Brake question

[garyjohn]

Doing new brakes on my car. I need to know how to put the dust cover on the adjusting wedge. any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Gary

 

[Synchro909]

If you're talking about the dished disc on the inside of the drum, it is just tapped in there with gentle blows of a hammer - a bit like a welch plug

 

[nkaminar]

The housing that the cover goes into has to be in good shape. It can be cleaned up with a disk grinder on a Dremel.

The modern covers don't quite fit and can be ground down slightly at the edge. Grind a little then try the fit then grind a little more if needed. I have heard reports that the modern covers are of a harder steel than the original ones.

A socket wrench can be used to pound the cover into the housing. Chose a socket just smaller than the diameter of the cover.

If all else fails they can be glued in with something like JB Weld. Or left out.

 

[larrys40]

I find it’s best to make sure the edges are round and insert the cover at a slight angle into the slot on one side . I use a small ballpien hammer and try to tap into place on the raised end also forcing the driven end downward. You can also use a blunt edge cold chisel slightly inside the outer circumference to tap into place. As said above the new covers need to be fit. Once in. tap the edges of the housing around to close .

 

[Russell Reay]

It has been noted that sometimes after inserting the dust cap the housing is staked to hold the cap in place. This makes it nearly impossible to insert another dust cap. This was the case on my car. I used a die grinder to remove the staked section--no more than 1/4" of circumference. I also found that new caps are a hair too big or too thick to fit well. I have used a narrow cold chisel as a drift to set them, but have also just re-used the old caps.