[Monkey Wrench]

i started fixing the brakes in my volvo 740, bought new rotors from the rock place, paid npre for slotted ones wiht some coating thinking ok Il get "good ones"
thse don't just drop over the studs they have bearing races.

I had to reuse the grease seal near the backing plate . but the bore in the calliper was to loose so I had to shim it with sheet aluminum.

I wondered, should I trust the races that come wiht the hub? on the first side I just left well enough alone when I did the second side I drifted them out to install the better quality ones that came with my locally sourced (not chinese) bearings.

wow they were dirty behind the races,, ok I cleaned that up but my new races pretty much fell in there, I put some red locktite hoping that's enough to stop the race from spinning.

upon putting on the grease cap over the castillated nut, same thing it fit so loose it woud just fall out.. so I made a shim to hold the grease cap in. the things werent very accurate at all.

I rebuilt one calliper with a kit , the seal tucks into a slot in the piston bore, It took me a whille ot figure out I had to put the piston seal in and then stretch the bootoover the piston and get it seated in the groove then pushing the piston in locks it in place..
ok fine..

I got to the other side and found it has a different seal no greoove, it looked like a factory had bored out the area of this slot and pressed in a different seal with L shaped metal imbedded in the seal , well I dont have any seal like that so I was oficially stuck, I oprdered a new calliper.

in the midst of all this Im driving my 88 ford van and it blew a waterpump, It got a ride home on a flatdeck,

gee I had replaced it a few years ago, and it wasnt; even really dirty yet but didnt last. at this point I have two cars down..


I had one more trusty and worn old 1989 volvo that should work I bled the brakes and got it on the road, it riuns okj, the check engine light is on and it flickers, maybe its a issue with the alternator. most of the paint fell off, it looks like somehting from a mad max movie but I kind of like it, I rebuilt that engine and its tight and smooth and works well despite it's very aged and worn looks.

ill continue with the volvo 740 brakes today, I had to go to work for a break ;-) I keep going bcak to that, Im changing the brake flexible hoses, yesterday I tried using a torch to heat the line up to get one to break free, I know I should have opened the bleeder, it actually blew the hose right out of the crimp connector and started spurting farts of burning brake fluid out, but it was hot and I dont need the line which is why I was not too worried about heating the hose fitting .. Im on the back now and Ill do the parking brake shoes too.

im itching to get into my 944 but sometimes bad luck comes in threes and you just need ot keep going with whats on the table otherwise it becomes a mind boggling mess of jobs.

I got a new waterpump for my 88 ford van van so that's next after my88 volvo 740 wagon has new brake discs, and good pads and lines.
its a bit of a sickness I have 6 cars and one on the road working and they all have proper ashtrays and Ive never owned a car new enough to not have an ashtray or to have luxuries like antilock brakes or airbags, or cup holders , I fix my own stuff, yes I'M that stubborn. maybe cheap is the word. Tight as a rusty screw maybe? ;-)

this 740 has I think is ATE, could be bendix? two piston floating callipers, I hate them I love the volvo 240 where the girling ones have opposing pistons and no floating , the ones in my wagon went rattly as the bore the pin slides on wore out , so I changed them only just 15 years ago ;-) seems like last year..

its a hole in the calliper casting. it goes oval. Im not sure even the rebuilt one is good,, its just not a great desoign. If I was more fussy Id try to ream it and make a larger pin.

having the rotors run on the bearings does elliminate runout caused by crap between so it is argualbly better , just a lot more work to change than ones that just drop over the wheel studs.

whell now thay are togeteher I turn the front rotors and Im not detecting runout they kinds scrape the pads but Ive never pressurized it , they turn free enough that it seems normal. I think despoite the poor machining tolerances they were actually true to the bearing races, the bearing races were a pretty loose fit.


im planning to ad a spare battery to my van so it can charge and not discharge like campers and boats do, so I bought a battery isolator.. I bought a battery box from the rock place, it came it was too small, ordered a larger one, it came but no lid.. so I used the complaint form,

yesterday I get home I have another.. Now I have two larger battery boxes byut again still ,
the lid was missing..

I think their system credited me the cost ... should I oreder yet another? I actually don't mind the free battery boxes, Ill use them as tool boxes or something. I bet if I order it a third time Il get another again, with no lid lol ;-) maybe they are truning out of immigrants to work packing boxes and short staffed? thye might be afraid to come to work? who knows.. it might be a robot making the same mistake repetitively too.

I though I had a great deal ordering some thick wire on amazon to comnect my batteries, it came and it was so light,in weight I mean.. I looked on the package , its copper coated aluminyum wire. what would I use that for? I sent it back , painless it was. drop it at my postal outlet, now its probably on a skid of other defective junk someone will bid on

I got a brake vacuum bleeder kit a few days ago wasn't great quality, it came same day, I did find it easier than my other ways of bleeding brakes myself. my old way was with a vacuum generator mounted on a pressure cooker, the vacuum generator runs off compressor air and it makes a vacuum in the pot then I connect that to the bleeder. the thing I dont like, its quite loud and so is my compressor, so Im trying it this way.
at first I found it very slow , I was pumpung it up so it had vacuum and opening the bleeded and the flow was miniscule but it worked.. I found if I open the bleeded about 3 flats and just pump it pulls a lot more fluid faster, I can taper down as I finsih up.. Im was concerned the loose bleededr nipple might be a source of air so I put a little grease around the nipple threads.

I figure as long as I do maintain a vacuum, if the threads leak, its just filling the gun with more air , it probably won't backtrack into the calliper.

if I had a helper to pump the pedal I would t ever open a bleeder 3 flats, 1 is enough to let it out but I guess with vacuum it neeeds a larger opening to bleed.

if you are shoppong maybe if you pay a bit more they are better, its probably sufficient for me. Ive wanted a vacuum pumper thing for a while so I figuere I have enough brake jobs on my platter to get one.