Decided this weekend would be the one to do my ST170 brake upgrade, main reasons being my friend was free to help, and I only had 2 weekends before I have an operation on my elbow, which will see me unable to do much with my arm for 12 weeks.
Planned to do the front and rear, but shortly into it changed that to just the front, the rears could wait another day.
First and most important thing, we needed energy to get us through the day.
Having jacked the car up, got the wheels off, I discovered that the standard focus doesn't have a carrier/caliper setup, the caliper bolts directly to the hub. That blew my plans to reuse the carrier-to-hub bolts. A quick call to the local Ford, who had them in stock, and we stuck the wheel back on and went to pick them up. Managed to talk the parts guy to knock them down to trade price, with the promise I'd be back quite often in the future.
Normal hub (L) next to ST170 hub (R), notice the carrier-thing which the caliper bolts to that's cast-moulded into the normal hub.
Next hurdle we came to having undone the top and bottom pinch bolts and track rod end bolt was separating the wishbone balljoint from the bottom of the hub. Couldn't get enough leverage, so had to go to a motor factors where my mate works and buy a ball joint splitter, something I've never needed before. And still didn't need, because it wasn't thick enough to actually separate the joint. Eventually managed to work it free though.
Latest purchase, which was of no use.
Greased everything up, stuck the ST hub on, disc, carrier, pads then caliper and the passenger side was finally done.
ST170 disc behind the standard disc (300mm v 258mm iirc)
ST170 pad has a much bigger contact area
Before & After (yes I know different sides, but good for same-scale size comparison)
Moving onto the drivers side, our problems weren't over yet. Everything that could go wrong did. The allen key rounded off the track rod end so I had to hammer a Torx bit in, the top pinch bolt sheered off, but fortunately the ST hubs came with their own, so at least I had that to use. Then the bottom pinch bolt was rusted so tight it would not budge. Managed to get the nut off, but no joy with the bolt.
Drenched it in penetrating spray, smashed the head with a lump hammer, tried bashing it through, nothing. I spent 40 minutes tapping tiny flat blade screwdriver in between the hub and the bolt, then bigger and bigger screwdrivers until I'd broken enough of the surface area to finally loosen it.
After that, the hub just wouldn't come off. Took both of us pulling, and nothing, so then we had to hit the driveshaft with the lump hammer and after about half an hour we managed to get it out. Then the real trouble started. We couldn't get the new hub on. We greased it all up, but no matter what we did we could only get about 20mm of driveshaft to come through the hub. We tried to bash it on, but it just would not go, and neither me nor him could figure out a) why, or b) how to get it to.
Eventually in our trying, we managed to push the bearing clean out. Managed to then get the hub in place, but couldn't get the driveshaft splines all the way through. Finally resigned to the fact that, after 6 hours, we would have to replace the outer CV joint and hub, because the car was undriveable, so couldn't get it to a garage, and I also don't have the money to pay for labour (or more parts really to be honest).
Temporary measure to get it from blocking the drive/garage, I basically fitted the disc on, fitted the carrier and caliper around it (could only JUST get the hub nut on, 1/4 of a turn) so the only thing holding the hub to the car is the disc/carrier. Gingerly lowered the car, pushed it forwards out the way and jacked it up and placed some blocks of wood under the wishbone to take as much weight off the wheel/hub as possible.
uh oh, bolt won't go onto the hub that isn't really on either
I really do not know why it caused so many problems on the drivers side, the only thing I can think is that the ST hub was badly damaged on the car that it came off, front drivers side collision or kerb or something. All the 4 studs were bad as well, took a breaker bar just to tighten the wheel bolts, should have been able to do up the slack by hand, but just was not possible. The fact that we had so much trouble getting the old hub off though compounded any problems, and meant we couldn't sort it out.
Bought some more stuff and going to, if parts arrive in time, sort it this coming weekend when my mate can help me again. Otherwise it'll be weeks before I can do anything again, and I'll need my car and be able to drive before I'll be able to fix it.
- Outer CV joint kit (so that I got a new outer driveshaft spline which isn't damaged) - BOUGHT
- ST170 hubs for both sides (will swap passenger side too, as the bearing was quite worn on that) - BOUGHT
- Goodridge Braided hoses (may as well fit them if I am going back into the brakes) - INTEND TO BUY
- Front 20mm wheel spacers - BOUGHT
- Longer wheel studs - BOUGHT
- Rear 20mm axle spacers - BOUGHT
Hopefully we can start early and sort that on Saturday. It might even give us a chance to get the rears done the same day or Sunday too. We'll see, but I'll keep y'all updated.
Also bought some winter tyres, short chrome tyre valves, and an ST170 snorkel. They'll get their own updates.