FG Sportline 4WD Brake Caliper\Pad Issues

[pfrederi]

Back at it again. Fixed one problem now something else keeps popping up. Now its the brake caliper on the rear. Somehow the freekin brake pads\bolts keeps braking off (pun intended). This happens aevwerytime i go out or every other time. Not sure whats causing this but its a pain in the ass. I managed to walk the grounds of the place where i run and i found at least 5 pieces of brake pads and couple bolts thats to tell you how many of these things ive been thru. And theyre not cheap. Somehow the bolts keep snapping off rendering the caliper unusable. i then have to purchase another caliper set and brake shoes and repeat.

Ive attached some pics below. The bolts that come with the set are precoated with loctite but im not sure why they break off during driving. Please see pics below. As you can see in one of the pics below i tried drilling out the bolts but its not working. Its just creating a bigger hole and the threads are gone. I need to find a way to drill out that tiny bolt without damageing the threads. OR if i can drill it out somehow and then ill have to use a bigger bolt and tap and create new threads. SMH. I dnt know at this point.

Anyone have any idea whats causing this and what i can do to salvage the calipers i have with the bolts broken off in them?? Better yet what i can do to stop it from happening in the first place?




Thanks

 

[DougStar]

So it's the bolts that holds the pad to the caliper?

 

[pfrederi]

So it's the bolts that holds the pad to the caliper?

Yep. they keep snapping off and im not sure why.

 

[cbaker65]

When you first installed it new ,an you had some killer stopping braking power ,then it could have snapped off ,that
being said ,then you must have a damn good powerful servo ,or you have the brake linkage adjusted too tight!

It seems that something has to give at full WOT to a complete stop!....

 

[pfrederi]

When you first installed it new ,an you had some killer stopping braking power ,then it could have snapped off ,that
being said ,then you must have a damn good powerful servo ,or you have the brake linkage adjusted too tight!

It seems that something has to give at full WOT to a complete stop!....

Yeah ur right cbaker65.
Something has to give. Im not sure, but i think i noticed it started happening around when I went up in engine size with more speed and more power comes more issues i guess; Hence more more VIBRATIONS and more HEAT, more everything really. If you notice in the pic i attached below the pads seem to be vibrating more heavily and making the holes bigger under stress and heat (notice the discoloration). Upon further investigation looks like the disc rotor could actually be cutting right thru the bolts but im not sure. See where the disc marks on the inner pad are very close to the bolt holes. im thinking the disc might be cutting the bolts??

Maybe not, if thats the case other people would have been mentioning it right?? Any help and inputs are welcome. With the added speed and power maybe this part is not hilding up but i see people thats upgraded to bigger engines and have not complained about this part breaking so im not sure.

I cant use the aluminum plate clutch carrier so i switched back to the plastic clutch carrier to see if that would remedy the problem being that the plastic would give a lil bit. But same problem happened. see pics below. Added to that notice that the brake disc melted the plastic thats the only reason it did not fall off but the other disc did fall off.

I guess ill try what you said in the meantime and loosen up the brake linkage

Any help is appreciated. I cant run at full speed with no brakes. Right now i only have front brakes but thats not ideal if i want to go WOT.

 

[Seandonato73]

Man they are getting fricken hot! It doesn't take much heat to loosen blue loctite. As I'm not specifically familiar with this set up, I will suggest some basics. Make sure your epa isn't letting too much pressure get put to the brakes. You want it to stop but not put unneeded pressure on the caliper. I would also make sure the pads arnt hanging up against the rotor. That would cause more heat to build up. It looks like one side if your straps are getting hotter then the other. That would indicate, to me, they are not releasing right. With a wee small drill bit you could salvage those calipers that the bolts snapped off of. Would take time and patience. And a really little torx bit jammed in to get the snapped off piece out. Best of luck mate.

 

[cbaker65]

I remember on one of my 1/8 scale rigs ,I had cut some silicone fuel tubing an put between the plates on the screws ,it allowed
it to brake ,but kept them the disc from rubbing all the time!

That maybe a constant rub ,an not a braking issue!

 

[Seandonato73]

Spring from a pen work too

 

[DougStar]

I'm going with Sean on this one....hot the breaks under too much tension.....slight pressure and constant rubbing. What disc have you got ? The epoxy or steel?

 

[Striikar]

I'm going to throw this out there. Are you sure you have the right brakes?. I discovered on a car I bought there are different brakes made for fg vehicles.
They look similar but they are different.
If you replaced parts did you get the right brakes for your particular 4wd vehicle.
There is also the tuning versions,they are different then stock also. It drove me up a wall trying to figure it out.
Luckily I guessed right in replacing mine.
Next car I bought came with hydraulic brakes. Go to ddm and look at the fg brake sets and you'll see what I mean.
Good luck.

