Defender 110 Calipers

Thanks Dag. I don't have any old bearings. The bearings that I've seen so far look good. The insides of the hubs were nice and clean with plenty of grease.

I've got Cortego replacements. Do you think it's worth freezing them? Not sure if that would damage them.

I've replaced my pistons and seals in early 2013 and it seems like it was a perfectly adequate job, as I have just passed another MOT with no problems noted for the brakes. I bought a stainless piston kit, but the seals supplied didn't look too good (rather like slices of rubber hose cut up with a Stanley knife) so I bought OEM ones and fitted them instead. The old pistons were rusty and quite difficult to remove, but having recently put new brake pads on I noticed that the stainless ones were still nice and shiny after 4+ years. The calipers can be as rusty as you like on the outside, the critical thing is the grooves inside the slave cylinders that the seals fit into. You want them to be nice and smooth with no pitting so the seals can make a good seal. It's perfectly possible to do them without splitting the caliper too.
Pictures and more commentary on my efforts here: https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/browns-brake-rebuild-thread.220055/
Yes, just tap the hub seals into place. I've been doing this for years and never had a hub oil leak touch wood. The seals are sometimes quite a tight interference fit in the outer casting, but they'll go in with a little persuasion. Don't forget to put the rollers and inner race of the bearing in first because it won't go past the seal once it's inserted!

sp00k said:

Do you think it's worth freezing them? Not sure if that would damage them.

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I have never bothered freezing them and have not a manged to damage one, as long as you are careful to get it lined up properly before attacking it with a hammer you should not have a problem.

Brown said:

the seals supplied didn't look too good (rather like slices of rubber hose cut up with a Stanley knife) so I bought OEM ones and fitted them instead.

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Always buy OEM seals for the brakes, my aftermarket ones lasted about two weeks before leaking again, having replaced them with OEM they have lasted for years.

Thanks for the help all. The last of my parts arrived Sat but I was away for most of the weekend so I had a go on Sun. I've done one side, it was really slow going as I had to keep checking everything but I expect the next one to be much quicker!

One thing that I did notice was that the caliper pins seem to be about 3mm too long. They are the same length as my previous pins in the old calipers, so that must be correct. Seems a little odd though. I also have a set of the vented pins (mine are solid discs) which are much longer.

I'm guessing this accounts for the occasional click sound that I used to hear with my old brakes when I first press the brake pedal when it's wet.

I'm going to use the anti-rattle hardware that came with my old brakes as they never squeaked. I can't find a picture of them but they are just a bent piece of strong wire as opposed to springs. The springs that came with the new ones seem too weak to be effective.

Yes, the springs look a bit feeble - if you're talking about the coil springs that fit over the pins - surely far too soft to push the pads apart. But they seem to work. Compared to the Charles Atlas chest expander jobbies you find in drum brakes they seem very lightweight indeed.

Just to feedback on the thread and say thanks to all who've helped along the way, as always.
Having done one side, I flew through the other.
I've bled the system a good few times, front and back. One of my rear cylinder bleed screws was stripped so I've welded a nut onto it. Not the prettiest, but it's doing the job.

I've got quite a long pedal at the moment, but the brakes are effective. I think the fronts will get stronger as the pads bed in.

I think the long pedal is an adjustment problem with the rear brakes. I've adjusted them so that the shoes don't catch the drums but they must need to be a little tighter.

My drums spin freely, I've read some posts that say they should only spin once and then stop - I would be interested to hear how others adjust them.