Are these A2 brakes on a Rabbit?

Any ideas? I just need some help identifying what I'm looking at?

-Bryan

I would guess that stands for remanufactured => used => not the originals. But I don't know.

I have that Bentley, but did not crack it open now. And your impatience is not likely to change that.

These two are good manuals but I suggest you look for a Bentley as well- used ones can be found online and in local used bookstores. And of course local friends who work for pizza & beer are a great help.

Well, that sounds like a REMANUFACTURED caliper and therefore somebody may have done some brake work on this car in the past. (It's an 84, it's likely.)

Also, the spreader spring may just not be there anymore. Shadetree mechanics leave stuff out all the time. FLAPS often sell you brake parts or 'kit's without necessary items.

How much disassembly do you want to do? During most front pad jobs I remove a single caliper bolt, swing the caliper up out of the way (pivoting on the remaining bolt) and yank the old pads out.

I usually expect to push the piston back in to account for new pad thickness, often this is accomplished by opening the bleeder screw, sometimes I'm lazy and push the old fluid back up into the reservoir. (This is not a good idea though when the fluid is old and dark with contamination.)

I like pictures, in fact I have an A1 and A2 Rabbit/Golf combo in the backyard as I type BUT home is a few blocks around the corner from Internet access.

If I get a chance to put the ol mark 1 eyeball on things I'll post back with specific replies to the pix.

TBerk

Sorry, that was a typo on my part. I know that they aren't the brakes that came with the rabbit. But I'm trying to determine if they are identical to what would have come on an '84 Rabbit.

My apologies for sounding impatient. Its just that I currently have a rabbit that is up on jacks and not drivable, and I can't figure out what I'm looking at -- and am therefore not successfully getting it fixed.

-Bryan

I agree. That is becoming increasingly high on my agenda.

Agreed. I mistyped my original post, and the typo was a very important typo. :-)

So, if I assume that the calipers are Kelsey Hayes calipers, and the springs are simply missing, is it generally OK to put it back together without such spring. In other words, is the spring really not necessary?

Only as much as is needed. According to the Muir manual, I need to remove the caliper and the brake disc in order to remove the front wheel bearings -- which is what my main goal is.

That would be wonderful.

Thanks! Bryan

Well, they are necessary in the way that they were provided for in the original design. I would source some from the local parts place, often you can get the cheapies as part of a small kit that includes some caliper grease and some stick brake pad 'pads' (or some glue type goo) to avoid the brake squeal we all have heard before.

You can live with out them but I believe they have a certain function to perform.

Well, I'd be pulling the long two hex head (or Allen, or twelvepoint) bolts that hold the caliper to the mount/hub and then remove the set screw that holds the brake disk from turning when the lug nuts aren't in place.

TBerk more if I can, else await a post on Monday.

I think that the brakes are basically the same. You are undertaking a big job for a newbie without a book or instructions. Do you have a press to remove and install the front wheel bearing? Or are you taking it to a machine shop so that they can do it for you?

Loosen center nut Constant Velocity Joint (CVJ) Loosen Wheel Lug Bolts Lift and properly support car Wheel off Caliper off and support to the strut spring with a hanger Brake rotor off Tie Rod End off Mark position of Wheel Bearing Housing (WBH) to Strut Housing Take out Strut Housing bolts and remove from WBH Remove CVJ from Wheel Bearing Housing Remove Ball Joint (BJ) Bolt and Nut, drive large chisel through gap near Ball Joint to remove WBH from BJ.

Now this gets the WBH out. Is this all you wanted to do?

Yes it looks like you are missing the anti-rattle clips/sliders on your front brakes.

later, dave (One out of many daves)

Yep those look just like the ones on my '91 GTI too. AFAIK all A2s with front discs used the same 9.4" rotors (except 2.0 16V Jetta GLIs got 10.1s) and all A1s that I know of also had 9.4s in front, so the caliper being the same sounds plausible to me.

There aren't any springs on my '91 GTI's front calipers. There are clips (as someone said...anti-rattle) but they're not present in your pics. Otherwise, you should find two allen bolts on the back side of the caliper inside those black plasticky "tubes" (for lack of a better word). I think they're 6mm allen. Just take those out and the caliper will come off.

RE: USA equipped A2s and A1s............... Don't forget that there were vented and non-vented rotors used on both the A2 and A1 platforms. ;-)

1992 Cabriolets had the vented brake rotors and possibly the 1988s had them too IIRC. Brake pads either had a notch in them (early style) to accept a spring wire type of anti-rattle part OR there was a flat anti-rattle slide/clip.

Calipers should be basically the same though.

later, dave (One out of many daves)

Thanks Eric. I'll plan to order some of the springs.

-Bryan

Hi Dave, Thanks for the post. I finished up the wheel bearing job late last night. I didn't bother with dealing with individual bearings. I purchased an entire wheel bearing housing (with new bearings already installed) from Parts Place Inc. in Michigan and just swapped out the entire housing.

Cheers, Bryan

Worked great. Dissassembled and reassembled reversing steps. The allens bolts were 7mm.

Thanks, Bryan

Hmmm, I'll have to research that a little more to figure out exactly what I need for mine.

Thanks, Bryan

Use can use the A2 brake pads and clips on your A1 AFAIK

Wise to exchange those wheel bearing housings. ;-) congrats to you later, dave (One out of many daves)