worn brake pads

Just got done pulling off the front caliper and to my surprise my pad were a lot worse than I remember. Good thing I have new ones. Anyone have a good suggestion for a lubricant for the retaining bar that slides through the assembly to hold the pads in. The old stuff is pretty stiff and gross.

 

You don't want to use any lube on the pad reaining pins. It might get on the pads, lube on pads is not good. You will need to use some on the caliper slide pins , I don't know if the xj550 has them but most XJs do. I use silicone grease on the slide pins but most any high temp grease will work.

 

mlew is right; little or no lube on the pad retaining pin; but the sliding pin (the one that allows the calper to slide in relation to the holding block) gets lubed for real.

If your caliper cannot slide side-to-side in relation to the holding block you need to disassemble it and clean/lube the mating surfaces and the sliding pin. If you need to hammer the sliding pin out, you'll likely need a new one. Len has new pin boots now too, they might not be in his catalog.

XJ550 Caliper, corrected drawing with all parts labeled:



NOTE*** This is a left-side unit; the right side unit is just a mirror of it.

 

Ok that makes a lot of sense about lubricating the retaining pin. Thanks guys. I will check the rest when I get down and dirty with this girl and order the neccesary replacement parts.

 

I clean and refinish BOTH Pins and the Bores for the Sliding Pin.

Either by chucking them in a Drill and rotating them while holding finishing papers to their surfaces, ... or shoe-shining them with strips of finishing papers until the shine.

Twist finishing papers in the Sliding Pin Bores.

I Lube the SLIDING Pin and Bores with Waterproof Synthetic Grease.

I "Treat" the PAD RETAINING Pin with a "Film" of Waterproof Grease.
Hardly enough to do anything but protect the surface if the Pin with a protective film against direct exposure to the elements.

Close to none.
But not bare metal.