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| Disk brakes run with out dust cover on guides?; Run without dust cover Do you? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 6 2015, 11:28 PM (697 Views) | |
| nwgeo | Sep 6 2015, 11:28 PM Post #1 |
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I heard a guy say today that he runs his geo without the dust covers on the disk brakes. Does anybody else on the forum do this? I would think it would just let sand, dirt get in there and gum it up. In the past I have just cleaned and greased mine up.
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| perfesser | Sep 7 2015, 12:12 AM Post #2 |
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Elite Member - Former Metro owner
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I can think of only one reason to run without the dust shields, and that would be that you ran into some real problems taking the brakes off and ruined the shield, and you have no spare but you need to get to work. Otherwise, there should be no reason to do so. I can think of all kinds of good reasons to leave the dust shields in place, some of which you touched on. Why don't you ask the guy "why" and let us know what he says? |
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| Old Man | Sep 7 2015, 12:23 AM Post #3 |
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The 'guides' are a (kinda) bearing surface.----Would you run your CV axles without a boot, or your tie rods or ball joints without a boot? |
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| nwgeo | Sep 7 2015, 12:47 AM Post #4 |
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Yep, OM and Perf I agree, I just don't see any reason to run any length of time without the covers. Yeah OM, I think those are like a slide bearing type surface. |
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| idmetro | Sep 7 2015, 06:36 AM Post #5 |
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I've seen (and had to fix) the carnage of those guides getting locked up. So I'll just keep mine clean, lubed and dust covers in place - I REALLY like being able to stop in a controlled fashion. |
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| nwgeo | Sep 7 2015, 06:31 PM Post #6 |
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I did not really want to admit that the guy that said he ran his geo without the dust covers was...... Geo Jeff.
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| Otey13 | Sep 7 2015, 06:51 PM Post #7 |
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Geo Nerd
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Aaahhhh......
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| iamgeo | Sep 7 2015, 07:05 PM Post #8 |
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Big League
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Are you asking about the rubber boots/bellows that are on the pins? Or the actual metal dust shields? |
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| perfesser | Sep 7 2015, 11:09 PM Post #9 |
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Elite Member - Former Metro owner
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Given the source, does it matter? If GJ gives you some free advice, do the exact opposite and you can't go too far astray!! |
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| nwgeo | Sep 8 2015, 12:57 AM Post #10 |
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No the dust covers on the front disk brake guide bolts with cylinder. Those get gummed up over time and stick. If you are not careful you can damage the dust covers when you are trying to take it apart and free it up and relube that area. The dust cover has kinda of a thick washer on the bolt end and then it sits in a grove in the brake assembly on the other end... the other end is tough to get back in as I recall if all is lubed up well with hi temp grease. Anyway, I saw this discussion on a youtube vid with GJ, and thought not having to put that dust cover back on would be great, as it is a hassle. But I could not see how you could keep the dirt and sand etc. out..... others agree.... but the dust cover on to protect from dirt etc. |
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| Metromightymouse | Sep 8 2015, 04:22 AM Post #11 |
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Powdercoat Wizard
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Well then on top of all the other wrongness that he spouts the terminology he used is way off base. The dust shield, or disk brake shield is the metal piece behind the disk. The rubber boot is a caliper pin boot and is there to keep dirt and water off of the pin that the caliper slides on. If they rust or wear from grit etc (which they do often enough even with the boots), then your caliper can hang. At the least, you end up with unevenly worn brake pads, at worst you end up with a wheel that locks up at random moments or brakes way harder than the other side. It's not pleasant and in an emergency braking situation, very dangerous. After 3 attempts to get my 73 Olds Delta 88 to slow down enough to get out of the way of oncoming traffic I just had to let it swap ends and slide off the shoulder. Brakes worked fine 90% of the time. Every once in a while it would pull hard to the right. Almost always worked correctly the second or third time. Right up until I had to have them work properly now. |
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9:49 AM Jul 11