The Dispatch | Expert | Scudo Hub

Gasp! A new pipe? At how much? I'd love to know, just in case!

Yes, that looks like the boyo.

Prop the van up, get the wheel off, remove the plastic cover that stops grot spraying into the engine compartment, undo the nut, get your pipe off, replace.

I used a rubber hose from Halfrauds, 'cos the used alloy pipes I could see on eBay etc. were pitted like mine, and a new one was ££OUCH!

Sounds like a good first thing. Are you going to update this thread?

Well, done it. I ended up by using short pieces of batten and G clamps to hold the driveshaft in place (clamping to the the shaft to the foremost trunnion of the wishbone) and clamping my Record No. 3 vice jaws onto the drive shaft, along the shaft, with the jaws near to the centre portion of the CV joint, where it slides over the splines. Inserting a cold chisel to act as a wedge and whacking it worked after a few goes.

So I washed & blew it all out, refilled with grease, and put it back together, which was a lot easier than taking it apart.

Lost perhaps an eggful of oil from the gearbox.  I guess I ought to top it up, it's done over 250,000 miles.

Right. The metal pipe is made from some sort of aluminium alloy, at least it smells like that when you rub it, it looks like that, and it's very soft. I am not sure that it was cut, it may have snapped and been repaired with about 4" of rubber tube.

Anyway, I got a metre of 10mm fuel hose (£6, Halfords of all places, better price than motor factor who tried to sell me heater hose!), and Jubilee-clipped it to the short piece of pipe still attached to the steering pump (after having carefully reduced the diameter of the 12mm metal pipe and smoothed its edges, also working a tap spanner handle, about 11mm diameter, up the rubber pipe first to spread it). A bit of ATF in the rubber pipe and on the metal pipe helped it slide in. I cut the original rubber pipe coming out of the resevoir, about 3" before it enters a plastic tunnel screwed to the chassis just under and in front ot the resevoir, and fed the new pipe up through that, and joined it to the old one with a short section of "good" pipe from the original metal one.

So it's back as an hydraulic circuit, I'll get some ATF and fill it tomorrow.

MOT question: The original metal pipe was clipped to the top of the steel member running in line with the van just begind the wheel (the anti-roll bar is bolted to this. Not sure what it's called. A sub frame?). The new rubber hose follows the same sort of line, but should I think be clipped too. Is it in order to cable tie it to the steel member, or is something more enduring (galvanised wire, linked Jubilee clips, whatever) needed?

It's not a sticky caliper slider pin, it's a design feature, as pictured. Perhaps the caliper is not the same as others, I know there are two types of pad, which are not interchangeable.

Thank you.

The OD of the metal pipe is 12mm. What sort of hose should I ask for? Is a motor factor likely to have something suitable?

Edit: As above, where the metal pipe had previously been cut, it was joined with a short piece of rubber hose held on by 4 Jubilee clips.

Thank you.

I had a look. The brake pads on my van are the ones with the protuding lug on each end. Rust had caused the inner pad's lower lug to bind stiffly in the groove in the caliper, and wear a hole in the "shim" material between that and the cast iron of the caliper. I chipped away the rust and wire-brushed it, and swapped the top (good) shim thing (what are these called?) to make the main force bearing point OK.

Unfortunately, the pad had worn very unevenly indeed, so much so that only one edge of the hydraulic piston was bearing on the steel back of the pad, so I carefully hacksawed some slots in the pad, using beer-tin shim on the worn end, to prevent cutting into it, and using the slots as a depth guide filed away the thick unworn end of the pad, finishing with glass-paper on a flat hard rubbing block, taking care about the dust.

The now thinner pad is the one with electrical "sensor" connection.

Hopefully it will do now. When the other problems are fixed, the MOT man can telll me.

Edit: Supplementary question: Why has the bottom pin that the caliper slides on got a rubber sleeve on the inner end? Damping?