Hey, folks.

Back on the adventure/beater car here.

I figured out that the cold brake caliper/wheel was not due to a slightly bent brake line and was actually due to a very blown master cylinder seal. I replaced the MC, bench bled it, got to the very last wheel (admittedly should have been the first, but one was already up in the air)... and found that the caliper boot is seriously torn. I carefully used the brake pedal to pump the piston out and it is miraculously untouched except with a tiny bit of rust that wipes right off.

I figured I might just run down to a local parts store and get a boot in a kit. I cannot find *any* place that sells boots for the bendix calipers. I can but rebuilt calipers, but there are no boots available. Girling boots are available... slide pins and their boots are available. But the actual piston boots are just not anywhere at any brick and mortar. Even Rockauto only lists one option (CENTRIC 14339013). There is a wholesaler closeout caliper available for $40, but I have learned not to ever trust rebuilt brake calipers through a series of adventures with comments like "well, your core is already in the pile and you can't have it back even though the rebuilt one is defective and we can't get one here until 4 days from now."

Is this just how parts are getting now? Maybe IPD has one, but they're closed tomorrow and I wanted to button this up tonight.

I could order a boot/seal kit and wait for it to show up, as this is not my daily driver yet, but I'm planning on it being that until mid-summer. It would stink to be SOL for 3-7 days over something like this in the future.

Do you have a NAPA near you?

Enter your car info and search for "Brake boot kit".
https://www.napaonline.com/en/search?text=brake%20boot%20kit&referer=v2

Bill

Yes. They had 5 results. 2 for rear, 2 for girling, 1 special order for bendix at $55... a rebuilt caliper is $40 with shipping (on closeout) from rockauto right now.

So have you tried the Boys in Atlanta-----prob not.

recent testimonial-----" I got them from Voluparts in Atlanta, I'm not too far away and I just drove down there one day and went on a shopping spree. By the way, great bunch of guys down there, and their warehouse is a holy grail for just about anything you're looking for."

https://brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1683632/220/240/260/280/aftermarket_headlightturn_signal_alignment_problems.html


http://www.voluparts.com/

Email or Call---they really don't do On-line that much. Real People.

try here:
bendix caliper repair kit (does two calipers) $12.18
https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/1990/volvo/740/brake/caliper_repair_kit.html

If I'm correct, you're looking for the equivalent of Volvo p/n 271571 brake caliper repair kit (740/760/940, front, Bendix/DBA, 40 mm piston) for a single caliper consisting of two dust boots, two piston seals, two caliper guide pin boots, two bleeder protectors and what looks like some kind of sleeve or bushing I don't recognize (a guide pin grease packing tool?).

It doesn't surprise me it's a rare item that you very likely won't find stocked locally. The Bendix caliper guide pin replacement kits are more commonly available, but they generally don't include the piston rubber bits. I see the kit you need available for ordering at a few places online, most are foreign suppliers, and whether they actualy have stock that you could get within a month or two is debatable. Even if you can find them, caliper repair kits are not at all cheap for what they contain, so I'd suggest going for a whole new rebuilt caliper is an option you should definitely consider. Of course it's always a good idea to replace both sides to ensure balanced braking performance.

Now if you still want to do a full caliper rebuild yourself so you can replace the likely well worn piston seals at the same time then you could start looking harder to find aftermarket equivalent kits. You'll likely find many brands out there that are suitable, but quality will likely be a bit of an unknown. For Girling repair kits I usually manage to find something decent on RockAuto, but for Bendix you may have to look a lot harder. To aid you in that quest, here's a great part cross reference page to a number of likely equivalent aftermarket kits that I just found for you https://www.yoyopart.com/oem/7079433/volvo-271571.html. Start plunking those numbers into google and something may turn up. If you've got a fairly active jobber wholesale parts supply chain in your area you may even find nearby distributor stock.

Now having said all that, whenever I used to have a torn dust boot and that's all I needed to replace, I simply got one from a yard. A Volvo specialty yard with a shop attached will often have a box of such parts for you to pick through, so do bring the old one. As Bendix front brakes aren't overly common on the 700s/900s you may have to help them out with applicable model years and caliper identification as well as noting it's for a 40 mm piston.
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Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

Now having said all that, whenever I used to have a torn dust boot and that's all I needed to replace, I simply got one from a yard. A Volvo specialty yard with a shop attached will often have a box of such parts for you to pick through, so do bring the old one. As Bendix front brakes aren't overly common on the 700s/900s you may have to help them out with applicable model years and caliper identification as well as noting it's for a 40 mm piston.
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Ahhhh, now there is an idea I had not had! There are a few volvo specialty shops in Portland. I'll call one in particular in the morning. Ordinarily, I would not put a used dust boot into anything, but it would be nice to move on from the brakes. If they don't have one, I'll order a boot kit tomorrow. It's a lot easier than changing the caliper. Unfortunately, I do need to bleed the fluid again because I managed to leave the master cylinder cap off for about a week, so there's plenty of moisture in the system now.

I would do a full rebuild, but this piston looks better than many I've seen. I can barely move it out by myself and ended up using the old pads to pin one piston in and push this one out a little bit. The seals feel good too.

You are a magician, so thank you for the part numbers too. I did find a few for about $10, which is more tolerable. I'm used to caliper rebuild kits being under $10 for just about anything simply due to their unpopularity. Even selling them at Napa, they were usually Have they really gone up in price that much?

You're welcome. As you can probably tell, I've been down the caliper repair kit road a few times. It's good that you're willing to take on such a relatively simple, albeit sometimes messy job. Seems hardly anybody other than the rebuilders are bothering with kits these days so they're increasingly getting harder to find and when I do find them the price is often ridiculous, especially when you add shipping. I'll keep NAPA in mind for future sourcing. I don't use them often as I don't have an account for online searching and their list pricing is horrid. Portland is a mecca for old Volvos so will likely have luck finding a yard or indie with a boot you can have. I'd have no hesitation in using used rubber dust boots that are otherwise in good shape. Good luck!
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Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now