Please help - rear brake caliper rebuild

[eljay]

OK, I'm pretty much ready to throw in the towel... but I've come so so far that it would make this grown man cry. So, please help me if you can.

I have re-inserted the ebrake assembly into the caliper and I am trying to insert the circlip that is holding it down there. The problem I'm having is that the ebrake assembly needs to go down probably another 1mm in order to expose the groove for the circlip to engage. I cannot get that extra clearance space no matter what I've tried (pushing it down, clamping it into a vice etc.). I can get the circlip just on top of the ebrake assembly, but no far enough to clip it into the groove. 3 hours of trying. I'm losing motivation.

The calipers have been cleaned, sandblasted, powdercoated, now I just need that stupid circlip seated there and I'm ready to insert the piston and install them. If I can't, I guess I'd have to buy new ones.

Does anyone who has done this, have any tricks? Am I doing something wrong?

[rongeur]

Take some pics of the clearence issue and part, maybe it will jog my memory, don't give up! if it came out, it has to go back in!

[eljay]

Take some pics of the clearence issue and part, maybe it will jog my memory, don't give up! if it came out, it has to go back in!

Thanks for the encouragement!
Yes, that's what I kept telling myself that it has to go in if it was there before.
I thought that perhaps some debris fell in during re-install and prevented it from being seated at the bottom flush. So, I decide to try the other caliper makong sure everything looked clean etc. I put light coating of Castrol Red Rubber Grease on all surfaces.
But it is the same story with this one too. :(

So, I'm at a loss for what to try next. I will post some pics once I manage to insert the circlip into the top part of the opening. It manages to hang in there, but it won't go down to snap into the groove and as a result there's a slight wobble of the ebrake mechanism.
I just don't see how I can get thw extra clearance as I pushed it down hard and nothing.

[eljay]

Spent another 2 hours trying it today without success... I'm ready to kick a hole in a wall here.

Here are the pics.
My original attempt to be clever with a string (which didn't work) just to show you the ebrake mechanism and the circlip on top of it:


Here's the groove where it needs to go:


And here's how it fits there without the brake mechanism in place:


Now, perhaps I need to get those right angle master cylinder snap ring pliers although as you can see I can insert my current pliers down far enough to engage the circlip. Of course, rather that this being a project I can work on, I now have the added stress of need the car next week for a trip and the current rear caliper is leaking, so I desperately need to put these together. I will call a local bike shop to see if they have experience with master cylinder rebuilds and perhaps they can do this for me.

[rongeur]

Oh yes, I remember that hell. I had some long reach pliers that worked well enough to get the clip started and then used a small flathead to hold the progress as I walked it down into the groove. I had to mess with it quite abit and trial and error until it seated

[Axis]

I dont mind rebuilding front calipers, rear calipers I pay for.

You guys are beasts, my patience is all invested in my calve muncher that has too much of my genes.

[eljay]

I have always considered myself a patient man, but wow...this thing would convert a quiet Budhist monk into a raging beast....

That said.... wait for it....
Success!!!!!!!!!

Ronguer, sir, thank you!!! This is exactly why I posted here and it is your tip that made sense and made it happen.
I first inserted it into the top of that bottom collar and then lightly tapped it down until it engaged!

Let's see what other difficulties await as now I need to replace the seals and get started on removing the old calipers from my B6 and I hear that the rear carrier bolts are lots of fun...especially on a 10-year old car with 170k miles on it.
Chapert 1 done.
Stay tuned.

[rongeur]

Breaker bar or air impact wrench

Glad you had success, i do remember fiddling with that ring for a couple hours until success as well, then second one was a snap!

[Axis]

If I may, if they havent been touched in a while, put the penetrating oil of your choice on those bolt heads before attempting to remove them.

They're easy to strip and using an extractor there is a pita.

[eljay]

Thanks guys. I will put the car on jackstands and spray some Deep Creep on all the bolts and let them soak overnight. Meanwhile, I'm reassembling all the calipers, carriers, sliders etc.

[eljay]

Sooo, several hours of soaking with Deep Creep plus one hour trying to get thise 8mm carrier bolts off =


Sounds like I'm hitting another problematic issue. I don't want to strip the 8mm bolt, but if I'm snapping adapters surely there's enough torque being applied.

Reading all the posts about heating, stripping, helicoling them out...wow.
It's so hard to put any kind of meaty wrench back there.

[Guig'z]

Honestly, invest in a good 8mm 1/2 allen ( like snap on) with a breaker bar.
Or get a good 3/8 to 1/2 adapter.

Dont forget to move your shock out of the way. The key it to force straight, if not adapter will break or bolt will strip.

Also, i would remove the disc ( you can remove it without removing the carrier), and apply some heat on the bolt.

[eljay]

Honestly, invest in a good 8mm 1/2 allen ( like snap on) with a breaker bar.
Or get a good 3/8 to 1/2 adapter.

Dont forget to move your shock out of the way. The key it to force straight, if not adapter will break or bolt will strip.

Also, i would remove the disc ( you can remove it without removing the carrier), and apply some heat on the bolt.

Thank you.
Yes, I will look for a good 8mm allen with 1/2" drive. Where can I find that Snap-On version with a breaker bar? Do you have a link?
I got a stubby allen key, so I don't have to move the shock out of the way. And I was trying to wiggle the rotor out of the carrier to get me more room
I broke that adapter when I was hammering with a rubber mallet on the breaker bar attached to that adapter.

Fun times.