Changing brake discs

[AndrewWho?]

Went to change my front brake discs today and the caliper bolts just wont budge. Gave them a good spray of WD-40 and left it to penetrate. Went back and still no give in them. Any advice?

 

[Shaun]

Are you tightening them instead of loosening? :blush: (seriously, make sure) the amount of times i have done the opposite.
spray loads of WD-40 and leave for a day to soak it all in take a spanner and a hammer to it.

 

[AndrewWho?]

(Y) Will do. I thought about it long and hard just to make sure I wasn't going the wrong way :laugh:

 

[frank]

brute force FTW :grinning:

 

[tryme]

controlled aggression

 

[AndrewWho?]

Tried that , and I'm quite the brute Gave it a thorough seeing to with a hammer, and nothing.

 

[Shaun]

Many a times i have sat there struggling but turned out to be the other way :doh: because it's from behind etc.
Good Luck! (Y)

 

[pollyp]

for difficult bolts i recommend using a tight fitting 6 sided socket & breaker bar cos a normal 12sided loop spanner or especially an open C-spanner will certainly round it off and you end up grinding the head off then replacing parts

if there's no space, you could try unbolting the caliper carrier bracket from the hub (17mm), unbolt the brake line from caliper pull the carrier/caliper assembly away off the disc so you could then clamp the carrier on a big vice to loosen the caliper bolts with breaker bar

 

[AndrewWho?]

I'll reply to this again when I get it done so we can all rejoice. Neighbours might not understand me jumping up with my arms in the air when I get it off.:laugh:

 

[frank]

for difficult bolts i recommend using a tight fitting 6 sided socket & breaker bar cos a normal 12sided loop spanner or especially an open C-spanner will certainly round it off and you end up grinding the head off then replacing parts

if there's no space, you could try unbolting the caliper carrier bracket from the hub (17mm), unbolt the brake line from caliper pull the carrier/caliper assembly away off the disc so you could then clamp the carrier on a big vice to loosen the caliper bolts with breaker bar

i,m guessing its the 17mm ones he,s struggling with ?

 

[C0llis0n]

i,m guessing its the 17mm ones he,s struggling with ?

Agreed. Pretty sure you cant remove the discs without getting the carrier off. 6 Hex socket, wratchet and a mallet for the win every time (Y)

 

[essexpunx]

If all else fails you could try heating the bolt but be careful or an airgun if you have a friendly mechanic, and a bit of copper grease on re-assembly will avoid problems in the future.

 

[AndrewWho?]

One of my mates has a hot air gun. If I can't get them off tomorrow I'll call in a favour with him.(Y)

 

[frank]

a hot air gun will do sweet FA fwn and they should have blue threadlock on the threads (critical bolts )
so i would,nt advise lubing them with copperslip

 

[essexpunx]

a hot air gun will do sweet FA fwn and they should have blue threadlock on the threads (critical bolts )
so i would,nt advise lubing them with copperslip

I've never used thread lock on caliper bolts in more than 30 years never had one come loose, and obviously i didn't mean a hot air gun !

 

[frank]

I've never used thread lock on caliper bolts in more than 30 years never had one come loose

nor have i, but the op has,nt got 30+ years experience like us, and maybe does,nt have a torque wrench fwn

 

[AndrewWho?]

Don't worry I have a torque wrench(Y)
Do you mean using a blowtorch?
That was air-headed of me to suggest using a hot air gun:blush: