Jay Axson

I just changed over from the stock 12" to some J55 13" brakes.

Strange thing though, on the passanger side, if I tighten the banjo bolt snug to my liking, no brake fluid flows through the caliper to the bleeder. If I back it off a 1/4 turn I can bleed them.

Backing it off made me a little concerned that it might eventually leak or suck in air. Also that caliper doesn't seem to bite nearly as hard as the driver's side.

I wonder if I am still restricting oil flow? But I really don't want to back it off any further.

Maybe I need to get some new washers to back the bolt up a bit?

Anyone see this before or have a thoughts?

Thanks
Jay

Pete K

Replace the copper washers. They are not normally reusable.

94z07fx3

Did your upgrade include new flex hoses, from the hard line to the caliper?

FWIW I think the J55s are a different length.

pcolt94

I did the J55 changeover also. But prior to the replacement, I had already changed my flex lines to the steel braded. I did not incur any of your problems. I did replace the washers thought. I think the length is very similar to the 12 “ system.

c4cruiser

The banjo bolt should be tightened to 30 ft-lbs. It does take some pumping to get fluid to pass thru the new hoses and fill the caliper piston bore.

The flex line from the 12" system should work with no problems. The only possible thing would be the fitting size or shape on the line that attaches to the caliper.

Are you pumping the brake pedal or using a pressure bleeder?

Are the calipers new or remans or used? If it looks like one caliper is dragging (not releasing so the rotor turns freely) then you may have something in the caliper that is blocking the flow of fluid. Could be that one of the two pistons are sticking. Did you put grease on the ends of the pad backing plates where they sit ion the bracket? Did you install the correct retaining pins for the J55 calipers?

Jay Axson

We were using the old pump and hold method to bleed. We bled them pretty good as we wanted to flush new fluid all the way thru.

These are rebuilt J55's I bought from a forum member years ago and finally picked up the brackets for. The hoses were not replaced.

At one point I actually had the bleeder removed and no fluid came thru. I backed off a 1/4 turn and it started to flow. I am thinking it is still partially restricted and I need new crush washers so the hole in the banjo bolt can clear the channel. Either that or I managed to get some air in there.

The caliper is definately not sticking, just if I lock the brakes up I will get a chirp out of the other wheel before the ABS kicks indicating the bias is off between the two sides.

Now the pins were another matter. I didn't realize the stock pins were too short. I didn't have the correct part so I had to use a temp solution of threading the old pin and putting a lock washer and nut on the end. I suppose this tightening could cause problems too.

The car isn't being driven at the moment as it is being prepped for paint. So I have time to chase down the pins and washers to see if that corrects the problem. Otherwise we might have a bad rebuild.

Jay