Brake caliper AN fitting

I have the matco brake setup, and back when I installed everything I ended up forgetting to install the 90 degree elbow on the caliper before I installed my wheel pant bracket. I really don't want to pull the wheels off so that I can unbolt my wheel pant bracket to gain access to thread on my elbow.

I can thread on a 45 degree AN fitting by flexing the bracket a little. Does anyone see a problem doing that? The only thing I can think of is, it will place my brake line higher up next to the wheel pant bracket. I dont know if this would be an issue if my pants broke up on landing like a few have. I dont know if the bracket would possibly jam into my brake line.... That's quite the stretch to a bad situation, but you never know.

Maybe I need to just suck it up and pull the wheels off again...

Do the right thing and pull off the wheels. Easy to do.

Why do you have to pull the wheels off? Just remove the caliper. I have Grove brakes, but I assume the Matco's are similar in that if you remove the backplate (the wheel-side brake pad) the caliper can be removed from the torque plate without taking anything else off.

Auburntsts said:

Why do you have to pull the wheels off? Just remove the caliper. I have Grove brakes, but I assume the Matco's are similar in that if you remove the backplate (the wheel-side brake pad) the caliper can removed from the torque plate without taking anything else off.

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I'll take a closer look at the manual when I get home tonight. Maybe there's a way.
The two bolts that hold the caliper just rotate when I turn the nut. As far as I can tell, I need to get the wheels off to back-up these bolts.

Do the right thing and pull off the wheels. Easy to do.

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You're right. Whatever it takes, I'll do the right thing. I just hate having to do things again and again. I seem to be an expert at that sometimes.

If you are turning the "nut" you have the wrench on the wrong part. You need to be removing the two bolts (furthest from the gear leg) that hold the inner brake backing plate, not the nuts that secure the locating pins (right next to the gear leg).

Brakes

To expand on Michael's post:
Remove the two 1/4" bolts, the inboard portion of the caliper will then slide off the mounting plate. Install the fitting and reinstall the caliper. No wheel removal.

These are the nuts I mentioned that I tried to turn. IIRC, the bolts for these have an allen head and need to be backed up. To get to the head of the bolts, I need pull the wheels.
Am I still missing something obvious?

clutch22 said:

These are the nuts I mentioned that I tried to turn. IIRC, the bolts for these have an allen head and need to be backed up. To get to the head of the bolts, I need pull the wheels.
Am I still missing something obvious?

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Yes. Those bolts are only the alignment pegs on which the caliper floats. They do not need to be removed.
The bolts you want to remove are the ones furtherest away from the axel.
These bolts only hold the 2 halves of the caliper together. These are the ones you remove to replace the brake pads.

Thanks for the advice guys! That was a quick, 5 min fix tonight. Except nothing ever goes smoothly for me. So, more like a quick 30 min fix.