More seized things

Aug 03, 2007 21 Replies

This time it's caliper bolts. They've got an allen head, and said allen head is now buggered. I've got one out with the usual plus gas, blowtorch heat etc. but the second won't budge. Is there anything else left to try before we start welding nuts to the top of them?



see replies in uk.rec.cars.modifications to your question. save yourself some money - stop the DIY if you don't know what to do and take the car to a garage.

Have you got any torx bits? These will sometimes work in a knackered allen socket.

For a start do you mean the slides? They're not bolts as such.

I assume you are talking about the caliper slide bolts ? If so, then with the other slide bolt removed you should be able to lift the caliper up (or swing it down) and slide the caliper off the stuck bolt, you can then use stilsons on the stuck bolt and replace it.

Buy a decent quality 7 mm allen key for the new bolt

The ones in there aren't 6mm and they aren't 7mm. Which is a bit bizarre. At a guess, they may been replaced with imperial bolts by some muppet.

I've not got Etka so I've yet to look at an exploded diagram but as far as I can see, the bolts act both to attach the caliper to the carrier and fit within the stainless steel slides.

Different question.

I do know what to do ta. I was just wondering if there was another option I hadn't thought of. Enjoying the school holidays?

The message from "Doki" contains these words:

You sure that isn't a Torx bit? Shove a bit of blutak in the hole and examine the impression.

Ah - not a design I'm familiar with.

Already had a look. Definately Allen.

Girling according to the parts book.

They where 7mm, you often have to hammer the allen bit in though. Forget trying to use an allen key.

Is there enough slack to be able to put a pin in the hole before inserting the Allen key? If it's not completely round it may work.

The thing is, they look in decent nick. The gold electroplating stuff's still on them. There was no way a 7mm bit would go in there, not even the vague impression one might fit.

The next size down in Imperial is 17/64" - 6.75mm. You could see if you can grub one of those up from somewhere?

I'd be very surprised if a European car had non-metric bolts, though. Although having them gold (Titanium?) plated sounds a bit aftermarkety to me.

I've got a something /32 which is a touch bigger than the 1/4" which did fit...

A lot of stuff on the golfs is plated like this - door locks, calipers, bolts etc. It tends to disappear though.

. Tis passivated zinc coated, which does look gold coloured. They're all like that when they're new.

I had this with a Golf II, and got them out with a stilson wrench, having cut off the rubber boot. New ones (bolts and rubbers) are cheap- I got them from a brake specialist.

The standard ones are 6mm IIRC. Were they just rusty? That was exacly the mistake I made :-(.

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