SON of a B1TC%^&^%&$#^%@$%h.

[ProZak]

Rrrgh.

So, some shimmy under light brakes at speed. Solid bushings and other suspension geometry, no trouble at less than say 60 MPH. Must be the rotors. Easy fix. Order new fronts (and what the hell, rears) from BMA for $197 shipped, Mintex pads and El Cheapo rotors, ought to do me fine. Print out relevant Bentley pages, collect tools, start work.

Please bear in mind I've never even changed a tire on this car, just the stereo.

So I start on the right hand front because ... well, just because. The only bit that gives me some trouble are the break pad carrier mounting bolts, but being on the right hand side, couple of whangs on the wrench breaks them loose. Gravity helps me here. Those of you who've done the brakes, you know what I mean; wrench handle points towards the front of the vehicle, lefty-loosey is towards the ground because the head of the bolt is away from you.

So, right side rotor and pads are replaced. Brilliant. Move to left. Dismount wheel. Remove caliper and pads. CANNOT GET THE FREAKING PAD CARRIER MOUNTING BOLTS LOOSE.

I don't have a lift, I don't have an impact wrench, I don't even (god help me) have any WD-40 or Liquid Wrench handy, so I bang on the bloody things for a good 30 minutes, no traction. It's tough, because I have to push the wrench *up* to loosen the bolts (remember, I'm on the left side now) and I can't get a good swing with the hammer I'm using to abuse my wrench.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

So, it's getting late, I resign myself to leaving the old rotor in place temporarily until I figure out how to get those things off, and drive off into the night with one new rotor and two new sets of pads. I'll leave the rears for later.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for staying with me so far. Besides "pay someone else to do it," "get a lift" or "buy an impact wrench," anybody have any advice?

Thanks in advance. I'm still totally in love with this car.

-Zak-

[SchnellE34]

You weakling! just kiddin man. Yeah I had a helluva time gettin mine off. BTW, its called a called caliper, not brake pad carrier. I think some WD40 should help. Did any of them have the plastic covers over the holes? You may want to invest in those... they're cheap from the stealership.

I thought the story was going to end with you breaking something (i.e. the car or yourself) I guess you can be glad you didn't.

[632 Regal]

Take a breath bro.... you can remove the whole carrier instead of just the caliper, which is what I do since I stripped the caliper threads once. A something .5 tap is real hard to come by so I carefully remove the whole bracket with a wrench and hammer if my palms arent up to the beating.

Hope this gives you a different angle.

While the whole carrier bracket is off you can remove the caliper sliding deal off the studs and clean them up, dont lube them but leave them dry. Install the rotor, new pads and reassemble.

~ I need to pick up one of them weird taps before I strip it again ~

[Bill R.]

loose, You don't need an impact or a lift or anything else. You just need a fairly strong wrench or ratchet and a piece of pipe to slip over the end of the wrench or ratchet to give you more leverage. I have a number of pieces of stainless steel pipe with 1/8 wall thickness cut off to different lengths just for this reason. To give that added leverage needed on some bolts when you can't get a long breaker bar in place. You also need to use a 1/2 drive ratchet on something like this rather than a 3/8 drive




Take a breath bro.... you can remove the whole carrier instead of just the caliper, which is what I do since I stripped the caliper threads once. A something .5 tap is real hard to come by so I carefully remove the whole bracket with a wrench and hammer if my palms arent up to the beating.

Hope this gives you a different angle.

While the whole carrier bracket is off you can remove the caliper sliding deal off the studs and clean them up, dont lube them but leave them dry. Install the rotor, new pads and reassemble.

~ I need to pick up one of them weird taps before I strip it again ~

[Tiger]

Flex-bar... breaker bar is available at Sears... $28. There is nothing that I can't get off with this bar.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Mechanics+Tools&pid=00944202000&vertical=TOOL&subcat=Socket+Accessories&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

[Bill R.]

like toothpicks, they shear right at the pivot.. the craftsmen ratchet 1/2 will actually take more abuse when using long extensions.. i mean really long



Flex-bar... breaker bar is available at Sears... $28. There is nothing that I can't get off with this bar.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Mechanics+Tools&pid=00944202000&vertical=TOOL&subcat=Socket+Accessories&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

[yaofeng]

Flex-bar... breaker bar is available at Sears... $28. There is nothing that I can't get off with this bar.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Mechanics+Tools&pid=00944202000&vertical=TOOL&subcat=Socket+Accessories&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

I'd like to see you use that 18" craftsman breaker bar to remove the crank bolt on a M60 engine. 325 ft-lbs.

[Qube]

Heh. I feel for you. When I did mine, the rear gave so much trouble... especially the left side because of the exhaust. So little room for leverage there!

