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Hi all! My little Honda has VERY seized and rusted brake caliper bolts on the rear of the car. It needs new pads and rotors and maybe even calipers on both sides, however the bolts are so rusted on that they will not come off no matter what I do. I’ve tried hitting the calipers with a hammer to break the bolts loose, I’ve used both WD-40 and PB Blaster, I’ve tried a punch, I even bought one of those Bolt Out kits with the sockets that twist and grab onto the bolt and remove it. I purchased a new Vise Grip and earlier I was outside messing with it some more. The bolts are now rounded off and even the vice grips can’t get a good enough grip on it. I have a propane torch that I tried on it but I don’t think it did any good at all. I can’t really get in there well enough to cut the bolt heads off so I was wondering if it’s feasible to pull back the bushing and just cut the pin that the bolt goes through to get the caliper off? Obviously I would have to replace them but I’m not worried about that. I found a picture that I edited and used to explain where I would like to cut it at. Is this doable? And what are the repercussions of doing so? My only other option would be to take it to a shop and have them do it. Thanks in advance!
P.S. The caliper in the pic is not mine!
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The trouble with cutting the slide pin is…..
If you manage to cut through anywhere from what is indicated or further back.The bolt and pin will still be threaded together.
My suggestion is, being that you say they are seized in place.
Might try grinding the heads off first with either a grinder with a cut off wheel or a die grinder
Then cut through the slide pins.Or give this a try first:
Where you indicate cutting:Remove the slide pin boot
and torch the pin itself really well, not the bolt head
Then try to loosen the bolt with something like this:All my tools are kind of scattered and in storage so I don’t know exactly what I have anymore. But I do have an angle grinder along with a reciprocating saw with metal cutting blades for it. Would either of these work? The saw would be used to cut the pin and the grinder could be used to grind the head off. If not then I have a pair of 14″ bolt cutters that might work to cut through the pins. Otherwise I might have to run down to the hardware store and purchase a die grinder.
IMHO, Grinder with a cutoff wheel, sawsall may be a bit of a handful.
Bolt cutters ….. Not really a good choice in this situationWill have to go through my tools and see if I have a cutoff wheel. If not then I’ll buy one. Just put the order in for new caliper pins and some new bushings since I seemed to have partially melted the old bushings while using the torch (oops!) Pins won’t be here for a few days but will start with grinding down the bolt heads in the meantime. Will keep you guys posted. And thanks so far! Didn’t know that my grinder was capable of doing this kind of stuff but now that I do I may have more uses for it! 🙂
Got the caliper off of the drivers sides using the cut off wheel. It took a bit of work but I managed to cut through the pins. Was planning on replacing the caliper anyway so didn’t care anymore as long as it came off. Now I have a new problem: The mounting bracket is just as bad and the bolts are starting to round off as well. AAARRRGGGHHH!! On top of that the brake line is so brittle it actually SNAPPED right off so now that needs to be replaced too. Why can’t I ever catch a break!? Anybody have any ideas as to how I can at least pinch off the rear brake line so that I can drive this thing once again? Be nice to drive it to the scrap yard rather than having to tow it there. 😆
You can see where I cut the pins at.
The broken brake line.
One of the pads.
A better view of the rear.
New question: In this second picture (where I’ve highlighted), is that a special kind of brake part or just ordinary brake line with flare nuts on them? I haven’t been able to find a part # for it, just for the rubber hoses themselves. If I can replace that then I can at least make the car DRIVE-ABLE again.
The line is the brake hard line. You may be able to flare a new piece in?
