Removing rounded off hex head caliper mounting bolt?

Removing rounded off hex head caliper mounting bolt?

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jammy_basturd

Original Poster:

29,776 posts

211 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
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Spent most of this afternoon trying the above without success.

The normally hexagonal hole has been completely rounded!

Can't bang a socket on to it as the recess in the caliper isn't large enough.

My current method has been to try and weld a nut on, but no matter what settings I try on my welder the nut just comes straight off without much torque. Now one of the welding bits has snapped in half in the end of the gun, so NOW I'm currently trying to remove that (just snapped an easi-out bit in it. Maybe I can weld a nut to it... scratchchin

Any more ideas on the caliper bolt? Seems the only option I have left is to grind straight through the caliper spacer and bolt.

teamHOLDENracing

5,089 posts

266 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
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Either weld an allen key into the rounded socket head - which I suspect won't work as it sounds like your welder isn't powerful enough to weld tool steel.. . or cut/grind a small groove into one side of the head of the bolt and whack it in the appropriate direction using a chisel and lump hammer. You could also apply some heat to the upright and presumably you'll also have squirted the offending object with penetrating oil?

TT Tim

4,162 posts

246 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
quotequote all
I use these: http://www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/jhtml/detail.j...

They're fantastic, never been beaten.

Screwfix sell them, see here

Good luck

Tim

teamHOLDENracing

5,089 posts

266 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
quotequote all
Trouble is Tim, he's got a socket head bolt in a recess of the brake calliper. Those bolt extractors are primarily for hex head bolt rather than socket heads which have a smooth round outer. They might work but only if he has sufficient clearance in the recess to get it on the bolt head....

Mr.Cerbera

5,031 posts

229 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
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Is it possible to drill out the centre of the socket head with a bit which is half a mill larger then the bolt shank diameter ?
Then the remainder of the socket head will just pop-off as a thick spacer.
You can either grab the outstanding shank with some grips, weld a bolt onto it or cut a slot in it and powerdrive it out.
scratchchin
(Says he who took a week to get one shocker mount out)

TT Tim

4,162 posts

246 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
quotequote all
teamHOLDENracing said:
Trouble is Tim, he's got a socket head bolt in a recess of the brake calliper. Those bolt extractors are primarily for hex head bolt rather than socket heads which have a smooth round outer. They might work but only if he has sufficient clearance in the recess to get it on the bolt head....
Of course you're right, I hadn't visualised it, how about one of these:



Here's the link always hated extractors as they often cause more problems than they fix, but the Irwin stuff does seem good.

Tim

jammy_basturd

Original Poster:

29,776 posts

211 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
quotequote all
Sorry, as you say its not a hex head bolt, its a socket head!

I don't think it is in that tight, so once I've got something on it with some purchase I've no doubt it will come out, the problem is getting to that point. The welder I have is a MIG 150 Turbo, so it should be up to the job, just not sure why it currently isn't working! Now the socket is full of weld, so can't go along the route of welding an allen key in it.

Steve_T

6,356 posts

271 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
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Been there some time ago with my calipers. Ended up grinding off the head of the allen bolt and applying heat to caliper (ally will expand more than steel so this should help loosen things off, just use as little heat as you can). Finally had to drift the caliper off. Done at Austec with the help of Paul and a ramp.

al 350i

974 posts

194 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
quotequote all
i'm not sure wether you can get to enough of the head to use one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Irwin-Bolt-Grip-Remover-39... but i would buy a set anyway smash they really do work well, especially with a 2 foot breaker bar

teamHOLDENracing

5,089 posts

266 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
quotequote all
jammy_basturd said:
Sorry, as you say its not a hex head bolt, its a socket head!

I don't think it is in that tight, so once I've got something on it with some purchase I've no doubt it will come out, the problem is getting to that point. The welder I have is a MIG 150 Turbo, so it should be up to the job, just not sure why it currently isn't working! Now the socket is full of weld, so can't go along the route of welding an allen key in it.
I had this on one of the race cars on a rear calliper. The chisel method, hitting it on one edge so it applies an anti clockwise force, shifted it in the end.

teamHOLDENracing

5,089 posts

266 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
quotequote all
Steve_T said:
Been there some time ago with my calipers. Ended up grinding off the head of the allen bolt and applying heat to caliper (ally will expand more than steel so this should help loosen things off, just use as little heat as you can). Finally had to drift the caliper off. Done at Austec with the help of Paul and a ramp.


Why would you heat the calliper? Its the upright that the thread is seized into...

Steve_T

6,356 posts

271 months

Wednesday 17th June 2009
quotequote all
Sorry being a numpty only half read the original post, my problem was the bolt seized in the caliper. If the upright is ally heat could help.



Edited by Steve_T on Wednesday 17th June 19:47

jammy_basturd

Original Poster:

29,776 posts

211 months

Thursday 18th June 2009
quotequote all
Erm, the bolt isn't seized at all (I don't believe), its just rounded off.

Steve, how did you grind the bolt head off? Did you grind away the recess it sits in?

teamHOLDENracing

5,089 posts

266 months

Thursday 18th June 2009
quotequote all
Chisel, hammer and a few choice blows - eventually it will undo and once its loose you are away. Personally I wouldn't try grinding it out or drilling the head off it unless the tapping with a small chisel method has failed

FarmyardPants

4,099 posts

217 months

Thursday 18th June 2009
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Have you removed the other bolts? If this is the last one, maybe you could move the caliper to help free it up, eg wedge something in the recess and then turn the caliper so that the bolt turns also. But not sure if there's enough clearance scratchchin. Oh and warm the pot first smile

Ireland

3,516 posts

213 months

Friday 19th June 2009
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Dremel?

I know it'd take time but surely you'd get the head off the bolt without doing any further damage to anything else.


BTW wy are you taking the caliper off?

If it's to change brake pads you can do that without removing the calipers.

Maybe you can leave it alone after all .....

jammy_basturd

Original Poster:

29,776 posts

211 months

Friday 19th June 2009
quotequote all
Nah, the discs are knackered and the corners need a overhaul all round really. Plus if I just leave it then I'm just postponing the neckache.

jammy_basturd

Original Poster:

29,776 posts

211 months

Wednesday 8th July 2009
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Some reason no amount of welding things on was getting it to budge. The bits I kept welding either would snap at the weld, or just snap.

Ended up grinding through the bolt behind the caliper (through the spacer). Had to hacksaw half of it due to clearance issues.

Don't think the bolt was seized actually though. The bolt head came out of the caliper easy enough, and the remainder of the bolt came out of the hub relatively easily with some mole grips.

Anyway, problem solved. Thanks for everyone's help.

tommotl

1 posts

115 months

Monday 18th August 2014
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Successfully removed a rounded off hex head bolt on my brake caliper the other day by using a pipe wrench with a hollow pipe slipped over the handle for extra leverage. Everything else tried previously failed to loosen the bolt and eventually the head rounded out on me. The pipe wrench was a last ditch effort which proved to be successful!!!

Mr Cerbera

5,031 posts

229 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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There you go....