[Bill R.]

some of you.....http://www.charlesatlas.com/museum/classicads/1940s.jpg




Heh. I feel for you. When I did mine, the rear gave so much trouble... especially the left side because of the exhaust. So little room for leverage there!

[kick7ca]

keep on truck'n

[joshua43214]

Put the box end of a wrench on the bolt, hook the box end of the next bigger wrench over the open end of the first wrench. be careful to keep every thing in alignment, now you have a double length box wrench.

P.S. I broke a 21mm MadeInTaiwan wrench this way once.

[azale]

Sorry Tiger but i gotta disagree with you there, i snap those like toothpicks.
And then he eats the pieces with his frosted flakes.

ProZak, is the light shimmy gone now that you have replaced the one rotor?

You already know this but . . . invest in some WD40.
and then get an impact wrench :)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4460850581
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7618860129
It's a requirement for working on 12 year old rusty bolts in MI. I'm sure you will convert soon.

[Bill R.]

snapon guy knew exactly what i'd done when he saw it but warrantied it anyway.:)



Put the box end of a wrench on the bolt, hook the box end of the next bigger wrench over the open end of the first wrench. be careful to keep every thing in alignment, now you have a double length box wrench.

P.S. I broke a 21mm MadeInTaiwan wrench this way once.

[joshua43214]

snapon guy knew exactly what i'd done when he saw it but warrantied it anyway.:)

Nice!

All my bigger Snap On wrenchs have marks from doing this but I have never managed to break one. This is my prefered method of loosening bolts in the morning when I dont want to listen to impact wrench's. I abuse my extensions the same way by sliding a socket up the handle of my ratchets. I still have my entire set of Flank Drive Plus wrench's that I purchased when they first came out minus the 10mm that I keep spares of since I manage to lose it so much.

[Bill R.]

love... i bought them in 1974 and my favorite one the 8mm X 10mm is finally getting worn out on the 10mm end...unfortunately snap on stopped making these many years ago and the only replacements they have are flat handled... bummer. I have to admit snap on's quality is unsurpassed by any other tool maker who's tools i use... but if i were to start over today i probably wouldn't buy a fraction of the snap on tools i bought then. Too many other brands offer quality fairly close to snap on and since the flank drive is no longer snap on's exclusive i would probably own a lot more of other tools..



Nice!

All my bigger Snap On wrenchs have marks from doing this but I have never managed to break one. This is my prefered method of loosening bolts in the morning when I dont want to listen to impact wrench's. I abuse my extensions the same way by sliding a socket up the handle of my ratchets. I still have my entire set of Flank Drive Plus wrench's that I purchased when they first came out minus the 10mm that I keep spares of since I manage to lose it so much.

[Ross]

Find yourself an old motorcycle fork tube! It will fit over you breaker bar gives a ton of extra leverage and is CHROME!

[Robin-535im]

FWIW: PB Blaster usually works better than WD-40 or Liquid Wrench. Don't sniff it though... you can feel the brain cells dying by the thousands when you do.

[Tiger]

4 feet extension? Boy are you a weaklin! ;) Well, I am not you as a pro mechanic... I owned mine for nearly 14 years or so now... I never broke mine.

You are handy with mig welder... why niot weld that sucker in position you wanted. You know this will take even more abuse than that ratchet you are using now... but then again, you wanted ratcheting part.

[BillionPa]

ineed, get PB and fricken saturate those bolts, on the hour every hour for a day!

well, you get the point, no need for an impact wrench, but i did need to use an axe to get my rear carriers off, by hitting the wrench with it when it was hanging down.

i actually had to use the axe a lot on the rear, seams that nothing was done back there in 12 years time!

oh! also get 5 or 6 cans of non chlorinated brake cleaner.

[ProZak]

Great stuff, you guys. I stopped at NAPA on the way home and bought a ... thingie. 1/4-inch, no ratchet, about 24 inches long. Breaker bar / flex something or other, whatever. Solid steel. :)

We'll see if that does it. Thanks for the moral support!!

(FWIW, I love everything else about these brake assemblies - simple, effective, robust. I'm not mad at the engineers or manufacturer, just the crudded up bolt.)

[ProZak]

ProZak, is the light shimmy gone now that you have replaced the one rotor?
Matter of fact, the shimmy is dramatically reduced. I'm looking forward to breaking those bolts loose and getting the shimmy gone when the other rotor is done.

And *wow*, those factory 15" basketweaves are light! :D :D :D

[Paul in NZ]

if you can get a straight shot the old motorcycle type 1/2 drive "manual" impact driver is good....pre tourque and a coupla good whacks generate a lotta tourque

[Tiger]

So what did you use to remove it?