Vintage Mustang Forums banner

Kelsey Hayes Dust Boots

5K views 25 replies 6 participants last post by  jfstang 
#1 · (Edited)
Got my pistons and seal kits in from NPD but not sure about the dust boot installation. It looks like the lip on one side of the boot is fine, but the other looks cut out too big. However, all of the boots look this way (2 kits - 8 boots).

My question, is only one side of the boot supposed to "seal"? If so, which side, the caliper housing or the cut out in the piston?

I'll post the pictures of the boot and what it looks like on the piston. I can post more pictures if needed.
 

Attachments

See less See more
3
#13 ·
Yes, it does. The caliper side goes on the ring that presses onto the 65-66 caliper, which is a considerably larger diameter than the piston. Are your rings missing? Show us a caliper.
 
G
#7 · (Edited)
The dust boot is just that. It isn't the hydraulic seal. The boot slips into the groove in the piston.



The hydraulic seal goes into the groove deep in the bore. The seals are next to the dust boots in the pic.



But the dust boot must "seal" to the caliper to make it effective. I can't find a good pic, to show, but it does "grab" the caliper as well.



 
#8 ·




Paul
 
#9 ·
Thanks Pete and Paul....if you guys look at the 1st picture on my 1st post, I show a picture of the dust boots I received. There is no way possible to attach that boot to both the piston AND the caliper. I realize the quad ring goes inside the caliper and is what seals the piston so that brake fluid cannot escape or leak out. My concern and question is, are the boots I received incorrect, cut, unusable? Those are great photos Paul and it appears to me that the dust boots should be one piece and attached to both the piston and the caliper (as were the ones I removed).
 
#14 ·
My concern and question is, are the boots I received incorrect, cut, unusable? Those are great photos Paul and it appears to me that the dust boots should be one piece and attached to both the piston and the caliper (as were the ones I removed).
You may have a year/application problem. In 1967, K/H eliminated the boot rings on the calipers by simply machining an outer groove in the caliper. This required a complete redesign of the boot. It is impossible to put 67 boots on a 65-66, or 65-66 boots on a 67.
 
#12 ·
I rebuilt the single piston calipers on my '78 Versailles rear end and they have the dust boots exactly like those in Paul's diagram- a groove in the piston and a groove in the caliper. I cannot come up with enough foul language to describe the installation of the dust boot into the groove inside the caliper. I tried it first with the piston installed in the caliper and fought it until I gave up. Then I popped the piston out, installed the boot inside the caliper and over the piston and tried to pop the piston back into its bore but NO GO. I went back to installing the boot with the piston in place and after an hour of fighting and cursing it I finally got it installed. You think I learned how to do it on the first one? No way, the second one took another hour to finally get the boot installed. If I had needed to install 8 of the boots I would have gone nuts.
 
#21 ·
I will have to check and see when i get to the office this morning. I will post and let you know. Of course, I have more concerns now. The pistons I bought were for 65-66 also and unless I'm mistaken, they are 1/16" "shorter". So I have bought $200 worth of parts for calipers I don't have. :surprise:

May just need to buy the correct year calipers in reproduction and be done. Had a buddy tell me to do this in the beginning...I hate for him to be right. :wink:
 
#23 ·
Just sorted through this mess today with my calipers. '65 convertible that a previous owner switched over to front discs. One one caliper, I have the dust boots that have a "C" shaped cross-section. They use this part (link and attached image):
http://www.championmustang.com/images/Brakes/C5ZZ-2A492-A.jpg which is pressed into the cylinder bore, and holds the caliper side of the dust boot.

The caliper on the other side is half and half. One half has the above 65-66 style boot, and the other half has the "S" shaped cross-section which is for the '67 style caliper. Who knew that the two different styles would actually bolt together?
 

Attachments

#26 ·
Thats called a Frankencaliper.
I unknowingly did a similar thing in the mid 1980's when I replaced a seized up original caliper on my 67 with what turned out to be one for a 65-66. I did the same dust boot parts mixup as the OP but it took me a while to figure it out back then. So one front wheel had "newer" disc brakes than the other on my car for a while :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top