Greetings all,

I'm about to embark on replacing the front rotors and calipers on my new (to me) 740. I've got the non-ABS Girling calipers and two-piece hub and rotor. The Chiltons manual says something about removing the wheel bearings; I'm under the impression that this only applies to the older one-piece hub and rotor. Is this correct?

From looking through the 700/900 FAQ it seems that this is a fairly straightforward job. Does anyone know offhand the sizes of the socket head bolts holding the calipers on(10mm?) and the brake hose fittings (11mm?) I'd hate to be all ready to go only to find that I need to bum a ride to go buy a different flare wrench.

Thanks,

Dave Ritchie

First off why do you want to remove the brake lines? Unless you are replacing them just loosen off the caliper and hang it out of the way with a piece of wire so you don't have to bleed the brakes. The 700's originally came out with a one piece rotor and hub which was upgraded to the two piece after Chilton wrote the manual. Just remove the screws which hold the rotor in place and switch to the new ones.

You will need a 1cm Allen head wrench to remove the caliper from the front strut. You will need either a piece of pipe for a cheater handle on a conventional L shaped Allen wrench, or to buy an Allen head hex driver on a 1/2" socket drive. The bearings in the front hub are not serviceable, don't take the hub nut loose unless you intend to replace the hub or bearings.

you don't need to remove the brake line fittings...just use a coat hanger to hang the caliper out of the way.

It does help to have a thin 17mm open end wrench as I recall but that may be on my ABS caliper.

You might want to ensure the sliding bushings are lubricated...there are kits available from the dealer to replace the bushings that include the rubber boots...unfortunately the rubber boots don't come separately. You have to remove the rubber boots to get to the bushings and lubricate them...just lubing the bolts won't work (don't ask!).

I use a drop of blue loctite on the caliper bolt ends to ensure they don't vibrate out. Use a torque wrench.