Yes, most of the better quality pins seem to come with pre applied thread locker now a days. Not entirely sure if the red/blue colour is a universally applied code for the type/strength of the product or whether it's just Loctite's way of identifying it. Having said that though I just remembered that I bought some "generic" branded low strength locker a wee while ago and it was blue. Anyway, I'm sure that whatever compound was applied to your pins, regardless of colour, will be suitable for purpose.Thanks for the tip I'll get some
The new pins came with red Locktight pre-applied so ?
But I'll get some and use it on the other pins just to be safe.
Many thanks.
Yep you are right Jock. The grease is for lubricating the sliding action and is required to stop the rubbers tearing or thecaliper sticking. I mostly use a bit blue thread locker too. A sensible precaution but bearing in mind the low torque and the fact the pins just got to stay put not really carry a load, and , the fact that these blasted things need cleaning twice a year ideally I either use a tiny amount or none these days. I wouldnt ever grease the threads for the same reasons you have stated. I would clean the threads next time and use a little thread lock as it ,may be of greater benefit here where the thread may be suspect too.
Yeah, those threads. must say, looking at how much the threads on the pin were stretched is bothering me somewhat, in respect of what that might have done to their female partners. It would have been interesting to run a tap down it and see if any metal swarf came back out with it - which would give some indication as to whether any deformation had taken place. However, cinquecento, if it tightened up ok you're probably all right with it. Just don't be surprised if it gives further trouble in the future - just keep an ear open for knocky rattling sounds which might indicate looseness my fingers are crossed for you. Often if something is coming loose to do with a caliper you'll get a single knocking noise everytime you reverse D.O.R. of the wheel. So, if you've been traveling forward then when you reverse and brake you may get a single knock as the caliper moves in the carrier. Likewise, if you,ve been reversing and applied the brake, then when you go forward and brake you may get a single knock as the caliper takes the play up in the opposite direction. Often you'll only get the one knock as long as you keep going in that direction, which might be either forward or backwards, which can lull you into a false sense of things being all right. Worth mentioning though that, in my experience, a knock of this sort is more often due to wear in the metal backing of the pad itself allowing the pad to move excessively in the carrier. If this is the case then it may be annoying but isn't dangerous. Loose guide pin or pins are a different kettle of fish though because if they fall out the caliper might fall off altogether and that wouldn't be good at all!!!
I tend to agree, I have had several cars where the caliper carrier bolts have come loose causing knocks, but rarely the slider bolts.
Yes, I risked driving the Ibiza round to the garage which did the thread repair on it's slider exactly because I knew, deep down, that there was very little risk.
The one that got to me most was the man who brought in his daughters Austin Maxi whilst she was in the maternity ward, because it was pulling to one side and I found the brake disc was so worn it had come away from the centre around the hub and he refused to have it repaired!
Aye Mike, I've seen a few in my time too. I think potentially the worst I ever saw was a Reliant Scimitar which came in late on a Friday afternoon with a "knocky rumbly" noise coming from the N/S front wheel. The boss knew I was always up for a bit of overtime so he asked me to take a look at it as it was a friend of his who was just setting off for Aberdeen! Didn't take long to find excessive play in the hub so I was told to strip it down and see if it needed a new bearing "and be sharpish about it so we can catch the factors before they close". Well, the inner race had obviously been spinning on the stub axle for a LONG time (this is a RWD vehicle) and had machined a deep groove in the stub axle. Without a doubt a new upright/stub axle assembly was needed. Turns out the boss's friend was an engineer of some sort and he told the boss to just have his "man" (me) shim it. I was quite young and green behind the ears so asked what he meant by "shimming it" - "wrap some shimstock around the axle to take up the play and refit the bearing race over it" Unsurprisingly I laughed at this but that didn't go down well and the boss told me to just get on with it. I didn't and after a short altercation I went home. Don't know what happened to the car but it wasn't there next day when I went in to hand in my notice - No way would I want to work for someone who thought a "repair" like that was acceptable. Luckily that was back in the days when you could walk out of a job on a Friday and get another on the MondayThe one that got to me most was the man who brought in his daughters Austin Maxi whilst she was in the maternity ward, because it was pulling to one side and I found the brake disc was so worn it had come away from the centre around the hub and he refused to have it repaired!
As an apprentice we had a taxi driver customer in an Austin A60, when I was servicing it I took the brake drums off and there was no brake lining on any of the shoes front or rear, I showed it to my boss who spoke to the taxi driver and was told he couldn't afford to have it fixed, put it back together as he had a fare collecting children from school!!!
Another time a women at the same garage asked me to look at the steering on her mini as it was loose. Loose, I could spin the steering wheel!!! Her loving husband had told her to press down on the wheel when turning as the splined clamp on the bottom of the steering column was so badly worn.
I would like to think things had improved in the 50 odd years since then, but if not they could be driving towards us!
When I left college with my nice new clean certificates I hadn't really thought about this but soon became aware of it. If you got your hands dirty you were definitely looked down on. Then I started at Firestone and spent most of my time on the continent and met my counterpart engineers who were, to my great surprise, treated very well and really looked up to. The Italians addressed them as Ingegnere - pronounced "ingeneery" - followed by their surname The Germans were even more reverential with the less important mechanics seldom getting to actually speak directly to one of the engineering "Gods". Judging by the cars they drove they were obviously being paid a fair bit more than their Brit counterparts, My opposite number working for Dunlop Germany drove a Turbo Porsche 911 - the one with the "whale tail" - and this was back in the day when they were new. Made me look pretty silly in my rather older Triumph Vitesse so it was a good thing I was usually in a rental.It was in the days when a fully skilled mechanic was treated like an oily rag because he got his hands dirty and the people in the office, all clean in suits talked down to you. They were too stupid to realise your skills were saving their lives!!!
