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'm assuming this a nut and bolt situation. If the above fails, get a nut splitter. You should replace all the hardware - springs, clips, bolts, boots, etc.- any time you dismantle a critical component, so don't worry about effecting heat treatment because your tossing them anyway.
It’s a used vehicle purchased not too long ago, in overall exceptionally good shape — it wasn’t MY lack of proper maint, and not really even the prev. / orig. owner, as the maint. records look good: It was just some gorilla in a shop, as other have noted...
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.
Noted. Maybe I can turn up a decent 6 point metric wrench set for not too much money: Need 17 mm for this. Funds are tight, but, I hate to buy a single...
If they are hex head bolts don’t use 12 point sockets or those terrible spline drive sockets. I have a set of original metrinch sockets you can still find on ebay that are fantastic for tough bolts. Kobalt (lowes brand) also carries a cam drive socket, or use to, that would work too. At the minimum use a six point socket. If the bolt sheers off with those you were screwed anyway.
Yeah, I guess Ford was trying to shave off a few grams. I wonder what the carbon footprint of the resulting “grief” is?
No, the machine has been in service almost continuously since I posted the thread. I had to block out next weekend on our business calendar so I can get at it.
I've got some Mouse Oil coming via Amazon, and I picked up a can of PB Blaster to lubricate the screws, prior to tackling the disassembly again. I'll let everyone know how it goes.
No, this is a “pin”.
I don’t have an exact image, but, at this point, I believe it is a “hex head”: visualize a bolt head with immediate threads, and then a “smooth” pin that goes on through a boot and into the caliper body, ending inside the body. No nut to split.
What bugs me is that if the only threads are just “under” the hex head, 3 days of PB Blaster should have some effect. It may not be the “best”, but in the past I’ve found it to be fairly effective. I may try the acetone + ATF next...
Bwaahaahaaa!!!
The best penetrating oil is a home made mix of 50/50 acetone and transmission fluid. I have a small spray bottle for this, I only mix up a little at a time, when I need it because the acetone will evaporate out.
I cant find it now, but saw a study done years ago where they spayed a bunch of nuts and bolts down with salt water for awhile to get the corrosion going real good, then tested a bunch of different things like wd40, pb blaster etc. and recorded the torque required to break each loose after the soaking process...
The acetone/transmission fluid mix won hands down.
I can get no movement in either direction...
forget the whiskey, try beer muscles.
I guess I should have read the comments before commenting...
look on youtube
make sure (by looking it up) before you accidentally tighten it
If you have a torch, heat the bolt away from the rubber - heat it for as long as it takes
Yes, in fact I have a proper size (17mm) deep (impact)socket and grinding off the chamfer won’t hurt anything. Was thinking of that, this morning... But a 6 point wrench might be better???
Well that seems like it would depend on which part you are heating or cooling... In general for whatever reason, heat always seems to work the best, probably because you can heat it up more than you can cool it off...
When installing control arm bushings, you put the bushings in the freezer and heat up the control arm, they almost slip right in.
Leverage.
If it’s the caliper pins, they’re frozen in there. You’re probably better off replacing the calipers.
I’m hoping that’s not it. In the past when I’ve had trouble getting the caliper pins out, they were ok from the beginning of the boot on “down” (in). Granted that I’ve never worked on a Ford B4, and I never had this much trouble, working on getting to the brake pads...
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