Brake troubles

[rossk]

So driving to work today to give the dart a bit of a run and it was quite happy sitting at 70mph on the M25 when all of a sudden I get a noise from the o/s/f about 1/2 mile from the exit.

Fortunately for me the slip road was uphill as I had a brake failure, looks like either a caliper bolt has worked it's way loose putting pressure on the other one causing the adapter plate to snap, or the adapter plate has snapped causing the other bolt to fly off somewhere.

Either way not a fun experience but it could have been a lot worse, so I'm feeling slightly fortunate although somewhat poorer now I've ordered the replacement parts!

[Pete]

Never seen that before, I know that the brackets when bought separately are very expensive.

[rossk]

The adapter brackets are actually mustang ones, I’ve ordered them from summit, $83 dollars which I didn’t think was too bad. I’ve also brought a new calliper and to be safe all new bolts & spacers so it’s all adding up, but I’ve got to get it back on the road and it’s got to be right.

Really not sure what happened, but I think it could have been a lot worse!

Shame I’m missing brooklands but hopefully the parts will be here before speedfest

[Blue]

Couple of thoughts, did you shim the caliper so it sits central on the disc? How close did the calliper sit to the rim?

[rossk]

Hi Blue, yes was shimmed and looked to be central when we fitted it. Calliper was snug in the wheel but there was enough clearance and free play from what I recall

[Pete]

Wilwood specify minimum caliper to wheel clearances in their documentation. Worth checking.

I am puzzled that it has not got Dodge Caliper mounts, they are readily available.

[Blue]

I would have a very close look at the calliper clearance on the rim, rotatating it to see that there isn't a high spot of weld or something. I would check with Wilwood and get thier minimum clearance advice and then use plasticine on the calliper for a proper check.

[rossk]

Sounds like a good idea, strong possibility that if the calliper was catching the inside of the rim it could have become dislodged.

The only odd thing is that I’ve dont some mileage since all the suspension kit was fitted, so I figured if it was catching it would have happened sooner? Or I would have heard something?

[Pete]

If it had been very close and then picked up some road debris it would have put a crimp in your day..

[cadboy]

When I was looking to do disk conversion on mine last year, I could not use Wilwood as clearance was not there without changing wheel sizes.

[TW71]

I found Wilwood tech on email very helpful.

[Rebel]

Just a thought but was there any balance weights on the inner rim of the wheel?
If there was and they were the stick on type, they may have come off and caused the problem

[rossk]

Hi Revel

Funny you should say that, when I took off the other wheel to check it over the stick on weights were sitting in the top of the calliper.

I’ll rebalance the wheels when it’s all done and use the old fashioned hammered on ones on the rim.

[Rebel]

I only mentioned it due to having to change my front wheels after my disc conversion. The stick on weights on mine only give me about 5mm clearance, regular checks are the way to go I think.
It’s amazing how something so small could possibly be the cause of an issue like yours.
Hope you manage to get it sorted.

[Dave999]

front wheel bearings ok?

Dave