Broken Caliper Bolt

[packman]

In an attempt to get at my engine mounts; I tried to remove the LCA to gain access to the bolts. I got the lower balljoint loosened, removed the sway bar bushing, and removed the top shock mount nut (so the shock can move down with the LCA). I went to remove the caliper and broke one of the bolts; at the thread. Does anybody have any suggestions on how to remove the remaining piece of bolt?

Packman

[Tiggie]

You can try some heat and an easy out.

Otherwise you may be left drilling it out. And/or getting a new spindle.

[87gtVIC]

Is the break flush with the spindle or very close to it? If so weld a nut on her good and hot. You know what to do next.

[DerekTheGreat]

...weld a nut on her good and hot...

[packman]

Broke inside; about 4-5 threads into the spindle. I think I might be able to get a grinding wheel into the space between the caliper and spindle toward the rear of the bolt. If I can cut that section, I can pop out the rear of the bolt and remove the caliper. Then drill out the rest of the bolt on a drill press..............or weld a nut to the back of the protruding section of bolt and twist it out from the rear. I will take a look at this more clearly this week; as I was quite hot when the bolt broke.

[gadget73]

I do believe those are a through bolt. Heat it and use vise-grips to thread it straight through the back side. get the spindle off and do this off the car for better access. Welding a nut onto it would provide both heat and a better means of gripping it. If you still have the caliper trapped on there, worst case you can cut that apart to get it out of the way. Grinders will do wonders, and its just cast iron.

Failing that, its an excuse for a big brake swap.

[packman]

I was trying to avoid that as I have no parts yet for the big brake swap. Ranger is in no shape to make south Jersey JY runs. I was hoping to get the engine swapped in there and do the big brake swap next year. Here are pics of the offending bolt and the rear section of the caliper.





Yes Gadget, the caliper is trapped.

[87gtVIC]

Woops. I fail at reading. I was thinking the caliper bracket bolt to spindle was the issue.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Is the caliper in decent shape? If it's lousy by all means sacrifice it by cutting the ear off - the rest of the caliper will fall off, and you can slide the ear right off the bolt. Then you get to heating the knuckle where the bolt threads in, you always wanna heat the outer piece of a threaded connection, as if you heat the inner piece alone (in this case that would be the bolt) all it does is expand and jam up even harder. You can weld a nut onto the sticking end of the bolt, certainly, but do so before you heat the knuckle.

You can also try cut the bolt right next to the caliper's rubber boot/sleeve, however you'll be needing a small cutoff wheel and the chance of slipping and digging into either the caliper or the knuckle is quite real. Even if you succeed you're left with very little of the bolt exposed, possibly not enough to weld a nut onto it, and certainly not enough to use vice grips, it may even be too short for an EZ-out socket to bite into.

[sly]

Should be able to rotate the caliper on the broken pin, remove the outer pad, and slide the caliper off the back of the pin. Then vice grip the FUUU out of it and get it out of there.

[gadget73]

Something that may or may not help is getting the bushing out of there. Its a plastic hat in the caliper itself that the pin goes into. Cutting the back end of it off may get you access to the end of the pin, which might get you something to grab on.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Should be able to rotate the caliper on the broken pin, remove the outer pad, and slide the caliper off the back of the pin. Then vice grip the FUUU out of it and get it out of there.

If only! You're forgetting the inboard brake pad has those stupid fingers that lock it into the caliper piston, if you try swinging the caliper out the way said inboard pad will wanna go with it, which is impossible since it (the pad) butts against the knuckle both top and bottom. Hell the damn thing is a giant PITA to remove even with the caliper all cut loose, can't imagine how much fight she'll put up if you went at it wit the caliper half-attached still. About the only way this could possibly work is by pushing the piston all the way in, then pulling the inboard pad as far out of the piston as it can get, then sneaking in between the pad and the piston with a sawzall and chopping the offending fingers off. Not impossible, but could be tricky, especially if the rotors and pads are newish and thus still pretty thick.

[sly]

right... forgot about that... of course, at that point, you might as well mangle those clips and just crowbar the thing up to see if you can get it out of the way.

[86VickyLX]

If you need a replacement spindle, I have one laying around I think.

[packman]

^^^^^Thanks^^^^^

I realized (to many tears) Friday morning that the threads are inside of the spindle and not the caliper as I thought. I am going to poke the rest of the bolt out and keep it; then....

....I am taking Wednesday off of work and going to rent a truck and do a JY run. I haven't gone since spring, so I am hoping there are some new Panthers there. If not; I will find the 2000 MGM and grab the front suspension off of that. And see if any of the boxes that are left in the JY have a spindle to spare.