Stripped bold head holding caliper body. Help!

I would try to use a good six point socket with flank drive. It tends to grab the flats of the bolt. If that doesn't work try a vise grip wrench and if that doesnt work drill off or grind off the head of the bolt.

I remember having seen a socket like tool that Sears sells as Craftsman brand which removes bolts of this type. If the bolt is so frozen that ordinary measures wont work, you may have to drill it out, but be careful if you do. You can quickly cause more damage than you want to get into.

I live in Michigan (the heart of the rust belt) and have had to use the "Hot Wrench" many times in this situation. I would start by heating the mounting bracket before using any more destructive methods.

For the OP:

If you can get a grip on the outside of the bolt you may be able to use a socket type of extractor, or even vice grips. If you end up drilling and using a "left handed drill" like an EZ out, if it breaks off you are gonna be stuck with using much more destructive methods.

If you use an Extractor and it or the bolt breaks off, your gonna have to reach for the fire. EZ outs are made of hardend steel, drilling a broken extractor out is a futile project. I reach for the torch first myself, because if you were able to bugger up the bolt without it budgeing, chances are your gonna break the exctactor too.

If you do try an extractor, heat the area that the bolt is threaded into (not the caliper but the mounting bracket). This might give you a chance to break it loose without snapping off the extractor. I have gotten lucky with vice grips in this situation. NEW, Quality vice grips are nice because they have nice & sharp teeth and will "bite" better than a worn pair.

Heat is your friend here...But you are probably in for a rebuilt caliper if you have to cut (or "blow") the stuck bolt out of the hole.

Like anumber1 says, heat it up well, put a GOOD vise grip on the bolt, and get it as tight on the bolt that two hands can squeeze it down with. Trick>>> if ya have a ratchet strap, use that to close the grip on the wrench with.

Here is the tool you need for that job. Guaranteed.

No, I don't work for channel lock, but I would not be without a pair of these in my arsenal against stuck, stripped, or broken bolts. Sometimes you can find them at local hardware stores, but be sure you get the Nutbuster, not just the regular channel lock pliers. Big difference.

Of course PB Blaster and or heat may also be needed, but not usually with these grippers. The harder you turn the tighter they grip and they don't care if the nut is round or square.

Sweet! That looks like a real good tool for the job! I ordered new caliper bolts at Schucks today. They should be coming in tomorrow. I'll go look for some of the mentioned tools tomorrow too and will probably give it a try the same day. Lets hope everything works out alright.

Thank much to everybody for the help. Really appreciate it.

Regards Jeff

snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

Too late now, but for those rear bolts, a six-point 12mm wrench is the only thing to use.

That upper bolt is a pain, since the parking brake mechanism prevents use of a socket.

How would I go about removing the bolt so I

Can you remove the BOTTOM bolt (six point only) and swivel the caliper up?

If you can, you can then at least remove the pads. Then you can use an angle grinder to cut off the stripped head. At that point, a combination of pushing the pin all the way in and pushing the caliper all the way inboard should be enough to unhook the bolt from its hole in the caliper, or at least then allow you to hacksaw the bolt between the caliper body and the pin's boot. The remains of the bolt will be easy to remove from the pin.

Nah, never too late :).

Tell me about it; I can't really use my ratchet. I had to lock 2 wrenches together to extend my leverage because the 12mm wrench lenght is too short for the kind of pull I have to give the bolt.

I bought a special wrench/ratchet at Sears; it comes with extractor bits and has a very low profile because the bits actually fit inside the tool as opposed to outside of it. Lets hope its enough. If that doesn't work; the next one on my list is chanellock's nutbuster. The tools aren't wasted anyways, so it doesn't matter too much :).

If none of the options I'm trying up there work, I'll probably have a lemonade; cry a lil, then I'll think about trying your option ;).

Regards Jeff

I have had some luck with a small plumber's pipe wrench. These keep on getting tighter when you pull, unlike the fittings or vise grips that bottom out and spin.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

Mike Romain wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@sympatico.ca:

Have to be one narrow pipe wrench. There ain't a lot of room to work on that caliper.

However, I just thought of something: The OP *might* just be able to tap a six-point wrench onto the stripped bolt with a small ball-peen hammer (and maybe a drift). If he can force it on the bolt enough, he will be able to remove it.

Sweet, it worked!!! I was able to install the break pads by removing the bottom bolt only! I didn't mess with the top bolt at all. I'll just leave it there and figure something out later. As long as the pads are in, everything is cool :).

Thanks alot for the tip! =20 Regards Jeff