Hi folks,
New to this group, but have participated in other NGs over the years.  Nice
to see good discussions here.

I have inherited a 1992 Shasta Class C motorhome that sits on a Chevy 30
1-ton van dual rear chassis, about 50K miles on it and it was used a few
times each year.  Almost everything is original, even the tires.  My
question to you folks here is about the front disc brakes (Bendix).

Looking at the pads they were a bit crumbly and it pulled to the left.
Rotors in good shape.  Initial diagnosis was to put new pads on and give it
a bleeding.  No problem there until I tried to put on the left side caliper
back on.  The final step is to tap the support key and the M-shaped spring
back into their slot between the knuckle and the bottom of the caliper.  My
trouble is that there is not enough room to even get them started in there.
I had to pound it pretty hard to get them both to move out in disassembly.
*** Question #1: is there any trick to this?  I am thinking that there might
be some kind of positioning trick perhaps.

So at that point I move to the other side.  I find that the piston will not
be pushed all the way down into the caliper (remember - pulled left so this
side was not braking as much).  I could take it apart or just replace both
calipers for not a lot of $$.  So I am just replacing these calipers on both
sides.  Dunno if this will help my fit problem above or not.  Might.

The thing is that these calipers are pretty rusty on the outside, and so it
the knuckle.  Where they slide against each other at the top of the caliper
is not a nice smooth surface anymore.  The new caliper will take care of
half of this situation.  I am thinking that I ought to file the pitted
knuckle sliding face smooth again.  [The key/spring on the bottom is fine so
the bottom is not at issue with a new caliper and brake lubricant.]
*** Question #2:  Good idea or bad idea and why?

Thanks,
Tomes