Saturday 4-18 Replacing Brakes

Overcast Day

We had another overcast day with a mild temperature in the low 60's. What should we do today.

Larry started the day off by assembling the monitor stand he built yesterday. It came out outstanding. It was the perfect height when we're sitting at the computer. In the picture below the tablet we were using for the cameras is on the left and the new display is on the right, big difference.

Old tablet vs. new monitor

In the morning I did my daily Solitaire challenges and The Event: Medium Mayhem Mini of 5 games. It took me 16 minutes and 51 seconds, which put me in 25th place.

On Thursday Larry ordered new brake pads for the Minnie from Amazon, they said they would not arrive until next week but lo and behold they arrived today.

The last time Larry rebuilt the front brakes was 70,000 miles ago in 2010. When he did it that time he replaced everything, new calipers, pads, lines, bearings and fluid. This time it only needed new pads.

After lunch Larry decided to change the break pads. First he jacked the right side of the Minnie up and put it on a jack stand so he could remove the tire to get to the brake. After removing the brake caliper he had to spread it apart using his brake pad & caliper service kit. Then he put in the new brake pads and reassembled everything. He had a bit of a time torquing down bolts, they are torqued at 160 ft. lbs. and it was very difficult to get enough leverage to fully tighten them. Then he put the tire back on, the lug nuts torque at 140 ft. lbs. and while that is a lot it is not too difficult because he can stand and get good leverage. The last thing he did was lower the Minnie down off the jacks. He moved to the other side and did the same thing. It was a filthy project and took about 2.5 hours but he enjoyed doing it. 

Removing the brake assembling

New brake pads in the assembly

Larry bolting the brake shoe and pads back on to the Minnie

All done now it's time to go to the other side

   

After replacing the front brakes we took the Minnie for a ride to make sure everything is working correctly. When we got home I worked on my puzzle until it was time for dinner.

For dinner I barbecued bratwurst patties. These were something new and they tasted good. While I was barbecuing I had a visitor in the backyard. It was a racoon. It was hunting for food and stayed around for a bit. This gave Larry a chance to take a few pictures of it. 

My buddy

Hunting for dinner

We spent the evening watching Eureka. Then I started watching Chuck. It was a cute TV series that we watched when it was on the air from 2007-2012. It's a nice change from the detective series I usually watch. I did 20,000 steps.