Posted on 03/20/2017 9:07:15 AM PDT by Paul R.
Advice needed: It's either corrosion or a gorilla with a wrench, or both, but I cannot get the brake caliper bolts on our Ford Explorer out. FoMoCo exacerbates the problem by using bolts with shallow heads, so it is difficult to keep a socket on them. I have tried various penetrating oils such as PB Blaster, smacking the bolt heads with a medium hammer, etc. to no effect. More info. in my 1st comment...
I like Fords , just wanna get that out there.
Take 1 and 1/2 sticks of dynamite and secure to offensive mechanical area. Deploy detonator of your choice.
Clear area of women and children. Open one (1) beer and take a gooooood swig. Position yourself and the vehicle at least 75 yards away from anything you do not want destroyed or damaged.Take another goooood pull off of the beer and detonate ! Entertainment provided and problem solved.
Now, go purchase a new vehicle and properly maintain it !!
Snoot ;o)
Apply WD40, let it sit overnight, repeat, and then use an impact wrench or a normal wrench with a long metal pipe placed over the handle to give you leverage.
Yes, there are two large bolts holding on the entire assy., but those are pretty well locked up too. Granted, I’ve not put nearly as much effort into them, yet. Might have to.
Agreed, if the corrosion you mention is significant, my costs are going to run up, too... Am going to look for boots anyway, as while these look pretty good, they may not be after I try heat (assuming I’ll have to).
Great idea!
Oh. No idea how to deal with those. I suggest whiskey - as in drop the vehicle off with a good mechanic, go to a bar, get a few whiskeys, Uber home, then retrieve the vehicle when he or she is done.
Another thought. After all these suggestions you probably can’t get enough torque on a breaker bar. Time to take out a bottle jack and use it on your breaker bar. If the bolt is that siezed it will break the bolt and at least you can move forward.
I had the same problem on my Ford. I used PB blaster, and a torch to heat around the bolt. Then I used an electric torque wrench.
“BTW, “ALL”,the main bolts that attach the entire caliper assy. to the vehicle are locked too: Had thought of removing the entire assy. to get better access to the caliper pins, but, no such luck.”
I recommend removing it anyway. It’s how I remember doing it. And don’t use a flame under a car unless you are absolutely sure you can do it safely.
As for what you’re attempting: use a pick or sharp pointed chisel to scrape away any corrosion, dirt at the base of the heads, clearing a path for the penetrant to get to the threads. Good luck
You compress the cylinder in small steps with a C-clamp, taking any pressure off the rotor in order to remove the caliper from the bracket holding it. Caliper pins are threaded at each end, and should (even at OEM install) have thread lube to prevent the lockup that can happen from the vast amounts of moisture, heat, road salt, sand etc from causing the threads to lockup on either end. The “pins” are smooth in between and these allow the “travel” of the pads within the caliper as they wear. These should be lubed with HT lube (spec).
Agree with the 1/2 Auto transm. fluid 1/2 acetone dilution loosening fluid and let it sit re-wetting it several times, and with light tapping to increase laminar flow (what is called capillary action down/between the threads and the bracket’s threads. Should work, no need to heat up— the bracket’s had plenty of heat (not red hot, of course) from braking. Don’t be in a hurry.
Depressing if true. I’ve had vehicles 2x and 3x as old, original parts, kept in poorer conditions (outside) with no such problems.
Turn the steering wheel so you can get an impact gun on them.
Ah, that answers the question I was about to post: Are the pins threaded on both ends? (This is my 1st Ford brake job.) I think they may have been, on our other vehicle [Subaru], but I am a bit hazy on that. Information overload occurred some years back, for me!
That (threads in the “inner” end) may explain my problem, because I’m finding it hard to believe that 3 days of PB Blaster applications, plus hammer tapping, would not break loose the outer threads. Plus, what you are saying about heat, I was thinking too: These parts heat and cool quite a bit in use... but evidently not enough to keep the threads from locking up big-time.
But, if the inner threads (on the end away from the hex head) are the problem, there’s no way to get the penetrant to them, so far as I can see...
That sounds like a great idea! It is no doubt more “friendly” to the environment. Anything that comes out a liquid and vaporizes quickly causes rapid cooling and is helpful for shock cooling hot objects.
Unfortunately, the one mechanic I really trust (have known him over 35 years) is almost 400 miles away. Usually I can either take care of stuff myself, or get my vehicle to him B4 something gets too problematic (this includes “difficult” scheduled maintenance), but no such luck this time.
Have been trying to ask around here for someone more local, but no positive replies yet... Plenty to avoid, tho’...
If it is like my Ranger, all the rubber parts are sold at the parts store. Confirm for your app and heat away. Also, if similar, the replacement caliper assy reuses the portion that bolts to the car and the pins are threaded into. I got the pins out through heat and bumping with an impact followed by a cheater bar application every 5 min until they moved. In my case the pins were reusable. Antisieze is your friend once you get it apart. Good luck
Would also recommend, for process understanding a view on youtube. Be specific in search... say “ _ _94 (or whatever) Model Ford brake pad replacement”.
BTW- if it is the first replace of pads, then the rotor should not be worn out. When you finally get the caliper off, can look at the rotor and see how much remains. Some rather graphic examples of completely worn down rotors, can be seen by searching photos worn brake rotors.
One car had, from OEM pads rotors, one pad change. Then the next pad change (130K miles, btw) was down to the metal on the driving wheel side of the front wheel drive car. The driving wheel (usu. driver side front wheel) takes more off on braking and also consequently wears the rotor more as well on a front wheel drive. By the second (overdue) pad replace— the rotor needed replacing also- which means the caliper bracket itself has to come off to get the rotor off. Just info— take a look at it. If it’s a RWD Ford or whatever, different wear patterns.
I'm not familiar with FoMoCo parts ... is it SAE or metric (we know it's not Whitworth :) .) I've got hex, star, and triple square, so make sure the crud and corrosion on the bolt head doesn't mask something.
Depending on your personality and wallet you're probably better off trading the calipers in on a remanufactured fully loaded set.
Thanks - good info. This is AWD, with the wear appearing to be about the same on both sides in front, less in the rear. The rotors have lots of material left, but slight “grooving”, which bothers me a bit since we stopped using the vehicle as soon as we noticed noise from braking, and we had not used the vehicle much since we purchased it. It would seem that most pads no longer have (audible) wear indicators to give warning...
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