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Triumph TR6 - sticking front brakes

Greatings
Just started working on my tr6 after a long period of "to many other things to do" The front calipars seem to be sticking,the car will roll untill you apply the breakes, thats it they are on, went back the next day and they were lose but stuck again .Ive blead them and been around the block a few times, but they wont let go.Could this be the rubber hose[breakline]?I've seen some info about using Toyota truck calipars ,would like to go that way if I need to refresh them,anybody have anything good or bad to say on that switch? Thanks for your time, JEFF
jeff

Have you rebuilt your calipers yet? Sounds to me a seized piston(s). These chromed pistons eventually rust especially if you been running low pads for a while and the pitting and flaked off chroming causes the piston to get larger and subsequently bind. When I pulled mine, only the outboard pistons where moving the inboards were totally stuck. I was getting less than 50% braking power on the fronts

I replaced mine with stainless steel ones.

As a rule it is wise practice to replace the flex lines every 10 years. Can't tell you how many owners still have the original rubber lines still on the car. The newest ones are now 27 years old! NOT A WISE OR COST SAVINGS PHILOSOPHY.
Steven

Jeff,
And if you are going to replace the flexible brake lines, go for braided steel ones. Not that expensive, and you would feel the difference even if the old rubber ones were new.
John
JohnD

The Toyota conversion is fairly straight forward, evven more so if you have a later TR6 with the metric calipers. If you have an early one, you will need to either find the late bolts (easier said than done sometimes) or make sleeves. For mine we took .500"x .035" steel tubing and turned it down a little in a lathe. We then chilled them in a dry ice/denatured alcohol bath, I guess you could always use Everclear if you have any left over from a "Jim Jones Jungle Juice" Party. The mounting bore of the caliper was coated lightly with wet paint and the sleeve then quickly fitted while still shrunk. Everything was allowed to come back up to temperature and the bore of the sleeve was then reamed to the diameter of the earlier mounting bolt.

There are a couple of options at the rear if you want to go all out. One involves fitting the .875" diameter rear wheel cylinders (Girling # 64673804) as fitted to just about every 4 wheel Morgan and early Sunbeam Alpines. They fit right in place of the stock cylinders since they are amde from the same casting according to my trusty old Lucas/Girling catalogs. I picked up a pair from Classic Sunbeam Auto Parts in Ossining NY, great service, fast shipping and much less brass than going to Morgan Spares:

http://classicsunbeam.com/

Or you can go the rear disc brake route. There is one set up that works well, but is not street legal in most places since it doesn't have a provision for a parking brake. There is another rear disc set up with a parking brake provision that I am playing with off and on, but haven't got it dialed in yet.
SteveP

Jeff,
There is an easy test to find out if it's the hose or the pistons binding. Press down on the pedal to get the brakes bound up. With the brakes bound, crack the bleeder. If the wheel now turns it is the hose, if not it is the piston/caliper.
Joe Justice
Joe Justice

SteveP,
I was interested to hear about the rear disc brake setups you mention. What are the options? How is it done? What does it weigh?!
Thanks
Mike M

This thread was discussed between 07/12/2002 and 09/12/2002

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