I'm working on the front brakes for a 2009 Jeep Wrangler, the driver side specifically, and it appears the caliper mount bracket has been contacting the rotor for some time. After disassembling everything and checking it out, the cast mounting ears on the knuckle don't appear to be square to the rotor; that is to say the distance between the rotor and the two caliper bracket mount ears on the knuckle are approximately 1/8" different... I've never had this issue before, so I don't know if this is common or not, but has anyone ever run into this? Is it acceptable to run a shim of some sort to even out this distance and help keep the caliper bracket square to the rotor? I don't see any signs of obvious damage to tweaking of the knuckle mounting ears, so I'm chalking it up to manufacturing tolerances, but ????
-
Help Support Hardline Crawlers :
Brakes
- Thread starter tobyw
- Start date
TreeClimber
Well-Known Member
Wheel bearings still tight?
crash2
-Oh no I picked a side-
I am pretty sure the caliper tabs are supposed to be square to the rotor.....
I have found the answer to the issue...
First and foremost, I went back and looked closely at the entire knuckle assembly and found what appeared to be a plastic spacer between the knuckle and the unit bearing. I took it apart, and sure enough, there was a nylon shim in there - and it was TAPERED?!?! Some quick Google research turned up this:
https://www.amazon.com/Specialty-Products-26014-CAM-CAMBER/dp/B00N27PSRS
I've never seen or heard of such a thing, but that is exactly what was in there, and it was in wrong... The shim is clearly labeled so you can put it in correctly, if you pay attention to the label. Otherwise, you get what I had, and that is a rotor that isn't square to the caliper tabs! This must be some sort of factory fix for manufacturing tolerances, because I turned the shim around to properly orient it per the labels, and sure enough the stand off distances are now spot on equal!!
Now I just to get some caliper shims to equal up the spacing of the rotor inside the caliper bracket :awesomework:
First and foremost, I went back and looked closely at the entire knuckle assembly and found what appeared to be a plastic spacer between the knuckle and the unit bearing. I took it apart, and sure enough, there was a nylon shim in there - and it was TAPERED?!?! Some quick Google research turned up this:
https://www.amazon.com/Specialty-Products-26014-CAM-CAMBER/dp/B00N27PSRS
I've never seen or heard of such a thing, but that is exactly what was in there, and it was in wrong... The shim is clearly labeled so you can put it in correctly, if you pay attention to the label. Otherwise, you get what I had, and that is a rotor that isn't square to the caliper tabs! This must be some sort of factory fix for manufacturing tolerances, because I turned the shim around to properly orient it per the labels, and sure enough the stand off distances are now spot on equal!!
Now I just to get some caliper shims to equal up the spacing of the rotor inside the caliper bracket :awesomework:
Last edited:
crash2
-Oh no I picked a side-
Yup a shim. Sad part is your housing is kinda tweaked to need one.
At first, I was bumming thinking the same thing. But, after thinking about it some more, there is actually no relationship between a tweaked axle housing and the mounting of the rotors or calipers. It's all in the knuckles... If the housing is bent, so be it, but it has no bearing on the distances between the caliper mounting ears and the face of the unit bearing mount - that is all cast and machined into the knuckle itself. The axle housing could split in half, but the relationship of the rotor and caliper would not be affected (collateral damage aside :redneck
If I were to try and assemble this knuckle/unit bearing/brakes without that tapered shim, it wouldn't work, so I am still guessing this is a factory fix for crappy tolerances? As a side note, there is a similar shim on the passenger side, but I have't torn that one apart yet.
CHOP SHOP
Well-Known Member
The shim is not needed if the housing is straight.
The shim is to correct alignment issues (tires true to road surface)
The shim is put in to straighten up the tire contact surface at the expense of brake alignment.
#dana30problems
The shim is to correct alignment issues (tires true to road surface)
The shim is put in to straighten up the tire contact surface at the expense of brake alignment.
#dana30problems
zukkev
Cornfuzzled yet again...
^^^ Yep....This....
Or vvv This...
Depending which way you have your settings! :haha: :redneck:
Or vvv This...
Depending which way you have your settings! :haha: :redneck:
