Stuck Caliper Mounting Bolt

[smorrismi]

Pretty new to the car mechanical world. All the other mounting bolts came off just fine on all three of the other calipers. Get to the VERY last mounting bolt and it's starting to strip around the head. Everytime I put the wrench or ratchet on it, the edges start rounding worse. I've hit it and hit it with PB/WD and everything I can to loosen it. Wacked the caliper with sledgehammer moving it back and forth but the bolt doesn't want to give at all. Any suggestions?

[petes74ttop]

Have you tried a 6 point socket? If that still won't work than you'll need a hammer and a chisel. Put the point of the chisel on a flat and hammer in the correct direction. Pete

[smorrismi]

Originally Posted by petes74ttop

If that still won't work than you'll need a hammer and a chisel. Put the point of the chisel on a flat and hammer in the correct direction. Pete

Is what your describing a "pointed" chisel? Not a flat ended one? If I'm being completely idiotic, maybe you can show me a picture of what your describing?

[petes74ttop]

Hi again, yes you would use a pointed chisel and put that chisel point on a flat part of the bolt and hammer so that, hopefully, the bolt will lossen enough that you can remove it. Hope this helps, Pete.

[6880 Mike]

You might want to try one of those "alligator" sockets which are advertised for bolts with rounded shoulders or a size smaller metric socket. Either might work. Go slowly. You don't want to make things worse then they already are.

[JimVette]

I have had success in the past by first trying to tighten it before loosening it. The edges are better on the tighten side.

[Chas]

put the 3 back in tight, this will help take pressure off the stuck bolt....get some pb blaster and spray on it...a few whacks with a hammer on the head of the bolt, tighten it a bit to move it and back it out.
~Chas

[SIXFOOTER]

Like mentioned above, use a 6 point socket on an impact if you have access to one. If not, you might need to go ahead and pop the ball joints and take the spindle assembly off with the caliper on it and find someone with an impact gun.
If thats not succesful, like mentioned above, use a sharp flat chisel against the bolt flats in the direction to loosten the bolt. Put a little heat on the threaded part to expand it some and liberally apply PB Blaster.
Good Luck

[smorrismi]

Some excellent advice. I will work down the list and keep my fingers crossed! Thanks everyone again for all your great suggestions.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by smorrismi

Some excellent advice. I will work down the list and keep my fingers crossed! Thanks everyone again for all your great suggestions.

I hope it works out for you. I had a stubborn bolt that just would not give. I ended up rounding off the bolt head.

I had to arc weld a bolt to the head of the frozen bolt. I was then able to remove the bolt with an impact wrench. It was a drastic way of doing it, but I couldn't figure out way to successfully get it done.

Ralph

[Hib Halverson]

Before you destroy the bolt head completly, take the advice above.

You need a six-point socket, an impact socket and an impact wrench.

If you don't have those tools, don't try the other ideas--hammer, chisel, etc--take the caliper to a service shop and give them five bucks to bust the bolt loose with their impact.

After that, needless to say, clean the threads, install a new bolt and torque the bolts to the FSM specification.

[White75]

I had the same problem. I tried everything from an impact wrench, a can of PB Blaster. I tried torching it, freezing it and nothing worked. by this time the bolt was almost completely round. I broke 4 sockets and bent a breaker bar!
What worked was using a bolt extractor I got at home depot that is hardened steel and basically grips onto the bolt head and the harder you try to loosen it the better grip it gets. I put that on and used a breaker bar with 5 feet of pipe from my jack to increase torque and literally stood on the end of the bar. Figure I weigh 170 so 850ft-lbs or torque finally broke it free.
Those bolt extractors are a life saver for sure on these old cars.

[Rudy's Stingray]

Greetings!

I too had the same problem. I had to put all bolts back in again and tighen.
Then, I soaked with PB Blaster a couple of times to ensure it fully
penatrated. In the end, it came down to the size socket and wrench
I was using. If you have been using a 3/8" handle with a six point,
5/8" socket, you need to increase the wrench size to the 1/2".

These larger bolts require greater torque and leverage to break free.
I have the Craftsman 200 pc Mechanics tool set and found I did have the
1/2" wrench but not a 1/2" - 5/8" socket. I went to Sears and bought the
$6.00 1/2" 5/8" six point socket. It was the best $6.00 I ever spent.

Like the 1/2" socket wrench handle, the 1/2" 5/8" socket is considerably
more robust than the 3/8" handle and socket. It gave me a greater lever
and added strength. However, I still needed more leverage. I found that
the breaker bars at Sears were either too long or not long enough. I looked
across my garage and noticed my 3 Ton Sears jack had a 2 piece handle.

After removing the attachment bolt, I realized it was hollow.
My 1/2" wrench handle slipped into it perfectly. It allowed me
just enough room to work with. Laying on my back under the car,
ratcheting the handle up a couple of clicks, and firmly gripping the nut
with the socket, with a steady pull she finally broke free.

[smorrismi]

Well... after soaking it with PB for about a week and then putting the other bolt in to take off the pressure. Then tighting the "hard to remove" bolt... it came free! I can't tell you the relief I felt getting it off the car! When I inspected the bolt it looked different then the others. So I think it was a replacement. Now I'm ready to get those new brakes on. Thanks everyone for the advice. As I go along on this trek, I'm learning a lot from all the tips.

[6880 Mike]

Originally Posted by smorrismi

...I'm learning a lot from all the tips...

Here's another: buy new caliper mount bolts. Not worth trying to clean up the old ones.