I’m trying to replace the pads and rotors on a 2000 Ford Taurus because I’m fairly confident that the rotors are warped. The car exhibits the tell-tale vibrations from the front end when braking.
I can remove the caliper without too much effort but removing the caliper holder is proving much more difficult. I can get my 15mm socket on it easily enough (I don’t have a 15mm wrench) but it won’t budge. I put a cheater on it and applied some force but obviously not enough because the bolts still won’t budge. Should I stick with the cheater and not worry about breaking anything? Any other advice?
No, I haven’t tried WD40 yet because I’m currently out. If anyone has a different penetrating oil to recommend, I’d appreciate that as well.
WD-40 isn’t a penetrating oil, so it doesn’t work well as one. It displaces water (hence WD), so it works well for keeping things that aren’t meant to be lubricated free of corrosion and moving freely, but for something like a stuck bolt it doesn’t work as well.
Some people swear by PB-Blaster, but really any old penetrating oil should be fine. The trick is usually repeated applications and letting it soak for a long time. Those are pretty high-torque bolts, so you probably will need to use some penetrating oil.
Before you destroy your ratchet, get a breaker bar with a 1/2" drive and good 1/2" drive 15mm socket. Those bolts are on there pretty good (for obvious reasons).
Probably. The only thing likely to break is your tool.
The torque spec for the caliper anchor plate bolts is 76 lb-ft, and they almost certainly have Loctite on them. If you’re using a 3/8 drive socket and ratchet that’s not of top quality, one of them may well break. If they’re guaranteed, you really don’t have anything to lose if that happens - you’d have to go buy stouter tools anyway, during which trip you can get the broken item replaced under warranty. If they’re not guaranteed, you may be be just as well off without them. But if you don’t want to risk breakage, then buy, borrow, or rent something strong enough to handle the job.
Of some concern is getting the bolts tight enough on reinstallation. A torque wrench will let you know you’ve achieved that.
I seriously doubt any kind of penetrating oil is going to help. I wouldn’t even bother with it.
My tools are 3/8" Craftsman and I’d prefer that they not break because the nearest Sears is over an hour’s drive away. I’d also have to try and convince them that I hadn’t used a cheater when I really had. I think that falls under the “no misuse” exception to their lifetime warranty. I’ll stop by my tool shop and get the 1/2" metric socket set and a breaker bar.
The brakes and spindle area on cars are subject to lots of heat and vibration, the manufacturers don’t want any bolts to come loose in this area, the results could be deadly.
I’ll also mention that I’ve actually had one of these bolts come off. I spent the day driving through some really deep snow in the mountains with my truck and when I got back onto the highway there was a really nasty grinding noise when I used the brakes. I pulled over a few times on the way home but couldn’t figure out where the grinding was coming from because the pads and rotors seemed fine. When I got home, I eventually noticed that the right caliper had a little notch in it that the one on the other side didn’t and there was a big scrape mark going all the way around the rim. What was happening was that the bottom bolt had come out and so when I stepped on the brakes the caliper swiveled up and started pressing against the rim, but when I let off it went back where it was supposed to be. What was really kind of amazing was that the truck didn’t pull at all when lightly to moderately braking so I guess the caliper pressing against the rim did an okay job slowing it down, though I imagine once either the rim or caliper wore through things would have been bad…
So, to help answer RNATB’s question, I had taken the part off a few weeks earlier and reinstalled the bolts with a torque wrench to the proper torque spec, but the thing still wiggled loose. I’m guessing it was one of the bolts that the factory service manual says to either recheck the torque on in a few weeks or use Loctite on, but all I had was the crummy Haynes manual.
There are different kinds of loctite. I would think the one that was used in this specific case is probably the blue type which is designed to be removable by hand tools. The idea is that the loctite prevents the bolt coming loose from vibration while still being removable for service.
The red loctite says “removable by applying heat”, while blue says “removable by hand tools”:
Since we’re talking about getting the required torque on bolts, and the thread’s been basically answered, this is as good as any time to mention how shitty it was torquing bolts this week. We had a 300 lbf torque wrench, but that only got us half way there. We had to use a 1:4 torque multiplier to get to 600lbf, and we were still putting 150lbf on each bolt! I weigh just under 250lbs, but holy crap that was some hard torquing. It’s quite impressive to see a 3/4 inch drive Proto breaker bar busted.
I have changed my own brakes for over 20 years. And I’ve never used a torque wrench. I know I’m supposed to, but I’ve never had a problem. I assume it’s because I tighten them pretty tightly, but I doubt they are at exact specs.
How often do the caliper bolts actually loosen to the point of falling out, like GreasyJack mentioned? That story may have scared me straight. :eek:
I do OWN a torque wrench. I hope I still have the directions.
One has nothing to do with the other. Pretty much every part is designed to be removed at some point. Threadlockers aren’t used for permanence, but for security.
Not often, but if it happens to you, once is enough. Just to clarify, the OP isn’t talking about caliper bolts (hold the caliper to the anchor plate) but rather caliper anchor plate bolts (hold the anchor plate to the steering knuckle). Of course, either can come loose, with undesirable results.
Man, just today I tried the same thing, removing the calliper mounting bracket on my 1997 Sable. I needed to replace the seized calliper assembly. The replacement part came with a new bracket, or whatever it’s called. I spent about an hour with a propane torch and every conceivable method trying to remove the bracket. I gave up and installed the new calliper assembly onto the old bracket
Hey, it turned our fine. The freakin’ car is 12 years old.
I don’t think it’s that bleak. I’ve never run across one I couldn’t remove with hand tools. Now, my hand tools are Snap-on, and I may have used a cheater pipe with my 1/2" breaker bar, but these aren’t the most stubborn fasteners I’ve had to deal with. I suspect “every conceivable method” is a slight exaggeration.
A propane torch is essentially useless in these situations - they don’t produce enough heat to effect anything. An acetylene torch does, but shouldn’t be used on critical suspension components (i.e., the steering knuckle these bolts attach to), as the heat can affect the metal’s temper and possibly weaken it.
Just to clarify, the OP isn’t talking about caliper bolts (hold the caliper to the anchor plate) but rather caliper anchor plate bolts (hold the anchor plate to the steering knuckle). Of course, either can come loose, with undesirable results.
