Leaking rear brake -- question

[Craig]

I can't provide details because I haven't pulled the mechanism apart myself. As I said, the information comes from others. One specifically stated that the self adjustment was too coarse which explained a lot.

Various photos from the web back up the statement that the rear calipers are self adjusting.

Did you manage to disassemble your calipers to the extent shown in pic1?

Pic2 clearly shows that the mechanism referred to in pic1 as the 'automatic adjuster' is spring loaded and more complex that would be required for a simple manual adjustment.

[NMMilano]

Yes I fully disassembled them. On further thought I never have had to adjust the brakes on my Milano except when changing pads so I'm sure you are correct.
One more question though, why do we have to set the tolerance so close? why not just set them loose and let the self adjusters do the work?

[sh0rtlife]

the ones on my gtv6 looked like that too and seem to self adjust just fine..and YES i use the E-brake when i park the car

[Craig]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NMMilano One more question though, why do we have to set the tolerance so close? why not just set them loose and let the self adjusters do the work?

[fast-alfa75]

Don't bother trying to rebuild these things yourself, as it seems the rebuild kits don't ususally come with all the o-rings required. An excellent resource for rebuild is Mobile Services aka Gold Line Brakes, here in Seattle. He rebuilds these things all the time for us, and does the building of the spaced calipers (ala SZ) for our big brake kits as well. Excellent service, quick turn time as well.

As for adjusting, I have chased them with the feeler gauge, and also done without. If you adjust one at a time, tighten until the wheel does not rotate, then back off for a light drag, you will find your tolerance to be within Alfa's spec.

These things are easy to remove in pairs as well. Unbolt both calipers, undo the hose, unbolt the brass union the hose mates into, and remove the pair WITH the hardlines as an assembly. This eases the pain of messing with the hardlines in car, you can reassemble on bench, then in car the hardlines are already threaded into the calipers!

[NMMilano]

I'm sure there are excellent rebuilders out there, however I did mine in an afternoon and they are working fine. I did have to source the O rings however.
I agree with your adjustment method, just tighten and back off a little. I did not think they were all that difficult to remove, I dropped the rear transaxle mount to give more room. There is alot of "while you're there" work that can be done i.e. halfshaft boots, new disks and braided brake lines.