 

[pfrederi]

I'm going with Sean on this one....hot the breaks under too much tension.....slight pressure and constant rubbing. What disc have you got ? The epoxy or steel?

Hey Thx dougstar
Im using the epoxy brake disc. Ive always thought this brake setup was a lil weird because the brake disc will always somehow rub against the clutch bell the way its setup. WEIRD

 

[DougStar]

I have the epoxy disc and alloy caliper ect had no issues?‍

 

[pfrederi]

Man they are getting fricken hot! It doesn't take much heat to loosen blue loctite. As I'm not specifically familiar with this set up, I will suggest some basics. Make sure your epa isn't letting too much pressure get put to the brakes. You want it to stop but not put unneeded pressure on the caliper. I would also make sure the pads arnt hanging up against the rotor. That would cause more heat to build up. It looks like one side if your straps are getting hotter then the other. That would indicate, to me, they are not releasing right. With a wee small drill bit you could salvage those calipers that the bolts snapped off of. Would take time and patience. And a really little torx bit jammed in to get the snapped off piece out. Best of luck mate.

Hey Thx Seandonato73
You make some good points. Yeah this brake setup is VERY WEIRD!!! the way its setup something will always be rubbing. I think the brake pads and discs are designed to be free floating but that leaves them to rub constantly on one thing or the other whether its the clutch bell and\or the brake pads even when not braking. When not under pressure the brake discs and pads just float freely but they will rub. Even if i add a spring or something in there to stop the disc from rubbing on the pads then that will push it to rub on the clutch bell. SMH

Ive attached a pic of my previous clutch bell before the shaft snapped off. If you notice the shiny area thats where the brake disc was rubbing against it. its just the way the brakes are designed on this vehicle.

I'm going to throw this out there. Are you sure you have the right brakes?. I discovered on a car I bought there are different brakes made for fg vehicles.
They look similar but they are different.
If you replaced parts did you get the right brakes for your particular 4wd vehicle.
There is also the tuning versions,they are different then stock also. It drove me up a wall trying to figure it out.
Luckily I guessed right in replacing mine.
Next car I bought came with hydraulic brakes. Go to ddm and look at the fg brake sets and you'll see what I mean.
Good luck.

Good point Striikar
Im noticing that as well that there are some differences depending on brake setup. But yeah i believe im using the right pads except for... What i did notice thoiugh on my last attempt to retry this thing with the stock setup hard plastic clutch carrier was that i used the wrong brake pad setup and thats why it melted. The stock setup (which is a hard plastic clutch carrier) has a spacer that also acts a heat shield to keep the metal pads from coming in contact with the plastic and melting it. At least thats what im guessing. This is not used when using a all metal clutch carrier. i forgot to use that heat shield spacer. Instead i used the thck metal pad which was in direct contact with the hard plastic and melted it. I had to chisel that loose LOL. Ive now went ahead and set it back up as stock (with the spacer\heat shield). WISH ME LUCK!!!! See pics below.

 

[pfrederi]

So i just came back from running the car after installing the stock setup the way its supposed to be with the spacer (see pic below). I also applied the suggestions you guys recommeded of setting the EPA and making sure the brake linkjage was not too tight. Initially I had the brake linkage set pretty snug but not tight. I figured once the car started to move that would loosen up anyway and have more play and i didnt want it to be too loose. Well i must say i was expecting the brakes to fall apart again but it held up this time. I would run and stop on each pass and check to make sure the brakes did not fall apart. It seems to be working so far. Ill keep my fingers crossed and see if after my next few outings if it holds up then ill know it should be good to go but for now it seems to be working.




Only drawback is now it doesn't stop as quickly. Whetre i run the car is a nice strectch but not that long. As soon asi get up to speed i have to get on the brakes even much sooner now that the brakes takes a lil longer to come to a full stop. Maybe it was too much stress on the parts before because I would be at WOT and then hit the brakes at the last minute to stop in a short distance because of the length of the path i was driving. So it had to stop in a short space of time from top speed which it was stopping nicely BUT at the cost of the brakes falling apart.

We'll see. Ill continue to play around with the settings and try to find a happy medium where its stopping fairly quickly without sacrificing the brakes falling apart.

 

[Seandonato73]

Let us know mate.

 

[pfrederi]

Well looks like that might have been the issue. Its held up so far. Thansk a lot guys!!!

Now my clutch spring broke LOL!!!