mondeo mk 3 rear caliper piston..long and short of it

[wambangers]

with reference to the calipers i changed 2 weeks ago im not entirely satisfied with it and need somebodys help.on the right hand rear piston i noticed that there was 2 SHORT cut outs as opposed to a LONG and SHORT.iwas a bit stumped then but the piston was retracted so i took it that it had been aligned properly when it was reconditioned.the other caliper had a long and short and was ligned up with the short just as haynes says.i fitted the calipers but the handbrake has a bit of travel in it.ive jacked it up and got underneath to have a look while some one operates the hbrake and noticed thereis more movement. on the left hand caliper lever.i removed the heatshield also to have a look at the equalizer barand tried to manipulate both cables.there is more free movement in the left hand one.do you think that the right one is sticking a bit.i sprayed 40 down and got the long noses to manipulate both cables.will this have any effect on the travel of the handbrake??or is it down to the piston itsself.i hope im making sense??i thought there would be hardly any take up on the brake after fitting new calipers discs and pads on both sides??do you think that the piston is faulty(its nipping up the pads and releasing so my instinct says its ok??) .am i worrying too much.in haynes it says the piston is self adjusting.thankyou for any replies!!

 

[^neo^]

Not familiar with the ford caliper setup, but most calipers you need to unscrew the piston to take up the slop (push pistons right back home, then unscrew until you can just get the caliper back over the brakes)

 

[davedasave]

the piston is self adjusting, and as the new pads wear to the new discs, the piston will wind out further giving you a better hand brake, you should expect to have around 5 clicks, if not, you'll have to adjust the cables

 

[tryingnottobeafool]

aaaaaaahhhhhaaa

the old so called automatic brake adjusters, cause they dont work or are hard to adjust

first of all your instincts are usually correct

when you adjust the brakes its hard and if not impossible to get them equal, but the front ones do most of the work............. thats why they wear down first.

you have to screw them manually to fit

then adjust handbrake cable

then jack up car and see if they are sticking, if so either release handbrake cable if two are sticking or slacken off brake on the one that is sticking

 

[davedasave]

you're thinking of shoe adjusters, they never self adjust, disc pad brakes used for a handbrake self adjust fine, and if they don't the piston will be seized and you'll soon notice that as soon as you apply the foot brake and you start going sideways

 

[tryingnottobeafool]

not in my experience they dont, everyone screws them right home but you have to screw them out a wee bit to fit.......... unless you can pump the pedal a thousand times to stop the car

 

[davedasave]

in my experience you have to screw them "right home" to allow you to fit the caliper over the new pads, and even then its a tight fit if you have fitted new discs as well

 

[tryingnottobeafool]

i dont mind fitting them its trying to give the same handbrake ' feel ' is the killer

 

[davedasave]

as long as it holds the vehicle and the handbrake doesn't end up being verticle, thats good enough for me, but they will always "bed" in after a couple hundred miles

 

[Stivino]

You must take up the play when fitting new rear pads. You don't rely on the caliper to self adjust.
http://www.brakesint.co.uk/technical.html#techNote101

 

[wambangers]

hi when i fitted the new calipers the piston was already wound back just enough to fit over the pads so i dont think there is a problem on that front.i was stumped at there being 2 short cut outs .in haynes it states specifically that on near side rear(SHORT cut out must line up with casting pip) and on off side rear the LONG cut out must line up with casting pip.i dont understand why this is??..obviously i couldnt line up with LONG because there was 2 SHORT ones...any way im droning on about this lol!! may be i should wait to let the pads bed in and see what happens then.
when i jacked up and applied the handbrake i had a test on both wheels and the nearside wheels pads had nipped up but the offside one was still moving slightly...any body know why ??is this normal??
ive just recieved some drilled and grooved for the front with some new mintex pads so theres anther job for the weekend lol!!im gonna use meths to clean them up a bit cos they look a bit dirty.anybody reccomend anything else??
thanks

 

[davedasave]

were the pads you replaced worn out? if they were and piston didn't need winding back then you have a seized piston, it doesn't really make any difference if the long or short slot line up with the sticky out bit on the pad

the best way to clean calipers up is to use a wire brush, meths would be ok as long as you don't get any on the piston dust seal

 

[wambangers]

hi it was the handbrake mechanism on the back of the calipers that wasnt releasing properly,causing the pads to sqeal like bloody hell on the discs.ive rung ford in the meanwhile and they told me to get rid of and get some recon ones from motor factors(already done lol). apparantly the calipers on the mk 3 are a known problem.the mechanic told me theyve been recieving them back to the workshop in batches