Bought some trouble with this one.http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-brake-problems?start=8#FlaringBrakeLines
https://www.ericthecarguy.com/brake-videos?catid=9:about&start=3
Just finished replacing the rear brakes on the car. Didn’t think to take any pictures of the finished product until after I had finished, but gotta take the wheels off again anyway, so will take some then and post. Replaced the calipers, rotors and pads on both sides, and bought new brake hard lines as they had snapped on both sides of the car while trying to remove them (was very rusty). Just finished giving the brake system a long overdue flushing and bled the air out as well. Unfortunately the bleeder valve broke on the front drivers side so I had to gravity bleed that one. Thought everything was good and dandy until I started the car and had pretty much no brakes. Pumped it several times but no pressure build-up. It’s firm when the car is off but spongy when I start it. It wasn’t anything like this before I messed with the rear brakes. Other forums suggest it still has air in the system but I find it hard to believe that since I bled each side twice (in the proper sequence: RL, FR, RR, FL) until it came out with clear fluid with no bubbles at all. Maybe there’s still air trapped somewhere? I’m thinking the pads might not be seated in the slot properly so I’m going to remove the calipers tomorrow and double check. If it matters my car has ABS but I didn’t touch anything related to that.
Bled the system again today. Did it with a buddy this time. He said I have working brakes but the pedal is still VERY spongy to me. Every time I go to stop, that first time I push the pedal in it sinks straight to the floor and has no pressure. I then have to pump it a few times to get any pressure, but then the next time I go to stop I have to repeat the process. I don’t find any leaks anywhere and am not losing any fluid in the reservoir. Is this indicative of a bad master cylinder? The fluid in it hadn’t been changed in AT LEAST 3 years (not entirely my fault) so I flushed it out after the install. Thanks for all the help so far!
BTW took some pictures of my new brake hardware that I will post tomorrow.
EDIT: My new camera didn’t come with a USB cable so I’ll have to buy one and then post the pics some other time.
Came across some interesting research online that I decided to try. Went out and crimped off the rear lines with a pair of vice grips (made sure the hoses were protected), made no difference in the brake pedal. BUT when I crimped off the FRONT of the car, suddenly my brake pedal returned to normal operation. So that indicates to me that the problem is with the front of the car. Now when I went to bleed the front brakes after I flushed the brake system, my front left bleeder valve had broken off and I had to bleed it at the line. Unbeknownst to me you are NOT supposed to remove the line valve, just break it loose enough so it can drip out. Thinking that when I took the valve off it let air up into the system. Tomorrow I’m going to block off each line separately until I can isolate exactly which line it is then go from there. Will keep posted. 🙂
Glad to hear you were successful! Have you managed to solve the soft pedal problem? I’m having a similar issue but in my case I’ve bled the system twice and my pedal is still soft, I’m interested to hear what the problem is in your case and maybe I’m having the same one. If you say the bleeder valve had broken off wouldn’t that be the problem right there?
[quote=”Phoenix-9-7″ post=163647]Glad to hear you were successful! Have you managed to solve the soft pedal problem? I’m having a similar issue but in my case I’ve bled the system twice and my pedal is still soft, I’m interested to hear what the problem is in your case and maybe I’m having the same one. If you say the bleeder valve had broken off wouldn’t that be the problem right there?[/quote]
I haven’t solved the problem yet. I’m going to attack it again tomorrow and try to figure out what’s going on. From what I understand if the bleeder valve is broken then you just have to bleed it from the line itself using the “gravity bleed” technique. As long as the bleeder valve is still screwed in it’s not a big deal. ETCG actually mentioned this in his video “How To Replace Brake Fluid by Yourself – EricTheCarGuy” and he talks about it at the 8:10 mark.
UPDATE: Clamped off each brake line on the front of the car; the front driver side is the side that’s causing the spongy brake pedal, which also happens to be the same side that I broke the bleeder screw on (coincidence?). Tried gravity bleeding it again, still nothing. Pulled the filter screen off of my master cylinder and noticed a lot of dirt deposits in it that may or may not have something to do with it (probably not). Could it have clogged the brake line somehow? Fluid seems to be getting by it with no problem. Don’t know. But also noticed that my caliper on that side of the car doesn’t appear to be working. The brake pad can be freely moved even when the brake pedal is depressed, while the pad is firmly in contact with the rotors on the rest of the wheels. So I’m wondering if that has something to do with the issue. Getting frustrated with this car tho. Every time I fix one thing something else goes wrong. WHY CAN’T I JUST DRIVE THE STUPID THING!?!?!
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