...can not turn the rotor by hand. I can turn it if I put the wheel on, but there is a lot of resistance. The passenger side still turns freely. Is this normal? Do I just need to drive it a bit to break the pads in? Just don't know if there is something I should check while the wheels are still off and it is up on the jack stands....

 

[69LT1Nova]

Bleeding brakes sucks!! :bored:

What you describe is common. Drive the car, and the front brakes will balance out after a couple of miles. If it doesn't - you have air in the lines, so you get to bleed them again.

 

[USMCNOVA]

Bleeding brakes sucks!! :bored:

What you describe is common. Drive the car, and the front brakes will balance out after a couple of miles. If it doesn't - you have air in the lines, so you get to bleed them again.

Yeah...I hate bleeding brakes. The speed bleeders helped. I ended up using my vacuum guage set up to do the rear. It took forever to get fluid back there! I used it on the front as well, and when I was doing the passenger side I almost ran the resevior out of fluid. Just as it was about to go dry I was able to dump more fluid in...close one. I am getting no air bubbles from the front or the rear...so hopefully I won't have to bench bleed the MC again. I still need to hook up the vacuum line to the booster and see how the pedal acts with the car running. Right now the pedal feels alot fuller than it did with the drum brake set up...I would say the pedal depresses about 1/4 to 1/2 way to the floor.

 

[NOGO]

Bleeding brakes sucks!! :bored:

What you describe is common. Drive the car, and the front brakes will balance out after a couple of miles. If it doesn't - you have air in the lines, so you get to bleed them again.

Do not just drive the car! It sounds like the caliper slider or piston is locked up. What kit are you running? This is not normal and driving the car will likely not make it go away.:no:

It is normal for your pedal travel to increase a bit because you are displacing more fluid with the larger caliper pistons as compared to wheel cylinders.

 

[tnblkc230wz]

It could also be a sticky caliper.

 

[USMCNOVA]

Do not just drive the car! It sounds like the caliper slider or piston is locked up. What kit are you running? This is not normal and driving the car will likely not make it go away.:no:

It is normal for your pedal travel to increase a bit because you are displacing more fluid with the larger caliper pistons as compared to wheel cylinders.

It is the CPP stock spindal front disc conversion kit.

 

[USMCNOVA]

It could also be a sticky caliper.

This is my first go at disc brakes...how do you "free up" a sticky caliper?

 

[NOGO]

This is my first go at disc brakes...how do you "free up" a sticky caliper?

You need to find out what makes the caliper stuck. Try cracking open the bleed screw when it is stuck to see if it will release. If so, your caliper piston is stuck. If not, your caliper sliders are stuck. Did you lubricate them during installation? Can you take some pictures?

 

[USMCNOVA]

You need to find out what makes the caliper stuck. Try cracking open the bleed screw when it is stuck to see if it will release. If so, your caliper piston is stuck. If not, your caliper sliders are stuck. Did you lubricate them during installation? Can you take some pictures?

When you say caliper sliders...are those the pins that screw in from the back?...caliper mounting pins I think CPP calls them? No I didn't use any lubrication on them as the install instructions didn't c all for it... I did try cracking the bleeder screw last night to see if it would free that side up, but it had no effect. I re-bled the front and it was still the same. As I said the driver's side was rotating more freely than the passenger's side after I removed the pad shim, but now after bleeding it will only turn if I put the wheel on to get some "leverage"

 

[NOGO]

When you say caliper sliders...are those the pins that screw in from the back?...caliper mounting pins I think CPP calls them? No I didn't use any lubrication on them as the install instructions didn't c all for it... I did try cracking the bleeder screw last night to see if it would free that side up, but it had no effect. I re-bled the front and it was still the same. As I said the driver's side was rotating more freely than the passenger's side after I removed the pad shim, but now after bleeding it will only turn if I put the wheel on to get some "leverage"

Lubricate your pins. I use standard bearing grease to lube mine. Are both pads grabbing when it is stuck, or just the inboard/ outboard pad?

 

[USMCNOVA]

Lubricate your pins. I use standard bearing grease to lube mine. Are both pads grabbing when it is stuck, or just the inboard/ outboard pad?

I didn't really take notice because to get it to turn I had to put the wheel on, but I guess it seemed like it was both...not sure. I will check it at lunch time. When I pull the pins to lubricate them, should I pull the caliper off and use the pad spreader to get more clearance?

 

[NOGO]

I didn't really take notice because to get it to turn I had to put the wheel on, but I guess it seemed like it was both...not sure. I will check it at lunch time. When I pull the pins to lubricate them, should I pull the caliper off and use the pad spreader to get more clearance?

Yeah you might as well push the piston back in a bit, then re-apply the brakes and see what happens. Dont forget to take pics if you can!

 

[USMCNOVA]

Yeah you might as well push the piston back in a bit, then re-apply the brakes and see what happens. Dont forget to take pics if you can!

