Thread: Front caliper repair or upgrade?

Les Richmond Automotive in Thomastown sell the spacer kits which have the spacers, bolts and seals, but also ask for the longer brake pad pins as these don't come in the kit.

Originally Posted by DiscoClax

Try Zeus Engineering in the UK. Zeus Engineering I bought a couple of sets from them about a year ago (myself and a mate) and they were good to deal with and relatively cheap (Worked out to be around $100 per kit delivered from hazy memory - (not discs or pads)). Mind you... I still have both kits as we both decided to just get the bigger Defender calipers and put those on instead

Hi do you still have spacers

Would you consider selling them?

Hi Landy86,

I actually sold my set a month ago to a fellow forum member, however my mate's set is still available if you are interested. He's asking $100 (posted within Aus) to a forum member. New, unused, in original box with all bits. Replacement cost was over $130 last time I checked the exchange rates. If acceptable please PM me. Cheers.

just be careful, as a little digging will only provide one part number and one type of O ring. Even LR Aus only have one listed. There are 3. 2 that are not listed, one is the original as fitted to spaced defender front calipers. I went through this in my thread:

98 110 Brake Calipers

If you have a genuine LR spacer or one made the same it would require the correct O rings

I am fairly certain that Zeus use a generic O ring (non LR specific) in their kit.

Fair call if you were rebuilding an existing vented caliper, however the Zeus kit should be compatible with any LR front 4-pot 'solid' caliper as the seals are designed to work with the spacer specifically and the standard rebate in the caliper housing. That is the way I understand it anyway. Potentially you could use the square o-rings in the Zeus kit if you wanted to - you'd need four per caliper (eight in total)

The long tube-like seal (p/n 3851-739 ?) requires a large through-hole in the spacer and a support tube within it. The Zeus kit uses the simpler and more robust alternative o-ring arrangement with just a small hole for fluid porting between the halves. This is pretty much the same as one of the genuine LR configurations.

I actually have a spacer kit that I got direct from AP that has the long tube type seals and matching spacers, etc, however I did not get the inner support tubes (these are generally just reused, but I was converting) so I never used them and they are brand new in bag. I've had them for years, having sourced those through a contact in the UK at AP while working with them on a project. If any forum member can use them they can have them for postage plus the cost of a beer.... PM me if interested.

Originally Posted by starky

Just to confirm...

you removed your solid disc calipers and disc's and defender ones just bolted straight on??? no modifications apart from the brake lines????

what disc's did you use??? i'm running 35" tyres so i need the best braking i can get!

That's correct. Mine is a 1997 D1. I bought defender callipers that suited vented disks. bought them new from paddock spares I think. Put new vented disks on and then had new metal lines made. The pedal feels so much nicer when breaking normally.

Originally Posted by DiscoClax

Fair call if you were rebuilding an existing vented caliper, however the Zeus kit should be compatible with any LR front 4-pot 'solid' caliper as the seals are designed to work with the spacer specifically and the standard rebate in the caliper housing. That is the way I understand it anyway. Potentially you could use the square o-rings in the Zeus kit if you wanted to - you'd need four per caliper (eight in total)

The long tube-like seal (p/n 3851-739 ?) requires a large through-hole in the spacer and a support tube within it. The Zeus kit uses the simpler and more robust alternative o-ring arrangement with just a small hole for fluid porting between the halves. This is pretty much the same as one of the genuine LR configurations.

I actually have a spacer kit that I got direct from AP that has the long tube type seals and matching spacers, etc, however I did not get the inner support tubes (these are generally just reused, but I was converting) so I never used them and they are brand new in bag. I've had them for years, having sourced those through a contact in the UK at AP while working with them on a project. If any forum member can use them they can have them for postage plus the cost of a beer.... PM me if interested.

Yeah, I was just saying that be sure which spacer you have as they all use different O rings, and even if asking LR here in Oz wont necessarily provide the correct part# or part

There are also companies in Oz that do a retro fit spacer kit like Zeus.

Who else does the spacers ? , after driving thru hills collecting my camper trailer i see how quickly they fade. LRA do them but for $250 .