W123 Brake Calipers
 

O.K., I had my 1984 300CD up on jack stands and noticed the front wheel brakes are dragging a bit .

The fluid has gone black again since I last flushed & bled the system two years ago .

This car has the Bendix calipers, I don't like them because of the tiny hair pins that retain the pad's pins and am thinking of buying ATE calipers....

Looking on the Pelican site they're $pendy even rebuilt .

New, forgeddaboutit .

So, do I flush the system again and then go to my favorite junk yard and pull a good used pair that I've tested and don't have sticky pistons or what ? .

$ is always a concern for me, retired and on a minimal fixed income .

? Thoughts? .

(please don't brash me for being cheap ! :o ) .

TIA,

Kit them yourself. Or try exercising them first. Although if you can find a set that retract easily at a yard. There is nothing real wrong with that.

Push the pistons all the way back in. Activate them. Repeat several times. Sometimes they will free back up. You can tell if you are winning if it starts to require less pressure to push the pistons back in. Not the best approach but can help.

Caliper Service
 

Thank you Barry ;

This is what I'd planned and was hoping to hear is the way to go .

I considered kitting them but as I said, I'm not fond of the Bendix calipers, every time I replace the pads one of the four (two per side) tiny clips disintegrates....

I'll give this a go, not long ago I replaced both front rotors and seals, cleaned and repacked the bearings .

Are you talking about the cotter keys that keep the pins from backing out? Or the coathanger wire stays that sit on top of the pads? I have never had a problem with the cotter keys. And once a wire popped out and I could not find it; made a new one with a coathanger - never a problem after that.

Bendix Calipers
 

Yes, those tiny little things ~ I'm in Los Angeles and they rust away and break or loose tension .

I'm going to try the press the caliper pistons all the way back and flush then bleed the system to - morrow, we'll see how it goes .

$ is a little bit tighter than usual so if these don't free up I'll brolly be On The Hunt for some ATE brand W123 front calipers used.....

As previously mentioned the little clips could be replaced with stainless steel cotter pins or even stainless steel wire.

In fact ever solid core copper wire I believe would work as there is little force available that could push the pins through cutting the copper and against the spring pressure of the spring clips.
That would only be an issue if for some reason a spring clip broke.

To prevent the regular steel clips from rusting a blob of grease over it or taking a Can of spray paint and painting a heave coat let that dry and another over that would likely keep them from rusting.

Where I live on the other side of Pacific Coast Highway is an industrial area frequented by big rig and other trucks and has places where people dump stuff. I am supposed to walk for exercise and occasionally do it there.
I am inclined to be a scavenger and I pickup stuff I find useful on my walks. Bits of wire, washers, bolts even rubber truck mud flaps have all ended up at home.

Besides saving some money not having to buy them having say a washer or some bit of Wire that I found that it has often kept me from having to take the time and expense to driver somewhere to get them.

My Hail Mary Pass
 

O.K., I jacked it up and removed the wheels, tried banging the caliper to shake it loose, no joy so I opened the bleeder screw to see if the hose(s) were clogged or holding pressure, still no joy so I forced the pads off the rotors and removed them, pushed the caliper pistons back all the way and bled the system using a pressure bleeder, I got al manner of black cruddy brake fluid out, refilled the resivoir with Mercedes brake fluid (I ran across a liter bottle a while ago and kept it), bled again until clear non foamy /aerated fluid came out, buttoned it up and test drove it ~ the left front caliper still drags a little bit so I'll go find some more, I also decided that 36 year old flex hoses are not wise and ordered in all four .

It turns out I've misplaced my 9MM bleeder wrench, necessary to bleed the brakes with the wheels on so I added one to the hose order .

The resivoir looked pretty clean but by the end of the test drive the fluid was black again so next time off it comes and I'll wash it out and clean with alcohol .

For now it's *slightly* better .

Was the Benz fluid sealed or from an open bottle?
I flush the system in the spring with new fluid, especially in the VW's as getting quality parts is a challenge, and keeping everything from getting crusty rusty is a battle. A buddy of mine says I go thru more brake fluid than he has ever seen, but seeing as how the Beetle has a single circuit system, I figure better safe than crushed into the back of some truck from poor brakes.
The black nasty is from the inside of the rubber lines rotting- I've cut old ones up and you can scrape deteriorated rubber slime out of them.

Brake Fluids Etc.
 

It's an open bottle I recently got .

I too normally flush, refill and bleed the brakes every two years or when the fluid turns black .

The slimy black stuff is indeed deteriorating flex hoses, why I decided to buy all four new ones I can barely afford .

I can afford a brake failure in traffic far less....

Update & ATE Caliper Question :
 

O.K., my Hail Mary failed ~ even though I'd stomped the begeebers out of the brake pedal on the junkyard car and the brakes all worked fine, after I installed the two used ATE calipers and bled the system out I only made it one block before one caliper blew and began to leak, spraying brake fluid out between the caliper halves so I had to go back in and clean up all the mess then re mount the passenger side Bendix caliper, bleed the system again and then it stopped fine .

Peach Parts apparently no longer bothers stocking W123 calipers so I'm looking else where and apparently there are two ATE front calipers, one has 45MM wide opening and the other has a 49MM wide opening....

like to drive this car imprudently quickly so my initial thought was to buy the 49MM ones but is there any reason to or not to ? .

TIA,

Not read of 44mm verses 49mm. Have read that the W126 (in the early 1980s) uses vented Rotors and that the vented Rotors and Calipers (have to be used together) fit a W123 . So my WAG would be the 49mm is actually for a W126 which uses the wider vented rotors. That concerns the front calipers.

Anyone wanting to sap in the vented rotor and calipers for that be sure to look up the threads about that as my memory is poor on that.

Thanx !
 

As that is what I was thinking too .

I looked at the interchange and it says the ATE calipers only fit W123's.....

I need to go look up what brake pads fit Bendix and ATE calipers, then I'll know what I have on there now as the old (new, maybe one month) Bendix pads fit the ATE calipers perfectly .
.

The early 126 discs run the same pads as the 123 even though the rotors are thicker in the 126. I imagine the 48 mm are for newer 126.

Thank you ! .

The Bendix and ATE have basically the same shape brake pads except one uses slightly thicker ones. Not sure which. So the slightly thinner pads will fit Bendix and ATE but the thicker ones do not fit both.