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Front calipers.

Juddian

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Just been through the brakes as part of MOT prep for tomorrow, front inner pistons both sides needed freeing off, as last year, definately getting worse but haven't done bad over 16 years, should be ok for now but will get something done about them soon.

I could get the present set refurbed, there's bigg red for refurb of course but that means the vehicle standing for probably a week.
Checked Milners and RoughTrax, but also noticed this ad on ebay Delco Remy Front Right Brake Caliper DC83539 - GENUINE - 5 YEAR WARRANTY | eBay - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]. £111 a side with 5 year warranty.
Bigg Red looks like £125 to refurb both.

Wot do you reckon.
 
I bought new quite cheap thinking the originals can go to big red for a fancy finish when i'm ready and i will always have a spare set .
 
I couldn’t do without the vehicle either Juddian so I replaced the two fronts on my 120 some years ago and then on the Amazon last October, both with Budweg callipers from Brakes International. The ones for the Amazon were £90 +vat each, they’re exchange so there’s a surcharge of £30 per caliper. From memory delivery was about £5 but you would need to check on the cost of returning the old ones as I took them back myself.
Helpful people and a good quality product.
 
Yes i'm tempted to go new, those DelcoRemy offerings from ebay look promising.
The motor could stand, but you can guarantee summat will come up the night i send the things off for refurb, plus i'd rather just swap the calipers while i'm down there all jacked up tools already out and i'm mucky all in one hit.

Did the brake pipes come undone ok from the old calipers or did you replace the short brake pipes from flexible to caliper, if so did you get some made up out of Kunifer or get genuine pipes from the parts desk.

The good part about bigg red refurb is they'll paint them nicely, i paint all my calipers and the unswept part of discs black anyway, hate seeing rusty uncared for discs and scabby calipers.
Will give it some thought, thanks for the contributions so far.
 
I didn’t need to renew the pipes on the 120 when I changed the calipers, assuming the pipes are ok just give the unions a couple of soakings in WD or the like and leave it for a few days then see if they’ll crack off, at least that way you’ll know if you need to replace them before you start the job proper.
Make sure you have a decent brake union spanner to save rounding off the unions though ( sorry if this is stating the obvious!)
Before I got the new calipers for the Amazon last year I gave Big Redd a call to see what their turn round time was and we got talking about paint finishes, their basic finish is just a rattle can (at least he was honest) anything else is at extra cost and also slows down the turn round.
Someone had put me onto Plastikote barbecue paint a few years ago so I gave it a whirl and it held up well on the original Amazon calipers without even bothering to bake it off ( they were red when I got it and it just ain’t my thing!)
I’m with you on the rusty caliper thing so I’ve used it again on the new ones, they were sitting there all nice and new and shiny so I thought what the hell I’ll bake them off.
I didn’t think I’d get away with it for a minute without the head chef sussing out what I’d been up to so I made sure I had clearance before bunging them in the oven, fortunately there was hardly any smell so it all ended well!
 
Thanks Geoff.
Good point re brake union spanner, its been years since i needed one and can say with confidence if i can even find it the thing will be AF sized.
Yes i noticed from Bigg Red's website that the better finishes add both time and considerable cost to the job, ending up at almost the same price as two new (hopefully decent quality) calipers, which i'll spray with Smoothrite once certain they're the right parts.

Thankfully the motor went straight through the test today, so can do this job at my leisure later in the summer after i've had a chance to pressure wash the undersides and recoat the rustproofing.
Much obliged.
 
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That Eastwood paint looks good Shayne, the Plastikote I’ve used seems durable enough so far but I can’t see it being resistant to brake fluid!
 
Calipers changed, all went well.

So, (after a couple of weeks to make sure all is hunky dory) pair of front calipers here going begging if someone wants them, i freed the one sticking piston on each side enough they would do as a working pair for several months if need be if someone needed them to get them out of the mire, or if someone needed a pair to get refurbed at Big Redd without having to take the vehicle off the road for a week or so.
 
Well this thread motivated me to finish refurbing my old front callipers. I swapped them out prob 2 years ago, and the kit from big redd been sitting on the bench since then too.

I actually split them against all advice, so not 100% confident that these are good, but these can sit in the bench till I need them.

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Nice job on the calipers Tony... I've often used the 90 series calipers on 70's but haven't been sure if the 120 ones will fit.

If it's not too late to measure the centres of the mounts to see if the 120's are able to be retro fitted to a 70.

Have often wondered it is possible, be good to know..

Good work man!:thumbup:
 
Hello Juddian
I would like to take you up on the offer of the callipers, aim get them refurbed at Big Redd, cannot be without the vehicle for a week . How do i get in touch?

Cheers
 
Hello Juddian
I would like to take you up on the offer of the callipers, aim get them refurbed at Big Redd, cannot be without the vehicle for a week . How do i get in touch?

Cheers
I've hopefully sent you a trial 'conversation' meassge, assuming that's a private message method on this forum.
 
@Iwan it's 128mm center to centerView attachment 171881

Thanks for your time Tony... I'm a bit of a geek and find it interesting! Lol..

P1020559.JPG


I have a collection of used front calipers through the ages of cruisers! Lj/Hj Kzj, Hdj early and Hdj later 24v. 88mm mount for the two on the left and the 80's have a 128mm center with a 285? and 315? disc sizes.

So from 90 series to 120 series there's quite an upgrade to the front baking system more a kin to a heavier older cruiser.

Interesting and thanks for the measure Tony! :thumbup:
 
Just googled and the 120 front are 338mm diameter
 
Wow so a very big 80 series brake upgrade could be possible with 17" wheels.?.?. If the inner wheel mount to disc face is similar, might try it with my 45 project when the time comes..
 
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