87-89 disc brake question

[BillR]

I swapped over to the late 80s style knuckle and caliper, and I'm having some trouble with the pads dragging. Could one of you check the knuckle and see if there's a washer between the knuckle and the caliper mounting plate. It's all one piece on the later models. I'm thinking the caliper may me too close to the rotor.
TIA!

 

[Eagle]

When you changed the knuckle and caliper, did you use the unit bearing for the same year knuckle, or from a different year? What year rotors are you running? All this stuff has to come from the same "generation" to match up.

 

[BillR]

When you changed the knuckle and caliper, did you use the unit bearing for the same year knuckle, or from a different year? What year rotors are you running? All this stuff has to come from the same "generation" to match up.

I changed everything over. (hubs, rotors, calipers, knuckles, backing plates)
I was coming down a long winding hill Saturday behind a line of traffic, so I used the brakes more than normal. When I got to the bottom, I smelled the brakes getting hot. The smell was only from the passenger's side; the driver's side was fine. When I got home and jacked the front end up, I confirmed that the brake pad was indeed dragging on that side. The calipers and rotors are brand new.
When I got the knuckles, the caliper mounts were already taken off. I'm not sure if there was a washer or spacer of some kind in there previously between the caliper mounts and the knuckles. I would think that the calipers being able to slide on the pins would eliminate this binding.

 

[Backdraft]

Is the big plunger on your caliper getting stuck? I have a '90 and expeirenced this from the passenger side. It may not be your problem, but worth checking out.

 

[BillR]

Is the big plunger on your caliper getting stuck? I have a '90 and expeirenced this from the passenger side. It may not be your problem, but worth checking out.

That makes sense, but it did it with brand new calipers..

 

[CheapXJ]

take a good look at the tabs that the pads ride on.

on my old knuckles, the tabs got a groove worn into them, the pads could, and would catch this groove if they were worn just right and they would stick and drag.