Does the Hijet require any special brake pads? Can an average garage do brake work on the Hijet? I suspect that my 1993 needs new pads, maybe more, but I want to know something about this before hauling the truck into town. No mechanic has looked at my truck since I got it in late February of this year. Thanks, Sam
Before you take it into town, you may want to puchase the brake pads from a dealer, or a site sponsor, they won't be readily available in town. What makes you suspect that there is a problem with the brakes?
Greg, The truck has over 50,000 miles on it and I have not had it checked. In the last few weeks, there has been an occasional high-pitched metallic sound coming from the left front as the truck moves. it seems to be brake-related because it seems to start after I have come down a hill and have been using the brakes quite a bit. Also, the emergency brake seems a little weak. I looked at the service manual I have and it states that the front and rear brakes are drum type, but this manual is for the prior model. Thanks, Sam
Sounds like your ready for brakes. I wasn't aware that the front were drum though. My guess is that they are disk. I tried to find some material online to help you with you diagnosis and I found this video. I don't know why but It made me laugh my a$$ off. http://www.ehow.com/video_1873_diagnose-brake-problem.html obviously this is a video for women. "If there's smoke comming from the brakes then you may have forgotten to release the parking brake" It a common problem. No?
It's funny that you should mention this. A couple of weeks ago I was visiting my sister and helped her get a new car, after listening to my advice she bought a 2008.5 Mazda 3. They gave her a loaner over night while they prepped her new car. The next morning we went out in it to do some shopping and after 15 mins of driving we were stopped a light and she said to me "that there is smoke coming from the back of the car" and as she said that I could smell something really bad. She pulled out of the intersection and I jumped out to look at the situation. What did I see? The back calipers were almost on fire they were that hot.:frustration: I climbed back in and casually asked if she had taken the Park brake off. I think so she replied but funny enough afterwards all was normal again. So obviously it wasn't off. Needless to say she got a lecture on that.
Not that its helping sammy any. Speaking of Mazda....I've got a Mazda 6 sport wagon and its the best veihicle I have ever owned.
Back on topic: Who ever you get to do your brake job, make sure they service the calipers. I just did the front pads on my Sambar and was pretty choked at the last person in Japan that had done a brake job not to long ago. They replaced the pads but did not pull the calipers to lube the slides, so every time the brakes were applied the outer pad would drag resulting in the outer pad getting completely worn out while the inner was like new. It sucks to only get half a brake job, funny how you only have to do it once if done right the first time.
Hey timetripper, I'm a "do-it-myselfer", and am planning on changing my brakes very soon. I haven't ever lubed the slides on a caliper, can you provide some insight? Do I have to disassemble the whole caliper? Do I need a caliper rebuild kit? Thanks!
Just one hint when lubing sliders,only lube ones that are inside boots,not exposed.Lubing(excessively)exposed slides will result in dirt and crap collecting on the caliper lube and multiplying any sticky caliper issue.If exposed,good and clean works best.
First off there is two parts to caliper rebuild: 1. Internal - where the piston is sticking or leaking past the O ring. Mine were ok in this regard. The caliper rebuild kits that I have seen from site sponsors address this issue. 2. External - On calipers where there is only piston(s) on one side of the caliper the caliper must "slide" in order to sqeeze the the other side of the rotor. This is what I corrected on mine as they were almost frozen solid. Blow by Blow of # 2: There is a s/s anti rattle clip on the top that needs to be removed first. It only goes in one way correctly - take a picture of it or leave the other side intact for reference. Remove the brake pads from the calipers. Note that the Sambar has a "keyed" pad. [See picture] Mine were installed with one "tip" up and one down. I question this how ever as I think that it might be both up or both down, I have not come across any info to which is correct but they will fit in any way. They must have put that "tip" in for a reason. You might have to gently pry the caliper slightly to get clearance to get the pads out. Now on to the interesting part - There are 2 bolts that hold the caliper on to the mount. These bolts will be quite tight in my experience - I had to use a extension to get them moving. Only break free one bolt - leave it in place and then do the other bolt, this way the caliper won't torque on you and bend the dust shield.:frustration: With both bolts removed your caliper should be free - hanging from the brake hose. Good time to check that hose by the way. You will see were the bolts went throught the caliper that there are seals on both sides, you are looking at the caliper slides - essentially tubes that the caliper rides back and forth on. Gently remove the seals - I did mine one at a time so I could refernece the other. I think that the inner seal is slightly different shape than outer but it could have just been that they were bent out of shape. Sometimes the seal is stuck like glue - go slow if you don't have replacment parts. I cleaned mine up with RBG [rubber brake grease], you need something that is compatable with the rubber. Now you need to remove the slides [tubes] if they are like mine it will be a challenge to do it with out damaging them. I used a combination of a drift and the bolt you removed to get them half way out. Then I kept working at it (twisting) until they came free. NO VICE GRIPS! Use something like 400 grit wet/ dry sand paper wetted with brake fluid to clean up and evalute. Mine were barely ok. Just starting to pit. Next challenge: Remove the two O-rings that the slide runs on, they are inside the bore that you removed the slide from. I used a O-ring "pick" that has a 90 degree bend - worked good. One ring was stuck in bore but I prevailed Now clean up the bore to remove the old lube/ gunk. If you look carefully you see there is a bigger groove between the two O-rings grooves - this is a "resovoir" for the lube. The cleaner it is the better. Also look to see if bore is ok? Pitting, etc? I used a bit of brake fluid on a rag pulled through a couple of times and used the O-ring pick to clean the grooves. Now with everything clean it's ready to go back together. I started by putting the O-rings back in the grooves. If they got streched slightly by removeal this is how you over come this - start them back in the groove then use the "slide" to coax them the rest of the way in. I lubed everything with RBG but there might be something better on the market. I generously lubed the bore - try to fill the "resovoir" with lube. Now you should be set to put the slide in it's bore, I found that it's easier to put the slide in it's bore before you install the outer seal. The hard part with installing the outer seals is that they don't want to sit proper on the caliper any more. Again I used RBG to make sure they eventually seated properly - if they don't sit proper then this is were all the road grime will get in and seize them up. Now you should have a caliper that is all set to be re-installed. I used a bit of never seize on the mounting bolts before I put them in. Not sure of the correct torque figure for the mounting bolts but I snugged up mine fairly tight. That's all there is to it.
Wowsers-are you a journalist? When is your self help video due for release One thing to add to trippers book-if you do not know what your doing with brakes DO NOT do it. Last time I was at NAPA,they told me a story of an irrate customer wanting his money back for the noisy brakes he just purchased and installed himself,because everyone thinks they are a mechanic.Any how,upon inspecton of the pads they noticed the imprint of the piston on the pad,THE friction side ,not backing side. Like my dad used to say-it is better to ask a question and look stupid than to not ask and prove your stupid
Great advice Subaru! What he said. That reminds me of the time I was at the tire shop [they do brakes as well] and they showed me a caliper that had a piece of indoor/ outdoor carpet jambed in it between the pad/ piston. Squeak stop maybe?
Wow, who needs a english translated service manual when you have this site! Excellent info Timetripper!!!
Not Japanese. Actually Canadian with English parents. My dad was a millwright [and aircraft mechanic in Britian at tale end of WWII] and I inherited his ability to monkey wrench on anything mechanical. Plus I'm self taught computer geek who spends too many late nights on Yahoo Japan looking for Sambar hi-perf parts. By day I'm a carpenter with a perfectionist way of doing things. There now you know.
