Hello, everyone,

I have a 70 shark that has broken the right rear emergency brake. Pieces came flying out with a lot of strange noises before I could get it stopped. I made a safe stop and got it home.The shoes twisted up enough that the rotor was an adventure in itself to get off. The spring that holds the emegency brake shoes together on the botton broke anddecided to try a new position within the rotor. When I was pulling off the oldcaliperI noticed the top caliper bolt was loose. The worse part of this deal is that the threads are stripped. My question is: What needs to be replaced?Are there bearings that have to be pressed in or out? Can I do this in my garage? Volunter Vettes product catalog shows a brake flange bracket that the calipers mount to. Doany of you know if all these parts will come apart without havbing to press bearings in and out? What are the consequences of running a new rotor without emegency brake shoes? This is a serious issue, espcially since I can not drive it. Help Help.

 

seventy nine, not seventy..sorry fingers don't work!

 

Hi gigabyte, glad to hear you made it home. The caliper mounting bracket will be the biggest issue in your brake re-build, if in fact the caliper mounting hole is stripped then you'll have to either repair the threads or replace the bracket. If it were mine I would confirm that the caliper bolt is not the culprit, new bolts are easy and a lot less expense than the bracket. If you decide to replace the caliper mount then the spindle will have to be pressed out of the bearings to remove the bracket. On my '78 I removed the rusty, mangled emergency brake shoes, springs and pins and have no plans on installing new ones, the deleted E-brake system will in no way effect the rest of the braking system. If your spindle, spindle flange, bearings, U-joints, rotors, ect. are OK to re-use then I would consider repairing the bracket threads with a heli-coil insert.

 

78buckshot, thanks for the reply. I kinda thought the e brake would be ok without the shoes. I think I know what a heli-coil insert is. It does sound less expensive than a new caliper mounting braket. The old bolt threads were none existant in the lower center third of the bolt. It has a new bolt now and will only torq to about three pounds so the threads on the mounting braket are gone also.

Idea: There seems to be enough room on the outside of the caliper to place a bolt through that way with a nut on the inside. Reeming the hole just enough to remove the old threads will have be done so the bolt slides through from the outside. What do you think? I do not want to sound cheap on this issue since it is a major safety concern, but, a bolt that will work will save a lot of time and money.

 

You can do a Heli-Coil repair yourself without removing the bracket, measure the depth of the threaded hole, figure out what the diameter and pitch of the thread is and purchase a repair kit to match. You will drill out the rest of the old threads with the proper size bit and thread the hole with the tap included, then turn in a stainless steel insert coated with lock-tite and you've got new threads. Try the auto parts stores with machine shops or something in that category so you can talk to someone with knowledge of the thread repair kits. I would stay away from running a bolt in from the other direction.

 

78BuckShot..again.......Thanks! I will check out your recomendation and when it is all over with I'll let you knowhow I decided to fix it. I agree on the bolt. The more I thought about it the more it sounded like something that should notbe done. Besides its a Vet and does not deserve a patch, but a repair performedto the best standards.

 

Glad you decided against the "bubba" repair. The parking brake (not emergency as it will not stop you) can be repaired with an all stainless steel kit as well as the cable & housing that connectsthe two sides. The plus of having a working parking brake is that it removes some of the stress on the tranny gears if someone runs into your car while it's parked. It's also helpful if your are starting from a dead stop on a steep hill.