Brake Pedal Play

[James Cornell 10]

After some fairly major brake work (removed compensators, new disks, new pads, all new lines) I have left the car for a month or so and driving it today it does stop but it needs a fair bit of travel before it starts to bite.

 

Tonight I bled all of the brakes just to make sure and after this I noticed that there is a little bit of play in the pin that connects the pedal to the pushrod and the pedal bushes (not enough to cause concern) but more worryingly there is a 8mm or so of travel on the actual pushrod before it starts to depress the piston inside the mc.

 

My question is can the play between the pushrod and the piston in the mc be altered?

[Anthony 1,002]

If you remove the MC the rod inside the servo has some adjustment.... be careful not to over-do it though otherwise the brakes will bind when hot.

[James Cornell 10]

Thanks Anthony, and would I be right in assuming I only need to loosen the mc from the servo to achieve this?

 

I.e. I don't have to remove the lines and re-bleed the system

[welshpug 1,655]

There's usually enough movement to allow adjustment without removing yes.

 

push the pedal down and adjustment will be easier.

 

there is a certain tolerance listed in the haynes manual

[James Cornell 10]

Thanks welshpug I'll have a go at removing the mc from the servo tonight and see if I can do this adjustment with a brick on the pedal.

 

I will also get a calliper to check the tolerances after the work...wish me luck ????

[James Cornell 10]

So I have failed miserably...

 

I took the MC off this evening and exploded the rod, laid a slab on the brake pedal and made some room in the engine bay.

 

Now I may be doing this completely wrong but I tried (it is a bugger to get any purchase on) to get a pair of pliers on the toothed locking nut on the shaft and attempted to turn the 7mm nut with a spanner...

 

However it just span the pushrod and I was in danger of rounding off the locking nut/wheel as I was squeezing so hard. I didn't want to do any damage do I sacked it off for tonight.

 

Can anyone shed some light on this as I have some more jobs to do tomorrow and I would really like to take the slack out of the brakes of possible.

 

Thank you

Exposed the rod, not exploded ????

[James Cornell 10]

Managed to do it in the end but had to put some serious grip on the rod to alter the length.

 

I measured it with a flat ruler and a vernier and I now have it set to 22.4mm which I believe is correct. Still a tiny bit of movement before the brakes chime in but I don't want to adjust it any more incase it starts to bind.

 

Thanks all for your help!