Lancia Beta Forum

Am on the rear brakes now. The Haynes manual calmly says 'screw piston clockwise into caliper' to gain clearance for new pads.

Any tips on how, what with and whether you need a gorilla to hold caliper and turn piston at same time?

Much bad language and skin loss in past half hour.

Thanks for any help.

Mark

Sometimes you need to screw them in and apply quite a bit of force so that the thread picks up and the piston starts receding, I've even had to tap gently with a hammer on the head of the piston on rare occasions because the piston has come out too far.

A piece of 6mm keysteel is just about perfect IIRC to turn the piston. As Matt says sometimes you need a bit of force too.

I use a tool that was originally meant for bolts that secured the anti-tilt plates for AS400 expansion racks ( computer kit )

But there are universal square block sockets that are about £7 from Halfrauds that make life easier.

If the piston won't respond to the suggestions above it's time for a rebuild anyway as the handbrake won't be responsive.

Thanks all.  After some rummaging I found an old trim pry-bar with a square shank that worked a treat - once they started to move it was easy. It was even pretty good for prying the caliper to get the wedges in.

In doing the job, I found some quite corroded brake pipes up around the fuel tank ( and some more nasty fuel pipes). Are the braided brake kits a good choice and easier to work with than metal pipes in the confined space? Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Mark

The braided kits only replace the flexible (rubber) pipes. You will need a full pipe kit or to get the new sections you need made up.