Does anybody know the ins and outs of replacing the front discs and pads on a pre 85 Mk2? The system with square brake pads I'm talking about. my haynes manual is from 1990 or so

I changed mine for ATE vwII calipers which are simpler and work with vented discs.

 

I do remember pulling out a wire clip and having to hit two pins out with a punch and a crucifix springy thing first

to be able to pull the worn postage stamp pads out.

and resetting the piston inwards with a piece of wood.

 

I never changed solid discs myself, but if you can lift the caliper off the strut and support it , it should be just 1 very rusty screw locating the disc on the hub for easier alignment  of the wheel bolts...

Try this?

 

https://www.ratwell.com/technical/BrakeJob.html#front-pads

Yeah your memory is 100% correct. Getting the pads out was the easy part. I can't get the new ones to click in properly, not enough space for the new brake disc. Probably due to corrosion on the caliper bracket. 
Time to do some sanding 😔

It's well worth at the very least changing the calipers for VW1's (same size disc but bigger pad area) or VW2's (same diameter, vented discs). 

 

 

Sanding what ... the slots for the pads?

Not the pads.

 

Did  the pistons push back in easily? 

17 hours ago, dvderlm said:

Sanding what ... the slots for the pads?

Not the pads.

 

Did  the pistons push back in easily? 

I meant sanding the slots. Didn't really work. No the piston does not push back that easily. I tried using big pliers. How did you make use of the wood?

Make sure you've got the brake reservoir cap off if you're trying to push the pads back. You can use a windback tool (cheap enough), but they don't actually need winding, so I just use a G-clamp and one of the old pads to spread the load.

I eventually found even bigger pliers and it worked. Seems like it's freewheeling on both sides now (maybe ever so sligth contact). But on the left side the outside pad is a bit skewed. At least, it seems to rub every rotation at a certain point and then is free again. The disc is new, so it can't be warped

Hub surface clean?

 

Definitely pad and disc and not the dust-shield metal?

Hope you guys can help

I am getting my sons breadvan back on the rd mk2  86c with square pads

The fronts were pretty solid and rusty , I have  finally removed the calipers from the discs , the crucifix metal bit snapped , so have ordered new discs,pads and fitting kit which arrived today.

Very difficult getting the pads out , eventually had to take caliper off and bash them out with a drift, they seem to have rusted in!

Anyway the new pads slip in easily enough ,but despite the caliper piston pushed as far as possible back in(moves freely), there is no way enough space for the disc to fit in the space between the pads

The caliper seems to be in 2 parts, do they move apart at all?

Thanks for any help

Andrew

 

^ id suggest upgrading to the later caliper style , the square pads are not enough to stop the car in modern traffic , arguably the later ones arent either but its better and easily avail 

Thanks

I was hoping to use the originals but if I cant get them to function , replacing is the only way forward I guess

re later calipers -are they a straight swap spacings wise? 

presume they will fit with the new discs ?

Andrew

How thick are the new discs?

 

I think old square pad discs were 10mm think (not totally sure of this) but VWII calipers take 12mm solid discs or 20mm vented discs with different pad thicknesses.

 

Using VWII calipers on pre 1985 ish cars will need front caliper carriers that bolt to the strut to match.

Almost any mk2 Golf Jetta  will have them.

 

 

I've got a good set of early calipers somewhere if you need them, but like @steveo3002 says, there's no reason not to fit at least the later VW1 floating calipers. The older Girlings can get some pretty terrifying heat fade. 

yes the discs are 10mm.

the calipers do now move apart after some gt lubricant and a few light taps with a copper hammer.

However its still not enough to get the pads in 

here is a pic of the car its a brown/purple colour and is sun faded and has a really nice patina-file too large will have to work out how to do this

Yeti thats a really kind offer and would like to take you up on it if its still available

I am not a fast driver (not in this car anyway)and old school in that I tend to use gearing to slow down, and read the road of course!

I will PM you

thanks

Andrew