Picked up leak of o/s rear brake wheel cylinder hoping to change todaydoe abs make it a nightmare to do?When I was in the "trade" back around 1995 this sort of thing was a very quick job??Any advice? as mentioned 1st car in 16 odd years

Just swap it out and bleed it off.

ABS shouldn't be an issue with this.

It's best practice not to push fluild back through the system when changing pads/shoes.

Many reckon pushing old/dirty fluid back through the pump isn't good for it, but some find it can flip the seals in the master cylinder as some modern seals have a small skirt on them that can flip back on it's self.

Simple job to replace cylinder, but beware of loosening the brake pipe. When I did mine a couple of years back, (2007 MJ) pipes looked great on the outside (plastic coated) but the alloy pipe underneath was seized in the cylinder and snapped. Replaced both sides with copper pipes.

If you're replacing the brake shoes as well that's a bit more fiddly. Not complicated, just one of those jobs where you need three hands to hold the adjusters and all the bits in place

As Trim above.

ABS doesn't enter the picture. It is only operative when you're driving ... and I guess you won't be doing much driving while changing a brake cylinder!

Just be cautious, as said, when undoing brake pipe connection to cylinder.

You will need the correct size flare nut spanner. I only have an imperial spanner and surprisingly it fits. Check with a normal metric open enders and buy accordingly.

clean brake pipe up with a wire brush before attempting to undo
doesnt back plate have to come forward before cylinder can be removed? sure ive undone everything and jolted it forward to clear the main axle and keeping abs sensor safe
if you undo bleed nipple or pipe then go in car and put a bit of wood on brake pedal and seat so its halfway down and leave it there.............. refit new cylinder........ lower car down without wheel on........... remove wood ..........it should self bleed.......... or you might need to send it on its way by pushing pedal twice............ then nip bleed up when nice trickle comes through
never push brake pedal to floor, you go further than any wear and it can cut the seals or worse they might flip resulting in no pedal

I tend to clamp the flexi pipe with a clamping tool

Plenty of soak before removal on the union
Remove pipe
Remove cylinder
Refit new cylinder
Connect plumbing

Quick bleed
Ensure pedals good and no leaks and roll onto the next job

If ur doing 1 cylinder cause of a leak, u might as well do both tbh... as itd make a decent time todo a brake clean/adjustment job to ensure good brakes and decent feeling pedal

Ziggy

Sure I read ABS is a big issue if you run the car with no brake fluid in

Other than that point it's just like it's not there for the cylinders.

If you have one leaky cylinder the other probabley won't be much better (done both mine 48K ago)

But as you probabley know if it's leaked it will have leaked inside the trum and will certainley have contaminated the shoe, so new shoes too.

I had a right pile of parts when I did... cylinders, drums, shoes, auto adjusters, fitting kit and new cables.

one drum got knackered when the lining fell off the old shoes (Bosch ones they were)

Both auto adjusters were knackered and was the most expensive part (£200 for all the above)









Like Trimdoner one brake pipe nut would not turn, so I spun the cylinder and held the pipe still. Not sure if it was the one that had a snapped belld screw before I started.

yep all came back to me,would be very quick job if I had got the right cylinder lol still picking one up today all should be well I was going to ask about front pads as to wether they had the " Astra mk 3" syndrome , if you pushed back piston without clamping pipe and releasing the bleed nipple you rendered the master cylinder u/s due to turning the seals back on thereselves.

My MJ seemed to be OK after pressing back the pistons without opening the caliper bleed screw.

I did the disks too with them being vented

Had the O/S pads out a couple of times since as they were getting jammed... even after clearing the bits the pad edge slides over and copper greasing it.

Had the same on a Brava many moons ago so perhaps worth having a good look before you pop the new pads in.