I've got a caliper bolt that's stripped and won't come off the front passenger side of a 99 Ford Taurus. I've tried vice grips but the head of the bolt is stripped so badly the grips roll right off once I try to turn them. It isn't one of the bigger mounting bolts, it's the lower one of the smaller pin bolts (I guess they're called).
To begin with, do you not have a proper Allen wrench? If not, use a GOOD small pair of vice grips--needs to be thinner than the bolt head so as to expose the bolt head for tapping it with a hammer--lock them onto the bolt and lightly tap on the end of the bolt head as you apply turning force with the pliers. The bolt should turn out. If all else fails, you can use a dull chisel and hammer. Drive the chisel at an angle into/onto the head of the bolt and in the direction it needs to turn. This combination of blows plus biting-and-driving force should remove it. REPLACE the bolt with a good one, in any case. If you have to go buy a tool, a proper Allen wrench is amazingly cheap & should be a lot cheaper than a (thin) pair of vice grips. You will need it for installion anyway. BTW, purchasing a good very small pair of vice grips is a worthwhile investment that you'll never regret. HTH. s
I good set of vice grips will dig in and hold this sufficiently. I did the same thing with an a-arm bushing nut and the vice grips were old and crappy, they had no teeth left at all. Got a new one of the right size and it worked like a charm.
I am assuming the bolts have an Allen head, which is an internal, hexagonal hole into which the Allen tool fits for turning. Some sockets are made as Allen tools--straight, hexagonal shaped 'rods' of various sizes.
I'm sure there is a specified torque, in ft-lbs or inch-lbs; but sounds like you may not have a torque wrench and I don't have a manual stating proper torque anyway. Not much help to you, but I've always used gut-feel from having done it so much when tightening them. Apparently, yours were seized from the years or rust and corrosion. A caution is in order: I'm sure that they can be overtightened, and you don't want to leave them too loose either. Maybe another poster will be able to help guide you on this. s
STOP NOW!! While there is still something there for a shop to work with (hoping that there is still something to work with). At first sign of these sorts of things, a good shop would weld a new purchase point on to the offending fastener. It would be allowed until cool to the touch - guarranteed to come out.
Word to the wise.... worrying at it with a vise grip until there is nothing left will only increase the cost of removing the fastener.
Because the fiddling with getting it out may get you deeper into the chili.. If you can get it out, do so...I haven't had much luck with Visegrips. I have occasionally used a small thin pipe wrench if I can get it on the head of what I want to remove. I think it holds better IF you have enough left to bite onto and if you have room to use it.
well only thing i can suggest is to weld a "nut" to the bolt (note this may damage the caliper) and when that is securely welded heat the other end with torch and then the bolt will come out. In other words take it to a shop cause if you didnt know this allready i am asuming that you arent experienced enough to do this yourself
Adding more fluid and bleeding the brakes are necessary. It wouldn't be a bad idea to bleed the whole system and replace the old fluid. Likely you would run into more problems with bleeder valves on the other wheels, so precede with caution here.
There are stud removers that may be able to get enough bite on it to remove it. If it is that bad, you may have to get a welder to weld another bolt to the end of it so you can get a wrench on it. The heat from the welder may also damage the caliper seal but, calipers are fairly cheap these days. Of course, you will new a new slider bolt.
Is it feasible to just put some brake fluid in the car and bring it somewhere to be bled? That seems like tedious work to say the least.
A related question:
I muscled the piston down so that I had room for the new pads. I read somewhere that one has 20 seconds or so for the piston to reset itself into the up position. However, the piston didn't return.
Does the piston return to the normal position once the brakes are pressed?
The stripped bolt never came out, but I managed to replace the pads anyway. Once I got the top bolt out the caliper swung outward allowing it to be taken off that way. How dangerous is driving around with the stripped bolt? I mean, that suckers in there good.
Does it NEED to come out now that I done what I needed to do anyway?
Something I've noticed during this whole ordeal:
Repair shops are horrible uncooperative with do-it-yourself'ers. Seems they don't want to tell you anything, and just want you to "bring her in" so they can "really see what needs to be done".
You are in trouble. You cannot drive the car without bleeding the brakes, even if you get a bit of pedal, it will not be stable and the front/rear pressure difference can fast take out the master cylinder so you will have nothing when you hit the pedal.
If you don't know how to bleed brakes, it is tow truck time...
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
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