Rear brakes, Ut Oh...

[robhaynes]

I took apart my rear brake calipers, ordered new brake seals and pads. Then, my shop manual came. I read this warning in the brake section: "CAUTION: Do not remove the parts labelled 2 through 9. The plunger is heavily spring loaded and will make it extremely difficult to reinstall the handbrake cam lever." Now I'm looking at the pile of parts that they label 2-9. They are correct, it is extremely difficult. What do I do now? Admit defeat and buy new calipers?

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1980 Fiat 2000

[azruss]

Some of the guys have figured out how to insert the wedge piece that pushes on the bellevue washers when the handbrake cam in activated. They use c-clamps and some other little tricks. I made myself a homemade tool out of 3/4" pipe. welded a washer on one end and ground a slot in the other. With a c-clamp you can compress the springs and slide the wedge thru the the slots into place. I've posted pictures of the tool in the past. May be able to find them with the search tool.

[robhaynes]

Found your post, just what I was hoping for. Thanks. Here is the post:

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... ke#p175977

[spider2081]

Here is another approach: http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/re ... lipers.htm
Instead of using the file as a block for the C clamp I place a short section on angle iron on the caliper so one flat is where the file is in the photos and the other is on the outside of the piston chamber. It makes it easier to align everything.
Also I ground the end of the C clamp to make a 3 sided square. This makes it easier to stay on the rod end where the wedge is.
The C clamp I use is a 3" clamp. It has to be all the way open to work. The end is smaller then the clamp in the photo making it easier to see and work around. I compress the springs before I pull the emergency brake bar out. This makes removing the emergency brake bar very easy once the circlip is removed.
Lastly if you have a bench vise place the caliper in the vise so the emergency brake bar is on the top. That way when you remove the emergency brake bar the wedge stays in place for easy removal after the bar is out of the way.

Hope this helps