QuestionQUESTION: Hello,
I have had my 69 TR6 for a couple of years now. I am just now replacing the front brakes for the first time. I noticed as I removed the calipers that they were off center. The problem is with new pads and rotors there is not enough clearance for them to function as the rotor is pressing against the inside pad. Both calipers seem to be of center. What could cause this and how do I correct it?
ANSWER: THe only thing that comes to mind is that you have to push the pistons back into the caliper when fitting new pads; this will force fluid back up into the master reservoir, so be careful about it over-flowing. You can do this with a lever arm, or a c-clamp, or a vice if close.
I'm not sure what you mean by "off center". The natural notch in the caliper is where the rotor needs to be centered, and if the rotor were "off center", you wouldn't be able to get the caliper on.
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QUESTION: What I mean by off center is if you were to look through the slot in the caliper, the center line of the rotor should be right in the center of the caliper - it is not. The PO did some interesting repairs to this car but I can't figure out what they did wrong this time. By the way, I rebuilt the front suspension, but the problem was there before I did this. The only thing I have not worked on are the hubs now. And the pistons were pushed in and the hydraulic line is disconnected. There is wear on the inside of the driver side caliper of about 1/32" from the rotor. I took out the brake pads from both sides, and noticed that the driver side caliper sits 1/8" off center to the inside. I made a mistake in telling you both were off center. Once I removed the pads from the passenger side, I realized it is sitting dead center. I figure it has to be something wrong with the driver side hub since it is the only thing I haven't touched but can't figure out what could be wrong. The PO put the seal and retainer in backwards on the driver side. I don't see how this could have effected where the caliper sits. My only other option is to switch parts and see what happens. Do you have any other solutions?
AnswerWithout seeing it, nothing quick come to mind.
I would say disassemble the front hub, check that the bearings are properly seated. Check the stanpart #s of the caliper, hub, stubaxle and the caliper mounting bracket. Maybe they put parts other than TR6 in, but didn't change the caliper, or put a GT6 caliper rather than a TR6 caliper. I'm reaching.
Measure distances, like from the caliper mounting bracket to the rotor surface on both sides and compare. Figure out other comparable measures to do, to see if the problem is the caliper is out of whack, the hub is out of whack, or the stubaxle is out of whack;
The relationship of the caliper to the rotor is through these parts, so if it isn't aligning, one of them isn't normal; since the caliper is "deeper" than it should, I suspect the caliper mounting bracket and/or caliper is tweaked/bent or something similar, to the inboard side. That, or the stubaxle or hub bearings aren't fully seated.
