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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbatt!ihnp4!drutx!car377
From: car377@drutx.UUCP (RogersCA)
Newsgroups: net.cycle
Subject: New pads = squeaky brakes
Message-ID: <1787@drutx.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 29-Oct-86 13:09:35 EST
Article-I.D.: drutx.1787
Posted: Wed Oct 29 13:09:35 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 30-Oct-86 07:04:39 EST
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver
Lines: 39

>
> You guys make rebuilding a caliper sound like a big deal.  Once you get the
> piston out, all you have to do (usually) is clean all the parts, replace the
> rubber seals, put the piston back in the caliper and bolt the thing back on.
>
> allen@uicsrd.UUCP

For those individuals with no mechanical training or innate mechanical ability,
any sort of mechanical repair is a "big deal".  There is also a subgroup of
professional mechanics who consider themselves to be competent technicians, but
who are in fact absolutely incompetent and should not be permitted anywhere
near mechanical devices.  I am not a trained mechanic, but like many others,
I learned a lot by trial and error, by using shop manuals, and by observing
the efforts of others.  I have "rebuilt" (disassembled, cleaned, replaced seals)
calipers many times, and I have done so in total ignorance of whether or not
the cylinder/piston machine tolerances were correct or not.  In some cases,
the walls of the cylinders or pistons were worn and pitted some, but I figured,
"what the heck, it'll probably work out OK."  There was also a time when I
thought that torque wrenches were unnecessary, that all brake fluid is alike,
that seals can be reused if they appear undamaged, that you can use an ice pick
and a ball peen hammer to remove a piston circlip, etc., etc.  Fortunately for
me, all my brake work has been done on cars, not bikes, and I always had the
other three wheels to stop with if one of my caliper "rebuilds" didn't pan out.
I take a different attitude with my bike, since I can easily kill myself if
I don't do things right on any one component.

In any case, the "(usually)" you mention above is the operative term here.
If your typical mechanical experience is so effortless, then you are either
extraordinarily lucky, or you are understating the extent of your mechanical
training and abilities.  Many of us have stripped too many bolts, scarred
too many machined surfaces, ended up with too many extra parts, observed too 
many after-the-job leaks, and patched up too many cuts and bruises (to the 
accompaniment of too many magic words) to consider a lot of "routine" mechanical 
repairs to be "no big deal".  On the positive side, a lot of us do our own
work anyway because it is fun, or it satisfies some inner desire to see
how things really work, or we can't find a mechanic who appears to be
sufficiently trained to be trusted with our machines.

Chuck Rogers @ ATT-ISL, Denver