Door brake repair (I couldn't find it in the archives)

[Guest Anonymous]

Awhile back (either here or on Assfly) someone wrote a little diddy on repairing their door brakes by pulling the pin and replacing it with a bolt I thought. Has anyone ever tried this to save their door brake? I had the bracket welded but I think that there is still some play between the pin and the bracket which is causing that God-awful pop when the door is opened up.

TIA

Chuck

[Guest Anonymous]

it's the sleeve that wears and causes the pin to be loose (thus the popping sound). Try and find a sleeve that will fit the door brake arm and the pin.

This presumes, of course that the door brake spring itself isn't broken...

Cheers

Mike

[Guest Anonymous]

The "fix" I seem to remember involved the bracket that is on the back end of the fender?? The U-shaped bracket that you can see when you open the door. I can see the little pin that looks like a rivet and thought this was the item that needed to be perfectly snug in the bracket. From what you're saying (I think) is that I may need to take the door panel off and work on the end of the door brake that is behind there?? I can take a pic this weekend to better describe what I am talking about.

Chuck

[Guest Anonymous]

On my 650K plus 2002Lux, my driver door was doing the same. The problem on my car was the holes in the U shaped bracket, attached to the car, had worn oval after 30 years of use. The pin in the door brake was moving in the oval hole and was actually causing the "snap" when opening the door. I went to the hardware store, found a slightly larger diameter pin to replace the rivet, reamed the plastic sleeve a bit, put it back together.

Earl

[Guest Anonymous]

strap that forms the moving part of the door brake. As has been pointed out, the U-shaped bracket that's part of the body structure is also a weak point and breaks loose from the body (only held by a couple of spot welds). If that's loose, you can either have it welded back or use a strong (steel or stainless) pop rivet or two to hold it in place. Earl's right about the holes in the U bracket ovalizing, too. Easy solution: larger diameter pin. Elegant solution: ream to fit small bronze flange bushings and use the standard pin...(I'd do the former!)

Mike

[Guest Anonymous]

..not inside the door? I do not recall seeing a plastic sleave in the bracket attached to the car. Perhaps mine is gone, hence the pop. Maybe that's the direction I need to go. Can anyone post a closeup of this? Are these parts available from dealership (ie is there an exploded view diagram available?)

TIA

Chuck

[Guest Anonymous]

The plastic sleeve is actually inside the arm that extends from the door brake. The flat piece that has the roller wheel on one end that fits inside the big spring. The other end is pinned inside the "U" shaped bracket on the door sill. Look inside the end of the arm that fits in the "U" shaped bracket. The rivet/pin passes thru the sleeve. If you were to extract it it would look like a length of soda straw.

Earl

[Guest Anonymous]

I was able to strip one of those little babies out tonight (after a good dosage of WD40) You are correct about it looking like a soda straw. Tomorrow, it's off to the local hardware store to find a new pin and plastic sleeve. I will buy a pair of each and do both doors right away as the driver door has a pop as well, but nearly as bad as the passenger side.

Thanks again,

Chuck