110 Salisbury Rear Axle Completed (Part 5)

The rear axle is now fully assembled with the retro-fit disc brake system.

The callipers needed rebuilding with new pistons and seals due to the corrosion of the originals pistons.  Stripping, which involved separating the calliper halves before removing the pistons and seals, revealed a fair amount of corrosion in the ridge between the main seal and wiper seal grooves, which was just surface rust and easily removed.  The grooves were scraped out and the bores were then thoroughly cleaned with brake cleaner and a tooth brush.  The bleed nipples and blanking plugs were removed so that all of the fluid path ways could be “flossed” with nylon chord to remove all traces of debris.

The new seals were fitted.  The wiper seal retainer is reputed to be difficult to fit, but I found that by putting it in place, turning the calliper half upside down and resting the retainer and inner face on the telescopic part of my vice and then tapping the calliper outer face firmly with a rubber mallet, they were easy to install.  I did buy an extra pack of seals and retainers to allow for damage during fitting, but so far haven’t needed to use them.

Once the seals were all fitted, the bores, seals and pistons were liberally brushed with new brake fluid and the pistons were inserted.  The vice proved the easiest way of pressing them in gently and square, and they slid easily into place.  Once all the pistons were pressed home, the calliper halves were reassembled to their matching counterparts with permanent locking fluid on the bolt threads.  The old bleed nipples and blanking plugs were reinserted and the callipers were then sprayed in smooth silver Hammerite, which seems to hold up well to high temperature and oil/grease.

Once dry, the callipers were fitted to the new mounting brackets on the axle. To ensure good seating, the mating surfaces of the brackets and the callipers, and the face of the callipers’ bolt holes where the bolt heads would seat were all scraped clean of paint and a thin smear of copper grease was applied.   Copper grease was then applied tot he calliper bolts, except to the threads, which were coated with removable thread lock.

With the callipers in place, new bleed nipples were fitted and the new pads and retaining springs and pins were installed.  The only remaining jobs are the mud shields for the discs, if I fit them, and the brake pipes, which will only be installed once the axle is on the vehicle.  The QT diff guard, fitted to the existing axle, will be transferred at that point too.  I’m calling the axle complete, and will now focus on the Discovery front axle.