My ever-after Ute

[vmx-mxr]

[quote="Tasek"]Made a start of the Front end- now I have it out and a chance for a better look the rotors don't look that bad- oh well never have enough spares so the old ones can go into my ever growing store of useable spares.


Have been belting a bolts with the impact driver, didn't realise how much these hold on. Good old UNF.




If you can get hold of a rattle gun for getting the nuts off after spraying on plenty of INOX the night before. Just done a tear down of a rooted HD and the rattle gun is the only way if you want to keep your sanity and your skin !

[Tasek]

Update front end: painted and all the rubber bits replaced ready for the new bearings, shockies rotors and reconditioned calipers:


Tina has been a nice girl recently and now I am worried - what does she have install for me.

[WayneXG95]

Good work on that..

[Tasek]

ok things have been a bit quiet of late, all to do with an altercation I had with a chainsaw -unforgiving bastards those things - resulting in having month off work with my leg in the air to let the 50 odd stitches heal .
Couldn't happen at a worse time as we needed to stock up on hay for the winter, it has been a dry winter down here and feed is in short supply or my withering garden that needs constant watering as we have had little to o rain for months . More importantly than that I was planning on working on Tina over the Christmas break - Mrs Tasek has toiled womanfully with everything else but pointblank won't touch Tina.

Never mind back on deck now. Well sorta - it only hurts when I laugh - only limp when I have been standing too long.

So have been slowly working on the small jobs on the front end which I took out as posted last. The curse of Tina "is strong in this one, it is" and a number of problems have arisen.
Not the least of which would be that I believe, after looking at the steering knuckle support arm and the position of the caliper mounting holes, that the previous owner has assembled this incorrectly - the brake caliper position should be at the front of the crossmember (10 o'clock when looking at it from outside of the car) when in fact it is behind the crossmember, closer to the firewall (2 O'clock). Not sure if this is an issue and don't really want to have to work on the front end again after I re-install it into the vehicle - So could use some advice. (Pictures tomorrow when I find where I have left the camera)



Since the car came dismantled I am having loads of trouble finding bits and bolts - lost the brake pad retaining pins. Can't find the caliper/steering arm retaining bolts - lost the little screws that hold the shockies in place and those for the brake backing plate. This may seem trivial but when you are 40 minutes from town and have a short window of opportunity before the Warden (Sorry Mrs Tazek) finds you working on that car it is frustrating to say the least.
But I have removed the old bearings and bolted up the rotors but not sure now if I should swap the steering arms knuckles from side to side - which I think is the problem someone has mixed up which side they should be on. either that or they wanted to mount the caliper closer to the flexible brake hose. Maybe it is not as big an issue as I am making it - look forward to any advice.

While I have your expertise available - Does the HR front end have a square rubber mounting insulator plate between the lower crossmember bracket and the lower crossmember mountings like the early FJ-EJ ?- cos if they do I need one of those too.

[Blacky]

remind us what brakes you are using ? Was it stock HR ???

[Tasek]

remind us what brakes you are using ? Was it stock HR ???

Thanks for the reply Blacky - I haven't had any experience with this type of front end- I did a complete suspension refurb of my first EK ute using the workshop manual but the Scientific Series #67 1948/53 to HR, is a bit sketchy on these disc brake units.

Stock HR front end I am told but that was from the guy that I bought it from who I am beginning to doubt. Starting to think this may have been a converted jobbie.
From the photos I have been able to find on line it does look standard but I could be only looking at conversions - who knows.


Girlock calipers/brakes - these came with the car.

I am off to town and will post photos tonight - my IT capabilities know limits.
Thanks again

[Cocko750]

Maybe Hz spindles and brakes they fit when swapped left to right this would put the calipers in the position you are looking at .did it seem to be lowered this is also an effect from them a factory drop spindle only an inch or so but.

[Tasek]

Maybe Hz spindles and brakes they fit when swapped left to right this would put the calipers in the position you are looking at .did it seem to be lowered this is also an effect from them a factory drop spindle only an inch or so but.

Not sure I would know the difference mate but perhaps this photos will help someone identify the steering support arm and tell me if it is stock HR or an oddball.



To me it doesn't look any lower than I would expect but as mentioned above what would I know.

Thanks for your suggestion though I might do some searching on Hz front ends and see what they look like
Cheers

[Blacky]

it should have a part number cast into it ???

[FireKraka]

Hi TASEK
Mate I am pretty sure that the caliper should be on the front. I originally had HR calipers and rotors on my FC and then changed to drop spindles and aluminium girlock HZ calipers both sets on the front.
If you are running standard steering or rear rack I would assume the caliper on the back would interfere with the steering.

Regards
Neil H

[Tasek]

it should have a part number cast into it ???

Thanks Blacky, good advice and based on it I turned the place upside down and can't find the Factory part catalogue cd. Not sure where it is , however I have had a lot of time to surf the net and have come to the opinion that the HR front end is possibly more HK HT HG than HR.
The calipers definitely aren't original- They fit - sorta - hydraulic fitting is in an awkward spot as it is on the base of the hydraulic chamber, so the pipe has to fit from below where the steering arm is uncomfortably close. .
Starting to get a touch peeed off with the guy that sold me this car because most of what he has said has been half truths at best. Perhaps he just didn't know and not willfully ignorant.
The brake pipes I bought for the calipers are useless - too long, angles all wrong and the fittings don't fit as the threads seem off.

Now I am starting to wonder if the HR rotors and pads I bought will have to go on Ebay - From the photos on the net the hubs look like HK Holden, judging by the hex headed bolts.

So a quick remove clean, paint, replace worn bits in turning into a major overhaul.

Oh well have to stop complaining and get on I suppose.

[Tasek]

Hi TASEK
Mate I am pretty sure that the caliper should be on the front. I originally had HR calipers and rotors on my FC and then changed to drop spindles and aluminium girlock HZ calipers both sets on the front.
If you are running standard steering or rear rack I would assume the caliper on the back would interfere with the steering.

Regards
Neil H

Well I have swapped the support arms over and am happier with the position- but as posted above I think this is a bitsa collection of parts, so will have to work my way through what's what and what to fit where.
I have traditional steering set up in mind and will probably have trouble when I get to that.
I have rummaged through the parts boxes on the back of the donor ute and found two more sets of steering arms that are slightly different. I also found a hydraulic master cylinder that looks like it came off a Later model Holden HK HG HT which would suggest that I am right about the front end


Thanks for your post

[Blacky]

Mick is the go to man for factory part swaps onto HR front ends, he will chime in no doubt about what you have and the best way to go forward with the stuff you have - I normally throw the lot in the bin and buy aftermarket .

[thropzed]

I've got the HR front end ion my wagon.
It runs HT spindles and rotors V8 calipers.
It also runs the HR steering arms. EK arms will hit the ball joint.
Hope that helps with the build.
Cheers Theo Z............

[Tasek]

Found the FX-FJ-FE-FC-FB-EK-EJ-EH-HD-HR HK-HG HT Parts Catalogue today and worked out that I have an HK Calipers.
This was confirmed to some extent as I also bought a set of HR spindle nuts washers and split pins from Rare Spares and those are the wrong size,

So I guess the whole thing is HK (or maybe HG HT ?) - now I will have to buy a whole new workshop manual just for the brakes -