Snapped bleeder screw

[Bobton125]

Any tips how to tackle this?

Never really had much luck with easy-outs as if they snap you’re doomed.

Also don’t want to heat as it’ll ruin the painted caliper.

And I don’t want to replace the caliper as they’re not cheap haha any help please


upload images

[SlimJim16v]

It's going to have to be drilled out and re-tapped. Using a left hand drill bit to do it may achieve a miracle.

[InitialDave]

Unless you're certain you can get it out and have the kit to do so, on something expensive like that, I'd recommend removing the caliper and getting someone to do it for you.

Mounted on jig in a drill press and able to drill it out perfectly central and square, you stand a massively better chance of a neat job that doesn't do further damage.

The danger of trying and failing is you can make it a pig of a job for the next person you pass it to.

[paintman]

^^^^That.

Whilst it's nice to be able to do everything, sometimes it's better to pay someone who's got the necessary tools than risk knackering an expensive part.

[996Keef]

On an audi R8 brembo I had a broken bleed screw removed, and thread helicoiled for £55 at Bigg Red

You could try an easy out, but if you shag up the seat that the bleed screw sits on it'll be a bugger to fix

[anonymous-user]

Caliper off, take to engineering firm. Doesn’t need to be anywhere flash, an AM will be the cheapest vehicle they’ll be working on if it’s anything like my local place.

[105.4]

Newarch said:

Caliper off, take to engineering firm. Doesn’t need to be anywhere flash, an AM will be the cheapest vehicle they’ll be working on if it’s anything like my local place.

100% this.

I’d give it a bash if I could get a replacement caliper for £50 all day long.

On that Aston, where a caliper is £500+, I’d be sending it straight to an engineering firm to do.

[donkmeister]

InitialDave said:

Unless you're certain you can get it out and have the kit to do so, on something expensive like that, I'd recommend removing the caliper and getting someone to do it for you.

Mounted on jig in a drill press and able to drill it out perfectly central and square, you stand a massively better chance of a neat job that doesn't do further damage.

The danger of trying and failing is you can make it a pig of a job for the next person you pass it to.

An often overlooked factor... You can quite quickly get to the point where the operation that now needs to be done would cost an order of magnitude or two more than if you had taken it to an engineering firm in the first place.

[Piersman2]

105.4 said:

Newarch said:

Caliper off, take to engineering firm. Doesn’t need to be anywhere flash, an AM will be the cheapest vehicle they’ll be working on if it’s anything like my local place.

100% this.

I’d give it a bash if I could get a replacement caliper for £50 all day long.

On that Aston, where a caliper is £500+, I’d be sending it straight to an engineering firm to do.

This , all day! I'm doing up an old Jag XJ8 and the driver's side bleed screw just twisted off last week. I tried to remove the stuck stub with varying methods and ended up giving up once I'd made enough mess and achieved nothing but buggering the caliper. But for me it was worth a try as a replacement recon'd caliper was £55 off ebay, for you I suspect those calipers are a LOT harder to come by!

[donkmeister]

105.4 said:

100% this.

I’d give it a bash if I could get a replacement caliper for £50 all day long.

On that Aston, where a caliper is £500+, I’d be sending it straight to an engineering firm to do.

Me too.

If I didn't care about the finish I'd probably skip the LH drill and easy outs due to the breakaway torque already exceeding the sheer strength of the nipple, so my first step would be to cut a slot to get a chunky flat screwdriver in, and if that didn't work I'd use a drift and hammer against the slot.

However... Cutting the slot will inevitably involve a slip or two that damages the caliper finish, and attempts to turn with screwdriver or drift will also do that.

[Bobton125]

Thanks all
I’ve gave it a soak with wd40 and a small tap with a hammer and punch. No movement so will give up and take to a pro as suggested. Very upset about that as I try to do everything myself but the first time I’ve ever had a nipple break on me :’(

[InitialDave]

Bobton125 said:

Thanks all
I’ve gave it a soak with wd40 and a small tap with a hammer and punch. No movement so will give up and take to a pro as suggested. Very upset about that as I try to do everything myself but the first time I’ve ever had a nipple break on me :’(

Don't sweat it. For the record, either Plusgas or PB Blaster are far superior to WD40 for these situations with seized threads.

But there's nothing wrong with farming out a job like this to people with the kit to do the job right.

[Bobton125]

InitialDave said:

Don't sweat it. For the record, either Plusgas or PB Blaster are far superior to WD40 for these situations with seized threads.

But there's nothing wrong with farming out a job like this to people with the kit to do the job right.

Thanks, I know but had none to hand

[t400ble]

Same as on the audi R8s they are crap
I sent it off in the end to be repaired
Not worth messing with
You can get titanium nipples next time

[105.4]

Bobton125 said:

Thanks all
Very upset about that as I try to do everything myself but the first time I’ve ever had a nipple break on me :’(

If this is your first time at having a bleed nipple snap, then consider yourself to be very lucky.

[Bobton125]

Yes! And of all vehicle the Aston haha why couldn’t it be my daily shed

[105.4]

Bobton125 said:

Yes! And of all vehicle the Aston haha why couldn’t it be my daily shed

Because the Spannering Gods like having a laugh at our expense.

[donkmeister]

Bobton125 said:

Yes! And of all vehicle the Aston haha why couldn’t it be my daily shed

Let us know how it pans out - I'm genuinely interested in how engineering firms are with small one-off jobs like this.

[E-bmw]

donkmeister said:

Bobton125 said:

Yes! And of all vehicle the Aston haha why couldn’t it be my daily shed

Let us know how it pans out - I'm genuinely interested in how engineering firms are with small one-off jobs like this.

Time is money, they will all take on small jobs to fill in between bigger jobs.

[105.4]

donkmeister said:

Let us know how it pans out - I'm genuinely interested in how engineering firms are with small one-off jobs like this.

There’s a good one near me who does mainly railways and large construction plant stuff.

He ported out a throttle body for me a few years back for a very reasonable figure, (I can’t remember how much now).

The only negative was having to wait a couple of weeks for him to do it, but I did tell him I wasn’t in a rush.