I've had nothing but trouble trying to replace the brakes on my 91 Z28(1LE). I just replaced the original pads and rotors on the front. Now the stupid dust cap that covers the wheel bearings just falls out of the hub on the passenger side. I'm guessing too much material was machined out of the hub from the factory or something. Anyway, I'm just going to tape it on there temporarily. Besides getting a different rotor, any ideas on how I can hold this thing in there? This is already the third set of front rotors that I have bought, and it's all put back together except for that cap. I'm sick of f'ing around with this project. So if anyone has a better idea, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

If they're the same kind of dust caps on regular front brakes, why not just bend the dust cap's flange with some pliers? It doesn't have to be perfectly round... as long as it stays. A new dust cap might fix it, too. I lost one (oops) and bought a replacement from the "HELP!" section at Pep Boys... the sucker was a pain in the butt to pound in. Wound up losing THAT one, too, because I didn't hammer it in enough- didn't want to dent it. So I bought a new one from the dealer, $8 instead of $3... and same thing- very hard to go onto the hub. So I just swapped the rubber mallet for a steel hammer, and nailed it on tight.

 

As long as you completely degrease the dust cap mounting area with brake parts cleaner or an equivalent, you can use either JB weld or permatex "right stuff" silicone gasket sealer to build up the area where the cap mounts. Probably the best option is to use the silicone to glue the cap on when you're doing the final assemble. Gasket sealer is a lot easier to work with than JB weld. I recommend the right stuff sealer above all the others. It has a good, thick consistency even when it's first dispensed, and it holds really well when it cures. I used this method on a couple of vehicles at the shop I worked for and they never came back with a missing dust cap. Bending out the mounting flange of the dust cap is also a good idea to reduce the clearance. Hey Tom, a good way to avoid denting the cap is to use a large flat blade screwdriver or chisel and a hammer on the flat area of the dust cap at the edges when you put them on. On a related subject, I just got a set of brand new 1LE rotors from a guy on ebay, and there was a small chunk missing where the dust cap mounts (fortunately it wasn't damaged where the bearing race is). I used steel reinforced two part epoxy to fill in the missing chunk, and it worked like a charm.

 

Hmm, I thought about using something like that to make it stick. I'm sure I have some silicone around here somewhere. I did try a new cap, but it doesn't fit any better.

 

Thanks for the tip, Pat!