91 Colony Park Brake System Overhaul

[TecNickal]

So my 91 Colony Park braking system is in need of an overhaul. The pulsating steering wheel and brake pedal from uneven pad deposits on the rotors up front is getting aggravating. The Very touchy brakes when you first hit the pedal when driving the car, causing the rears to lock up is also getting annoying. ANd after a few stops having brakes get sticky and lock up is getting annoying.

I am not doing any kind of big brake swaps or anything. While it'd be cool, just will stick with what I have, as the ball joints are good, and so are the control arms/bushings.

I know I am going to get at minimum…

Front brakes:
Rubber lines (2x)
Calipers (Civi or Police) (2x)
Pads (Semi metallic, not ceramic) (for both front)
Resurface rotors or new rotors, plus repack bearings and a new wheel seal.

Rear brakes:
Wheel cylinders
Pads
Hardware kit.
Spraybomb the drums.
Fix parking brake, it doesn't disengage.

I've read through a few threads. Doesn't look like there's a whole lot of benefit to upgrading to the Police calipers. Is this true? Just the piston is made of metal, and is larger than the plastic piston. If my rotors are too far gone, thinking to go with Centric rotors. If I go with Police calipers, thinking to use Motorcraft pads (RockAuto has them). Also need to figure out why the parking brake ain't working properly.

Any tips/suggestions would be appreciated - I've never worked with this setup on the front brakes before. Always worked on cars with the wheel bearing/hub as an assembly like on the 92+ cars. This setup with inner/outer bearings/races, wheel seal and hub is new to me.

[Piece-it pete]

The front bearings are no big deal really, I'm sure there's youtube vids on how to repack the bearings if you don't know. You might want to get new ones, your call. Be sure you don't overtighten them!

I'd consider changing the rear bearings too. Have you traced the parking brake problem? It might be where a cable goes through a frame or other hole.

Pete

[TecNickal]

Oh ya, was going to let youtube aid me considering it's the same design used across cars for many years.

Considering the low cost of bearings, will just get new ones. And I'll do the rears at the same time, agreed. Parking brake issue will be hopefully addressed soon - need to have a friend hit the pedal while I watch underneath.

I need to get some heavier duty stands soon. These 2 ton stands are not very substantial looking for a 4,000lb+ car!

[jaywish]

Not sure which 2 ton stands you have but a good 2 ton is more than fine for our cars. In theory you could stand the car on end balanced on one stand and it would be within the load range. I am not sure exactly but I am guessing one side on the front might be somewhere around 0.7 tons or so.

Still a good American made stand does make me feel better.

[gadget73]

The PI calipers don't even have larger pistons. The hole in the center of the piston is bigger, requiring different brake pads, but the actual piston outer diameter is the same. The inner hole is different because of the steel vs phenolic. I'd pick up whichever is in stock, and get brake pads to match.

integral hub rotors are easy, just messy to re-pack. Get new cotter pins while you're in there, and if the dust caps are smashed up, consider replacing them too.


The rear bearings are not that easy to install. You have to take the diff cover off, remove the retainer bolt, pull the cross-pin out, remove the C clips from the axle shafts, an then remove the axles themselves. The bearings come out using a slide hammer (or a long hunk of pipe if you pull the carrier out entirely) and you really ought to use a bearing driver to install new ones. There are seals involved too, but those are easy. The rear bearings go bad when the rear axles go bad, so if you need bearings, you probably need axles too. Its worth inspecting, since the axles fail and break, but its definitely not as simple as the front bearings are to do.


2 ton stands will do it, but they tend to be short. The 3 ton stands are taller, wider, and overall more useful. Way overkill of course, but you can get the car up enough to do useful work, and they won't be all the way up.

[TecNickal]

I completely forgot about the rear end bearings. Figured I'd toss them onto the wagon when I throw a Posi back there!

Thanks for the info on the fronts. Autozone is 5 miles away so I should be able to get what I need fairly easily. And no rush on it anyways.

I will probably just grab civilian edition. And stick to semi metallic pads instead of ceramic. Ceramic will eat away at the rotor more.

[jaywish]

just my $0.02. I like the centric extended wear pads. They have an almost flat performance curve from cold to hot braking.

The semi metallic will bite harder cold which is where most people do most of their braking. they will have more fading after repeated hot stops.

[TecNickal]

rebuilt my rear brakes. Shoes were overheated and cracked. Drums were fine. Parking brake cable that goes from interior to under car was frozen/rusted up. Replaced all the cables underneath. Now my rear brakes stop properly and well. Bled them too. Unf now the 'brake' light is illuminated on the dash. Plenty of fluid in reservoir, more research needed. Used Motorcraft rear pads, and all new hardware.

Doing fronts soon.