Removing rear rotor/disc for e-brake

[KKothand]

Hello to all the great advisors and helpers in this awesome forum. I have been away for a couple of years due to job changes and health. But good to be back wrenching again. Looking for some direction so I don't screw up anything on this project I have undertaken.

Issue: After reading up on Pelican Tech articles on how to do this and other threads, I was confused to find that my brake caliper has only ONE hardline going into it, as the article advised there are two - may be I misunderstood.

Anyways, looks like I have no option to just remove the caliper to get to the disc, without disconnecting the hard brake line. Is that a fair assumption? I have posted two pictures and I don't see any way to move the caliper as an assembly while still connected to brake lines.

Fig-1: Hard brake line (red arrow) to calipers & the other (pink arrow) doesn't even go into the caliper

Fig-2: I thought this was the clip mentioned in the PP article but upon closer inspection it appears to be welded.

Appreciate any and all input.

KK

[Ayles]

That clip in fig 2 is not welded. They are just tough to remove. Big screw driver and some pliers should do the trick. Wear gloves, when the clip lets go you dont smash your hand/fingers into anything.

[SWS911]

Pink arrow is the cable that goes to the e-brake shoes inside the hub.
That clip has a stressed bend in it that keeps things tight!

[yelcab1]

If you are asking these questions, I suggest you go slow, take a lot of pictures, and notes so that you can get it back to correct positions again. It is really not that hard, but you are asking very rudimentary questions which suggest that you have never been close enough to this job to recognize what's what.

[Canada Kev]

That clip holding the joint of your hard brake line and the flexible line does indeed slide out rather easily once you get that clip out. As said earlier, the clip will come free with a largeish flat blade driver and/or some pliers. I think I used vice grips my first time. They can be a bit of a bugger. Be happy in that they go back in easier than they come out.

Once the caliper's two mounting bolts are removed, the caliper is easily moved out of the way, but be mindful to not tweak your hard brake line. I think I just slid my hard line part way into the hole with the clip and used a zip tie on something to hang it out of the way.

And talking about the caliper's mounting bolts, they are both relatively easily accessible. However, one's access with a ratchet is tight. I used a ratcheting wrench I think because of that. A regular combination wrench will work fine but it's not as nice as ratcheting tools. Or you can modify an old socket (ie. grinding a bunch off) in the correct size so that it is less deep so a ratchet handle will fit in there.

To be clear, a ratchet will likely fit fine on the bolt, but once the bolt is loosened enough to get the caliper off, there is no longer enough room to get the bolt and the ratchet out of the space. So then you get to thread the bolt back in far enough to remove the ratchet and then go back with a combo wrench. It's all very frustrating...

And maybe to help you along a little bit, I took a few pics when I rebuilt my e-brakes and wrote down the steps I took. Perhaps this might assist in your parking brake adventure.

Parking brake dragging

[KKothand]

Thanks to everyone for your responses. Yes, this is my first time through this road. My brake experience is limited to removing and replacing brake pads.

Canada Kev: appreciate your detailed steps. That's an excellent link, I will save it.

Good to know it IS a clip so I can get back on track.

Thx.

KK

[midnight911]

hope these images help. i was just there replacing studs for which i needed to remove the rotors.

[KKothand]

Thank you, every little bit helps.

[JSV798]

Hardest part might be undoing the caliper bolts This is how I do it:

This is what I use. We Brits call it a combined ring spanner/open-ended spanner (is this what you guys call a box wrench?). I use the ring-spanner end; it's offset so when I get it on it sticks out away from the caliper and then holding it in the direction to undo the bolt so that there is no slack I give it a good whack with the hammer ; second photo shows offset

[Canada Kev]

In North America, a box wrench is the round enclosed, 12 point end. The other open end is called, well, an open end wrench. Put together, with the bent, offset end, it's typically referred to as an offset combination wrench.

[KKothand]

OK, partial success. I managed to remove clips on both sides; one was easier than the other. Being an older 911, and probably never been touched before, it was a major PITA.

As I understand, if I now unbolt the caliper itself (with JSV798 and useful tips form others) I should be able to "push" inwards and be able to get it away from the rotor, right? Reason being, visually it looks like it is not going to budge and I am afraid to bang at anything dealing with the hard brake line.

I will try to post some pictures...

Thanks
KK

[KKothand]

Here is the picture...

[Canada Kev]

Yes, that looks correct. I'd try to clean up any grunge on your brake line and the bracket so it slides through easier, but yeah, that's what you do. Slide it through the hole with the flexible line moving out of the way to allow the rigid line to poke through the hole.

[chrismorse]

Hi KK,
Appreciate your courage to dive in and get hands on with some serious mechanical stuff and would encourage you to find an experienced friend to answer questions and help check your work. Brakes and suspension are serious stuff and an untorqued bolt or kinked brake line can have unfortunate consequences.
This forum contains a wealth of supportive experience, (not me, I've never done 911 rear brakes, although I was greatful for Kevin's great documentation).
Keep reading, taking photos, asking questions and find a friend to help check your progress.

Good luck and have fun, learning how things work, buying tools and doing it yourself are one of life's great satisfactions, (in case you missed it, I have some serious car/mechanical issues).

Stay safe,
Chris

[Mike Andrew]

KK;
Just did this over the winter months. I found the biggest PITA was getting the springs back on the shoes once everything was somewhat in place. Finally borrowed an old school brake tool from my neighbor and used it to secure the compression spring hold down washers and slide the bottom spring into place. May be worth your time to borrow/rent from an Auto Zone. Sure beats chasing springs around the garage with the attendant cursing.
Greasing the adjusters made it much easier to adjust the shoes thru the tiny hole in the rotor hat. Be sure to get them back in place properly as it makes adjustment simpler when all is reassembled. Wire brush and PB blast the cable adjusters in case you need to make adjustments here as well.
I use a non racheting handle to break and tighten the caliper bolts. However, grinding a socket down makes great sense and is on my project list.
Personally, I dislike brake work intensely. Low man on the seniority list working at a Standard as a kid always landed brake and exhaust work on me.

[KKothand]

Hi Mike, truly appreciate sharing your knowledge and experience. My 60 hr work week is not helping me to get this going at the pace I like. I will keep posting here.

Having done an entire clutch cable replacement and brake pedal cluster rebuild thought this would not be that much of a challenge, which in principle it doesn't appear to be, but I can see it becoming a challenge in sheer time and effort.

[Mike Andrew]

Do one side at a time rather than ripping everything apart. Gives you a model to work from in case of confusion during reassembly.
My passenger side went much faster than the driver's side once I understood the workings.

Keep us posted on progress.

[wrxnofx]

Gotta say I learned something here. I never considered removing the clip and pushing the hard brake line thru the hole in order to keep the brake hydraulics intact when swapping out rotors.

Brilliant, and Thanks!