I didn't ahve time at lunch to take pics, but I took the caliper off (as soon as I loosened the pins to take them out I was able to spin the rotor. Cracked the bleeder screw again, used the pad spreader, greased the pins and put everything back in. Still seemed tight. So I took the shim off the other pad, and was able to spin the rotor. Got in the car and hit the brakes a few times and checked it again and was still able to turn the rotor by had...still pretty snug though. I will grease the pins on the passenger side when I get home, and then I think I am going to be ready to put it back on the ground unless anybody thinks there is something else I should check....

 

[DAVES7DNOVA]

Did you replace the flex hose to the caliper? If it is old, sometimes the inside lining collapses, and the brake fluid can't return. Just a thought.

 

[USMCNOVA]

Did you replace the flex hose to the caliper? If it is old, sometimes the inside lining collapses, and the brake fluid can't return. Just a thought.

Replaced with all new lines from the CPP kit...

 

[JRouche]

Disc brakes drag, they will have some drag, I would be concerned about the one that spins freely, never had disc brakes spin freely. On my four wheel disc car I can turn the hubs with two hands. Say if I grab two opposing wheel studs with my thumbs and other fingers I can rotate the hub around but its not like I can grab one wheel stud with one hand and spin it around. Just trying to give an idea of what kind of drag Im talking about.

I say take it for a drive and bed the pads. If you know everything is bolted up tight, dont forget the RED locktite then you arent gonna loose brakes, its safe. Drive it then check the rotation of the wheels when up on the jack stands, both wheels should have equal drag on them.

And whats more concerning is the pedal going half way to the floor. I dont know if this is common for un-assisted brakes. I have about an inch of pedal movement then its TIGHT. On my boosted system that is.. And when the engine is on I get about another inch of travel and the brakes are locked up and the pedal wont move any further. JR

 

[USMCNOVA]

Disc brakes drag, they will have some drag, I would be concerned about the one that spins freely, never had disc brakes spin freely. On my four wheel disc car I can turn the hubs with two hands. Say if I grab two opposing wheel studs with my thumbs and other fingers I can rotate the hub around but its not like I can grab one wheel stud with one hand and spin it around. Just trying to give an idea of what kind of drag Im talking about.

I say take it for a drive and bed the pads. If you know everything is bolted up tight, dont forget the RED locktite then you arent gonna loose brakes, its safe. Drive it then check the rotation of the wheels when up on the jack stands, both wheels should have equal drag on them.

And whats more concerning is the pedal going half way to the floor. I dont know if this is common for un-assisted brakes. I have about an inch of pedal movement then its TIGHT. On my boosted system that is.. And when the engine is on I get about another inch of travel and the brakes are locked up and the pedal wont move any further. JR

I may have misspoke...it wasn't spining "freely", I was able to turn it pretty much the way you said, with two hands after. Now both sides are turning with the same amount of resistance.

It is power brakes...I found out why the pedal is going in so far...there was still alot of air in the lines after I tried bleeding again tonight. But, I stripped out the threads of my rear wheel cylinder on the driver's side...so I will get to do some more work tomorrow

 

[justin72nova]

I got everything installed, bench bled the MC and bled the system. Took forever to get fluid to the rear...After I bled the front...the driver's side pads seem real tight. (I had to take one of the shims off the back of the pad on that side originaly to get the caliper on the rotor). That allowed the driver's side to turn more freely than the passenger side after the shim was removed, but now after bleeding the system, it is tight again...can not turn the rotor by hand. I can turn it if I put the wheel on, but there is a lot of resistance. The passenger side still turns freely. Is this normal? Do I just need to drive it a bit to break the pads in? Just don't know if there is something I should check while the wheels are still off and it is up on the jack stands....

I believe you are suppose to bleed the rears then the front. I remember when bleeding the rears there was some gunk that got stuck in it after 20+ years of sitting in one space for a while.

BTW do you have any kinks in the line?

 

[USMCNOVA]

I believe you are suppose to bleed the rears then the front. I remember when bleeding the rears there was some gunk that got stuck in it after 20+ years of sitting in one space for a while.

BTW do you have any kinks in the line?

I don't have any kinks in the lines that I can see...I did bleed the rear first before moving to the front, but I was doing it by myself and thought I had all the air out, but there was still quite a bit when I went back and tried re-bleeding the back again....could that have messed anything up? Done something to the prop valve or MC?

 

[69LT1Nova]

I don't have any kinks in the lines that I can see...I did bleed the rear first before moving to the front, but I was doing it by myself and thought I had all the air out, but there was still quite a bit when I went back and tried re-bleeding the back again....could that have messed anything up? Done something to the prop valve or MC?

No, that shouldn't have had anything to do with your bleeding problems.

I said it once, and I'll say it again... BLEEDING BRAKES SUCKS!

Your problems are more than likely from your speed bleeders. Most of the time they do not work as advertised and suck air back into the system. The only brake bleeding methods I have been sucessful with are vacuum bleeding (Mightyvac, or venturi bleeders) or the tried and true two man method. On brand new systems (new MC or new lines) the two man bleeding method is the way to go.