oops brake failure

jvandyke

jvandyke

True Classic
Backing out of the drive this morning I hear a clunk and sudden "resistence' Thought I'd run over a kid's ball or something. Nope. Pulled wheel and found the lower caliper mounting bolt GONE, caliper was floating around a bit. Piece of metal was pinched in the lower wedge, no idea what that is or how it got there. I think I must not have torqued those down. Oops. Hoping to score the proper bolt tomorrow morning and still make my commute. Not the first stupid mistake I've made but hopefully no real harm done.
 
Hardware store opened at 7:30, had an M10 1.25 pitch (pretty sure that's what I ended up with) at the right length. All is well. Not sure it's the right grade but will do for now. Pretty embarrased I didn't torque those down well, pitfalls of doing your own wrenching, no one to blame but yourself, of course you get all the "credit" too.
 
Bad human1

My most embarassing moment was failing to tighten lugnuts on a wheel and watching my boss go down the road with wobbly wheels. Not funny at all. Took me a while to live that one down.

Glad you found it in the driveway. It would be a whole lot more interesting coming down from speed...
 
Truth be told, I ran it like that all day yesterday. Reverse braking made the caliper bind somehow, moving forward was fine. I do most of my commuting in forward gears. Yes I know I should have grounded the car then and there. Bottom caliper bolt and wiggled free, top was loose. Very strange how something metal (washer?) had managed to get pinched in the lower brake wedge, top was misaligned by that point too. It's all sorted now of course. I think I should probably double check all bits later today though.:dead:
 
Chris St-Louis said:
Weird.

http://xwebforums.org/showpost.php?p=70818&postcount=13


Sometimes hired guns do care and do a better job. Who woulda thought.
Click to expand...

Touché
Although if that's the worst mistake I've made after all I've done to my car I'm doing pretty darn good. My goal is to keep it on the road myself. Paying someone else to do it isn't even a possibility. I still think you are your own best mechanic (and maybe occassionally you're own worst enemy.:lol:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top