Replacement of rear inboard discs

[RalphS]

Has any one replaced the inboard discs on a 93 facelift, mine are very rusty and have to go. The hand brake is also next to useless. (pre MOT test} I would appreciate any advice in the way to tackle this. Do i have to drop the cradle? should i use copper slip on the hand brake mechanism. I do have limited access to a 4 poster ramp.
All advice welcome,
Cheers Ralph

[poprivet]

Droping the cage is easier then most people imagine providing you follow a detailed guide and do it safely, its a heavy beast. I had plenty of room using good axle stands on the body and a real trolly-jack (not one of those small ones) to lower the assembly.
Once its out, overhauling the calipers, disks and handbrake is straightforward. I expect you will find lots of other things to do at the same time like replacing radius arm bushes, brake hose, grease nipples, diff oil-change, rustbusting etc.
Pop

[rgripp]

Ralph,

As Pop said, the proceedure for dropping the rear cage is straightforward, and subsequent stages are uncomplicated but very timeconsuming.

The back axle weighs about 3 hundred weight.
The exhaust system has to be disturbed.
Brake pipe to rear axle disconnected. (Check procedure for bleeding ABS brakes before touching them).
Have a long bar ready for the halfshaft to disc nuts - I have found them recalcitrant.
Having removed the calipers NO NOT split them.
Replacing the calipers can be fiddle first time, be prepared to reshim.

As to lubricating handbrake mechanism, it depends on a pawl/ratchet system and I would think that copper grease might be too heavy for it.

So go ahead, but get help, if only for the lifting and heaving (I use a cut-down supermarket trolly to move a back axle) get a copy of the JDHT CDROM and RFM, and allow yourself loads of time to do the job properly.

Robin

[afrodizzyact]

Hi guys,

I managed, actually, struggled like b*ggery, with a pair of ramps & axle stands!

Next time, I'll defo remove the rear sub-frame. Hindsight eh?

Anyway, I'm with Robin on the halfshaft to disc nuts, mine were stubborn too! Because I left the subframe in situ, I used all the extension pieces from my socket set, ran them through the wheelarch to the offedning nuts & used a lever on the end of the ratched handle to release 'em! Doing the nuts up after replacement was not an issue, my torque wrench has a very long handle ... (I don't like using it for dismantling!)

While the calipers were off, I overhauled them with new seals etc, the handbrake ratchet was also attended to at this time. After a good clean-up, I used a thin smear of bearing grease, 18 months later, all's still good! (Touch wood :O)

Luckily, all pipes, nipples & bushed were in good order & only the discs + all pads needed changing.

Do allow lots of time though, working evenings only, 4 hours a time, it took me just over a week!

Also, while you're under there, check the nuts that hold the diff to the cage, these can & do work loose. A dull clonk may be heard when shifting from 'D' ro 'R'

Not an issue if you're overhauling the whole rear end, it's just the process I used.

Hope it helps ...

[wolf]

just as a matter of interest, If you do drop the cage, you may have to have the rear alignment re-adjusted, Jaguar charged me £300+ for this job on my V12, I took my 3.6c to one of the bigger Kwik-fit branches that preloaded the suspension and tracked up all 4 wheels for £95. (June 2006)

My local one is Telford but i'm sure that any kwikfit branch will point you in the direction of a local branch that does this.

Hope this is of use

Rich