Caliper Slide Bolt - which way?!

[Laura69]

I am trying to replace the front discs/rotors. Have to get teh caliper slide off but it hasn't been moved in ages - rusted on. Cannot tell if the bolts should go lefty loose-y or vice versa. The rear caliper bolt were vice versa. ARGH!Much thanks...

P.S. Just to be very clear on this - I have removed the caliper and pads - caliped strung up and out of the way. It's the piece that the caliper rests on that I need to unbolt and get out of the way of the rotor. Cannot tell which way those two bolts go.

 

[JDraper]

The caliper bolts unscrew the conventional way. I've worked on several Explorers of your vintage, and they have all been the same way.

 

[boominXplorer]

just make sure the bolts go back on VERY tight. I had a mistake that ruined an 18'' wheel because the bolt came out and slid the whole caliper up and chewed up the inside of the wheel

 

[TheRookie]

just make sure the bolts go back on VERY tight.

uhm, no
do not over torque these bolts. verry tight is way too tight. crank them down but do not get excessive. Give the wrench a decent tug but dont go yanking on it

 

[JDraper]

Instead of overtorquing them and messing something up, get some removable Loctite threadlocker (Threadlocker #242 will work well) and use a torque wrench to insure that you tighten them properly. The Loctite will keep them from vibrating loose as has happened to several people on the board.

 

[Laura69]

So, Draper, those bolts should go lefty loosey (conventional)? Mind you, the bolts that hold the caliper on came out no problem. I do wish I had a photo but at any rate, it's the piece that the caliper rests on that has to come off so...I'll go ahead and give them the ol' breaker bar removal technique, I guess. I just didn't want to really go at them in the wrong direction...

Thanks!

 

[BradE.]

They come out the regular way, and be prepared to tug on them hard, the factory uses Red loctite on them. When reinstalling, use a torque wrench and torque them property with blue locktite. On my 97 the torque spec was 150-180 ft/lbs on those bolts.

 

[SiLenZe]

go to a store like home depot and get a cheater bar. just a 1/2 pipe that is 2-3 feet long. slide it over the end of your 1/2 socket wrench and bam. with that kind of leverage you can take out any bolt.

 

[TheRookie]

You are more likely to break a bolt with a cheater bar than you are by hitting the wrench with your palm. You can get great torque this way but arent likely to break stuff. 150FTLBS??? you are probably thinking of the caliper bracket rather than the caliper bolts themselves.

 

[BradE.]

150FTLBS??? you are probably thinking of the caliper bracket rather than the caliper bolts themselves.

Read her post again, she's talking about the caliper bracket bolts. She already has the calipers removed, and is trying to remove the bracket now.

 

[spta97]

Read her post again, she's talking about the caliper bracket bolts. She already has the calipers removed, and is trying to remove the bracket now.

On my 2000 5.0 the Hanyes manual said to to between 70 - 90 ft lbs. I decided on 85 with some blue lock tite. Where did you get the specs for the torque ratings? The manual also said the caliper bolts should be 25 ft lbs. I was a little worried about that so I bumped it up to 30. I just did my brakes yesterday and do not want any problems so if you have a reference I can look up that would be great.

As far as the bolts, a 1/2" drive torque wrench might be difficult to get in there. To get mine off, I just put my 3/8" socket wrench on it and gave a good kick with my heel - that did the trick. Bear in mind though I do have the strength of 10 men

 

[BradE.]

I get my information from a Ford factory service manual, which I just double checked. Spec on the caliper anchor plate bolts for a 97' 4x4 is 125-170 ft/lbs. I had the range wrong in my previous post.

Spec on the caliper bolts themselves is 21-26 ft/lbs. I believe I went to 23 ft/lbs on mine.

It wouldn't suprise me if Haynes has the wrong info on the anchor plate bolts, it wouldn't be the first time they screwed something up.

 

[TheRookie]

Read her post again, she's talking about the caliper bracket bolts. She already has the calipers removed, and is trying to remove the bracket now.

My bad, yeah torque them down. they can take it

 

[spta97]

I get my information from a Ford factory service manual, which I just double checked. Spec on the caliper anchor plate bolts for a 97' 4x4 is 125-170 ft/lbs. I had the range wrong in my previous post.

Spec on the caliper bolts themselves is 21-26 ft/lbs. I believe I went to 23 ft/lbs on mine.

It wouldn't suprise me if Haynes has the wrong info on the anchor plate bolts, it wouldn't be the first time they screwed something up.

I'll have to check my eBay DVD with the service manual for my 2000 to see if it is different than the 97. I wonder though, now that I've put blue thread locker and the factory red was on there too do I have to clean out all the threads on the bolts and redo?

Oh, one more thing - any idea why the passenger side sounds like the pad is resting on the rotor when I drive? I lubed everything up but no idea why it's making the scraping / dragging sound.

Thanks..

 

[TheRookie]

that scraping or dragging sound is probably the dust shield behind the rotor. Just bend it away from the rotor a little, verry common

 

[Laura69]

Much thanks, guys - it is, indeed, the bracket (that's the word I needed!) that I am trying to get off. Obviously, I surrendered the task for now and will tackle it again in a few days. Glad to get the clarification on the ft/lbs, though. Thanks!

 

[Hartman]

Torque the caliper BRACKET bolts no less than 100 ft/lbs. WITH Loctite. These things are notorious for coming loose, just do a search. If they work themselves loose, it can put you in a very dangerous situation. It happened to me twice.

 

[spta97]

Torque the caliper BRACKET bolts no less than 100 ft/lbs. WITH Loctite. These things are notorious for coming loose, just do a search. If they work themselves loose, it can put you in a very dangerous situation. It happened to me twice.

My Haynes manual said between 75 - 97 ft/lbs. or something like that. I went with 85 ft/lbs. and blue lock tite but I noticed that factory used red. If you redo it how do you get the old locktite off? Just scape it?

Also, I never heard of any other car coming loose. I've done pleanty of brake jobs in my day and never had these bolts come off on any other car. Shame on ford.

 

[Hartman]

You can usually get the old Loctite off with a wire brush or just add more on top of the old. This is an issue that Ford should have made a recall for, but of course they chose to ignore it!

 

[spta97]

Thanks for the advice.