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Thrill of the day - Broken caliper!
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srmpf
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Joined: February 25, 2011
Posts: 296

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PostPosted: Sat May 18, 2013 3:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Christopher Schimke wrote:
srmpf wrote:
now that might be a very stupid question: but shouldn't the brake system a little bit more fail safe? I mean one broken caliper and ALL three remaining (or at least the drums in the back) stop working as well?


Yes, the dual circuit master cylinder separates the front and rear circuits so that if one end fails, the other end keeps working. However, have you ever tried to stop a 4000+ lb vehicle with marginal rear drums only? It's right up there with not having any brakes at all. In addition, I will admit that my rear brakes are not in the best of shape. Anticipating a rear brake change, I put off maintenance for far too long. That definitely contributed to the lack of braking ability once the front circuit was no longer in play.


makes me feel a little bit more safe - I spend hours adjusting the drums when I replaced all the moving parts.
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Christopher Schimke
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Joined: August 03, 2005
Posts: 5375
Location: PNW
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PostPosted: Sun May 19, 2013 8:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here are some more photos of the broken caliper. It's obvious that this caliper has been doomed for quite some time. I can't see any signs of anyone prying on the lip from the inside or the outside and there are no score marks that would indicate someone using a sharp object to scrape or pry. Judging by the color of the rusted areas (darkest where the crack started, lighter where the crack opened up over time), it appears that the crack started right in the root of the 90º transition of the lip where the seal seats. From there, it looks like the crack traveled along that 90º transition until the lip finally split vertically and eventually broke off completely. You can see how far the crack has traveled up the remaining lip on the outside. It actually goes quite a bit further than the photo shows, but it's a hairline crack that's difficult to pick up on camera. Interesting!


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Syncromikey
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Joined: September 19, 2012
Posts: 463
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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PostPosted: Sun May 19, 2013 8:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A little weld bond and you should be good to go ... JK ... Very Happy

Yeah, you can definitely tell its been festering for a while. I'm really surprised that would happen. When I get back home I'm going to look over the OEMs I pulled off my van for the upgrade to see if I there are any cracks. Makes me kinda wonder if we should be using used G60s for upgrades.

Cheers,
Mike
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