F**king bastard caliper bolt

[Carrot]

Have done loads of discs and pads on various cars over the years, so something I am fairly used to.

Not today - need help!

Did one side, caliper bolts were a little stiff, nothing that a little bit of breaker bar force didn't solve.

Came to the passenger side. I cannot get these bolts undone at all.

I have now broken two Halfords professional bits (these are the allen key style bolts), 1 ratchet driver, tried shocking them, using massive leverage on them, jumping on the breaker bar - they will not move.

I am guessing now is the stage to get a garage to heat em up - in fairness they have probably never been undone in 12 years...

Have given up for the moment


Any ideas?

[N Dentressangle]

I agree, heat would be my next strategy.

Can't you get hold of a blowtorch from B&Q or somewhere and have a go yourself?

[Carrot]

N Dentressangle said:

I agree, heat would be my next strategy.

Can't you get hold of a blowtorch from B&Q or somewhere and have a go yourself?

Not something I am comfortable doing as yet, I am still in the "fitter" stage of mechanics to be honest so would probably end up setting fire to the car - is it literally just a case of blowtorcjing it then trying to undo it?

[S1_RS]

FWIW I know Sealey refuse to warranty a particular size of torx bit as they have a habit of snapping when undoing Transit caliper bolts. Apparently Ford use a particularly strong threadlock.

[Night Runner]

This is just me thinking out of the box (so probably useless!) but, do you have a soldering iron?

Maybe holding the hot point against it should specifically heat the bolt - also safer than a flame. May do nothing though!

[drivin_me_nuts]

Try and tighten it instead. It often works with rusted bolts.

[Carrot]

drivin_me_nuts said:

Try and tighten it instead. It often works with rusted bolts.

Tried that, same result both ways.

Also tried shouting at it, that didn't work either

[R12HCO]

I work in a fabrication environment, so use to heating things up. If you buy a little butane torch, you wont get it hot enough to do any damage, but enough to undo them (i had to do this on my e36 years ago, think they were a m12 bolt???). Just keep the butane tourch very close to the bolt, so the flame is touching as thats the hotest point, and do it untill they start to go white. They sometimes go white as its the moist/rust drying out.

Should do the trick

[N Dentressangle]

drivin_me_nuts said:

Try and tighten it instead. It often works with rusted bolts.

Good point.

As long as don't use the torch on any of the rubber or brake fluidy bits - hoses, pipes, piston seals, slider bellows, CV joint boot etc - you'll be fine. I would try to heat up the carrier lugs which the caliper bolts into. Don't forget, the caliper gets pretty hot as part of its working life anyway.

[Carrot]

So if I go the heat route, can I reuse the bolt afterwards, or do I need to order a replacement ahead of time?

[N Dentressangle]

Carrot said:

So if I go the heat route, can I reuse the bolt afterwards, or do I need to order a replacement ahead of time?

Haynes probably says to replace, but you should be OK

[Stu R]

1) drench it in plusgas
2) leave it as long as possible. Normally I'll leave it overnight
3) heat
4) more plusgas
5) batter it with a placcy mallet
6) undo

[MVDD]

Stu R said:

1) drench it in plusgas
2) leave it as long as possible. Normally I'll leave it overnight
3) heat
4) more plusgas
5) batter it with a placcy mallet
6) undo

Number 5. Then maybe a big metaly ish hammer. Always works for me.

[grim_d]

Stu R said:

1) drench it in plusgas
2) Obtain large breaker bar, a thick one, and preferably 3/4" drive, but 1/2" would do
3) Obtain Scaffolding pole, aluminium if possible (lighter)
4) more plusgas
5) Slide scaf pole onto bar and "gi' it laldy"
6) undo

EFA

[davepoth]

When this happened to me, I took the upright into the fitters' shop where I worked, and they had a can of

http://www.loctitefreezeandrelease.com/

Which worked really rather well, with no risk of setting things on fire. It's pretty much a similar effect to fire - the sudden differential in temperature frees it off.

[Stu R]

grim_d said:

Stu R said:

1) drench it in plusgas
2) Obtain large breaker bar, a thick one, and preferably 3/4" drive, but 1/2" would do
3) Obtain Scaffolding pole, aluminium if possible (lighter)
4) more plusgas
5) Slide scaf pole onto bar and "gi' it laldy"
6) undo

EFA

I just knew you had experience with early 90's Nissans reading that

[grim_d]

Stu R said:

I just knew you had experience with early 90's Nissans reading that

Haha, I firmly believe the scaffold bar should be listed in the service manuals under "special tools"

[VeeFour]

Just checking, but are you sure it's not a left hand thread?

[smack]

A lex said:

What about an impact wrench?

Yep, what he said. Have one for that exact situation.

[Carrot]

smack said:

A lex said:

What about an impact wrench?

Yep, what he said. Have one for that exact situation.

Will have to get one to add to my toolset - I was warned off them for jobs like this as apparently they do more harm than good on most seisures?