I'm trying to remove the rotors on my 98 Expedition 4x4 and have them turned, but can't seem to get the caliper bracket removed. I've tried to remove the bolts by hand and by impact wrench with no luck. These bolts aren't threaded backwards are they? The rotors are loose and free (new rotors last year), just those 4 bolts that stand in my way. Any suggestions?!

 

You need a longer breaker bar or a more powerful air gun. They are normal threads, but off the top of my head I think the torque is up around 125-165 ft. lbs. or so.

 

Thanks for the info! I have a friend bringing his breaker bar tomorrow. Hopefully that will do the trick!

 

My air impact did not work either. 1/2" breaker bar is necessary, ideally without pipe leverage. There is thread lock on these bolts that need a heavy turn to break. Be sure your jack stand is solid.

Book says that new bolts should be used as replacements. These are recently available at Napa and have thread lock pre-applied. I reused the old bolts and was unpleasantly surprised to lose one at highway speed. Heard it fall off. Luckily I avoided disaster when braking to a stop, but wound up with score damage to the passenger side rim. Needless to say I check the torque on them often since that day.

If you reuse the old bolts, torque 'em down to spec and use thread lock.

 

Same thing happened to me. Lost a bolt, brake caliper pivoted up around the remaining bolt and scored the inside of the aluminum rim. lucky it didn't cause an accident. Always use threadlock on these bolts.

 

i just want to verify which bolts you are talking about. the op says bracket bolt but some of the replies seem to refer to the caliper bolts. which bolts are you talking about?

 

I'm referring to the 2 bolts that retain the bracket.

 

Ya got caliper mounting bolts and caliper anchor bracket bolts, using Haynes Manual language. The caliper mounting bolts are the slimmer and smaller ones that are easy to remove (21 to 26 ft-lbs). The caliper anchor bracket bolts are the larger ones that are thread locked and need a breaker bar to remove (136 ft-lbs).

The potential for disaster is losing one of the bracket (larger) bolts. The entire bracket pivots on the remaining bolt and can quickly destroy a rim from the inside out. Spectacular front wheel failure is possible when this happens.

 

NAPA AUTO PARTS

Was sent to dealer parts counter from Napa in January. They never heard of this bolt before. The damned thing practically fell off the rack in front of me later on in March.

 

Bad link. Napa part #UP82517

 

number doesnt show.

 

Sorry that the link is bad. Go to Napa site. Enter part number UP82517. Cross check the application for your truck. Tighten the SOB down.

 

Try this link instead: NAPA AUTO PARTS

 

there they are, thanks.