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djkeev
Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32632
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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 Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 5:10 pm Post subject: Suspension & Brake Noise! Knocking, Banging, Vibration |
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So, my well maintained 86 developed a front end "creak, "knock" while hitting pavement junctions. It got worse as the miles went by.
Being quite concerned, I stopped multiple times and crawled underneath and examined key components, pushing, shoving, wiggling, etc.
I Pushed and pulled on the wheels looking for bearing or joint play. Turned the steering wheel watching for worn components but none were found.
The "thunk" persisted!
The temperatures had fallen and the Van had gotten cold so I was comforting myself with the noise only being cold bushings making horrible noises.
A bit later I was on the freeway and a panic stop ensured and the entire front of the Van was vibrating, pulsing horribly and making a thunderous noise!
What the Heck?!?
I stopped and crawled under again, I checked lug nuts, etc.
NOTHING IS LOOSE OR WORN?!?!?!?
I nursed it to a location where I could deep digger for I sure wasn't going a foot more with that horrible braking vibration and clunking!
It acted all the world like loose front wheel bearings.
I again examined everything, jacked up the wheel and let it hang, no play, zero looseness in any component.
I was about to call it quits and button it up but at the last second thought that maybe the caliper mounting bolts to the axle spindle came loose???
So I let it down, loosened the lugs bolts and removed the wheel.
At first glance those big bolts were there and appeared tight.
I then noticed the caliper mounting bolts were missing! BOTH OF THEM!!!
The Caliper was flopping loose! The only reason it didn't fall out was the wheel over it and being mounted on the top angle where gravity keeps it in place.
In my boxes of parts, I had two 8mm bolts that fit!
SCORE!!
Now....... Back to quiet and peaceful driving and braking. The road strip thunk is gone as well as the horrible braking noise/vibration.
I had done an inspection on the brakes checking pads, disc and bearings but never gave the caliper bolts a thought.
Dave
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Last edited by djkeev on Thu Nov 09, 2017 5:45 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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DanHoug
Samba Member
Joined: December 05, 2016
Posts: 4799
Location: Bemidji, MN
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| Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 5:31 pm Post subject: Re: Suspension & Brake Noise! Knocking, Banging, Vibration |
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you and your kit of spares!!! good idea to stick a pair of those bolts in my kit. i had a brake caliper bolt come out of my '81 BMW motorcycle and experienced the same type of weird clunking. took me a while, like days, to figure what it was. terrifying when you realize what it is.
having just done calipers on my '87, those bolts had a pretty gi-normous torque on them as i recall. had to put a jack under the torque wrench to get it to click as it was at on odd angle for me. i think i blue Loctited mine too.
-dan |
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DanHoug
Samba Member
Joined: December 05, 2016
Posts: 4799
Location: Bemidji, MN
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| Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 5:33 pm Post subject: Re: Suspension & Brake Noise! Knocking, Banging, Vibration |
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whoops. re-reading your post, your bolts must have been for the caliper slider pins. mine requiring the huge torque were the caliper mounting bolts, way bigger than 8mm.
-dan |
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djkeev
Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32632
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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DanHoug
Samba Member
Joined: December 05, 2016
Posts: 4799
Location: Bemidji, MN
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| Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 5:53 pm Post subject: Re: Suspension & Brake Noise! Knocking, Banging, Vibration |
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so when i put my new reman calipers in, i thought they didn't have enough of the rubber slider lubricant so i unbolted them, really snotted them up with great CRC Brake Caliper lube (silicone and moly) and reinstalled the bolts. tried to put more blue Loctite on the bolts but everything was so lubed up i'm sure it didn't do anything.
the remans came with a sparse amount of white-ish grease and just seemed like they'd corrode fast. i cleaned all that off, put the CRC black snot on and it made the rubber boots so slippery they were hard to seat correctly. finally got them in place. this is the 2nd set of replacement calipers on this van, and most of the trouble was the slider pins were pretty stiff and rusty in addition to stuck pistons. hopefully, the CRC stuff will improve longevity. it was pretty darn expensive!
-dan |
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crazyvwvanman
Samba Member
Joined: January 28, 2008
Posts: 9937
Location: Orbiting San Diego
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| Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 6:49 pm Post subject: Re: Suspension & Brake Noise! Knocking, Banging, Vibration |
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Those M8 caliper guide pin bolts are supposed to be installed with lock-tite and the service kits have the new bolts with it already applied. I think they are supposed to be single use bolts as well.
http://www.van-cafe.com/caliper-pin-boot-kit
Mark |
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