Hi Folks is there a way to remove the rear calipers and brake rotors without dropping the Rear suspension ? This is on my 1986 XJ6
It is possible Demian, but the consensus is that it’s a PITA…
There is a current similar thread in the XJS section of the forum.
Best
Aristides
It is possible and that is the way I do it BUT you need a car lift to get the car high enough to allow the lower control arms to swing down VERTICAL!!!
The rotors will not clear otherwise.
bob
that is how our local Jag mechanic does them
I was under the impression that they can be removed by rolling over to the back of the cage?
AS I once contemplated doing them on my car, I did a research project. Calipers, either of three ways Rotors more complex.
I ended farming mine out to a pro with a lift.
A caliper job only/ OK, but, he “screwed” up the
hand brake…
Carl
Robin.
The OP wants to replace the rotors/discs ALSO.
bob
Its much easier to drop the rear end.
Prop shaft
Four bolts to disconnect
Hand brake cable
Fluid hose
Make sure you have a jack and jack stands
Walter
Walter it is much easier to do what W_Schuster said… it only takes 40 mins to drop cage. but my recommendation is to spray penetrant on exhaust connections the day before this makes it easier to take them apart. or some heat…a plus you can clean-up hand break assembly there is grease inside of the units that in mine was all dried up and cruddy. and also you can inspect the u-joints and do a full service on the rear. Don’t forget to change rubber break line leading to the cage.
I’ve done it both ways, and trust me it is a whole lot easier to drop the IRS cage and will take less time. It took me 8 hours just to get one rotor and caliper off. All of the bolts are fine thread, and with the seriously limited space you’ll be loosening bolts until your arms fall off, or succumb to tyrannical levels of frustration.
The only reason why I chose to perform the brake removal in place is the PO had the exhaust piping welded at both ends. After the 8 hours of torture, I cut the exhaust, dropped the IRS cage, replaced the brakes, and diff seals, and IRS mounts, bolted it back into place, and replaced the welded bits with the proper flanged exhaust pipes, took the car to the local exhaust making place, and was still ahead of the game with respect to time.
Plus, while the rotors and calipers are off it’s a great opportunity to replace the differential seals, which more than likely are leaking if the rear brakes are ready to be replaced.
Word to the first timers,
Have a camera and take a lot of pictures, or video yourself taking the IRS apart because there’s a bunch of little parts, needle bearings, washers (spacers), that have to go back EXACTLY and in the same order of where they came from.
If replacing the yoke seal in the front of the differential, then mark the nut, yoke, and hosing with a center punch or chisel to ensure the proper torque is placed on the crush washer. The center nut on the yoke also sets the preload on the pinion gears.
Also, I would have never been successful if it wasn’t for the help and support of the people in this forum. A sincere thank you to all.
Mark
Thanks everyone for all your Knowledge (Love) I will just spray all nuts and bolts and remove the rear suspension and do the job that way------The Dieman Thanks you all
There seems to be a lot of differing opinions on replacing rear
calipers. As a line mechanic of 30 years, we only charged 1 hour
per caliper. It usually did not take an hour. Just remove the
handbrake cable, unscrew the two handbrake bolts ( you will have to
pry back the lockplates) and push the handbrakes up on top of the
rotor. Unscrew the brake line, bend it slightly out of the way and
plug it with a rubber plug. Using a long 5/8 wrench open ind from
the bottom, loosen the lower bolt. Using the box end, loosen the
top. From here a set of short wrenches come in handy to loosen the
bolts. If you are lucky the top one is loose enough to turn with
your fingers. Once unscrewed, they will not come out of the caliper
but the whole caliper is lifted out. Replacement is reverse except
a long screwdriver to hold the bolts in place until started helps.
Make sure the handbrake screws are through the handbrake. Removing
them and putting a small taper on them helps. If the rotors need
changing, do this while the calipers are out. Remove one shock to
gain access to the 4 axle bolts. Remove the lower trunion grease
fitting and the trailing arm front mount. Lower the arm down,
axle,trailing arm and hub as a unit. Then the disc can be taken
out. Pay attention to the shims and put them back where they were
unless you need to adjust camber. The holes mentioned on the rotors
are for access to the caliper bolts on the ‘‘Dana’’ diffs which were
put in the XJS for part of the 1985 model year. They redundant on
the Salisbury diffs. Note that the bottom plate does not have to be
removed. It will be dented slightly when the lower arm is swung
down but can be easily be tapped back into place. I have found on
working on cars that if you remove a bolt, you will need to put it
back so I try to keep it to a mininum.–
2 Likes
that is an excellent explanation of what our local 30+yrs Jag mechanic does, he was an apprentice to his father who was a Jag-trained mechanic for over 50yrs.
He said the same as Dick,it is quicker to do it that way (but he does have a hoist)
separating the exhaust can be difficult, I welded exhaust flanges on one XJ, but of course you dont need to take it apart again for 25yrs
edit…when you have done something MANY times, you can take every time-saving shortcut, but when you are doing that same job for the first or second time, the "shortcuts: might actually take longer than the FSM procedure, I have done hundreds of jobs where following the FSM is a nightmare, shortcut fix in an hour or two, love them, engine mounts on 2 different makes