Tighten your caliper bracket bolts!

[derekfo]

I work at a honda dealer and someone traded in there explorer and the right ffront caliper was jammed between the rotor and wheel as it had fallen off. Its the caliper bracket bolts

 

[97 awsomeness]

dang i am going to go check mine tomarrow this seem serious!!!

 

[markie_g]

can you get the rotor off without removing those bolts>?

 

[techieman33]

can you get the rotor off without removing those bolts>?

No

 

[samus]

As Bob also pointed out above, the torque required for those bolts is as much as lug nuts. Most people will not achieve that much torque at the odd angle which most wrenches will get in those bolts.

I've replaced rotors/pads and occasionally calipers on my cars over the years and always use a torque wrench for leverage. It isn't all that important to pay attention to what your torqing the bolts too as long as you dont just 'put your all' into a 3/8 drive shorty ratchet which is guaranteed not to be enough torque.

It's your brake system, its designed to be tough, so torque those bolts like there's no tomorrow.

 

[ruzztec]

Hey this happened to me at 60K and the bottom bolt was the prob....kept backin out. It actually stopped me from goin in reverse. I used an new bolt...locking washer and thread locker....sitting at 169k and never had a prob since

 

[Vincent24]

Hand brake ford explorer 1997

So my truck developed this weird clunk/rattling noise on the passenger side when going over bumps. I was thinking that my ball joints were shot or that the spindle nut had back off and that I was hearing the axle bearings hitting in the race.

I pull the wheel off and crawl under the truck and find that my friggin' brake caliper bolts were loose. The noise was the brake caliper rattling against the steering knuckle Maybe I shouldn't have put never-seez on the caliper bolts...

Luckily this noise only started yesterday and I fixed it this afternoon.

Hi wonder if you could tell me if there is any adjustment for the hand brake on my explorer that i could do myself.
Thank's Vince.

 

[KLUDWIG]

one of my bolts came out when i was doing about 40. locked the tire right up scared the **** out of me haha. 1997 explorer sport.

 

[badge49]

Definitely Check Your Bolts!

I drove over a pot hole today and immediately started hearing a grinding noise from my driver side brakes. When I put the truck in reverse and hit the brakes it went "thump." I figured I got a rock or something caught up in there so I pulled the front wheel off and what did I find? I was missing the upper caliper mounting bolt and the lower bolt was halfway out. Definitely check those bolts... this could have caused major damage if I was on the freeway!
My whole caliper rotated 1" back and shredded my new pads.

Where my finger is is where the bolt hole is.

 

[inh]

Dunno how I just found this thread.. A couple of years back, pre-this-thread, I think, I had a lower caliper mounting bolt fall out while returning from wheeling. It jammed the caliper against the rotor when I slowed to a stop to investigate the weird pulsing i felt and noise I heard. Ended up removing the caliper, stuffing it with a couple of wooden paint brushes, and hanging it out of the way so I could make it the two minutes to my house.

It took quite a few trips to the hardware store to find the right size bolt to put in there..

 

[inh]

Dunno how I just found this thread.. A couple of years back, pre-this-thread, I think, I had a lower caliper mounting bolt fall out while returning from wheeling. It jammed the caliper against the rotor when I slowed to a stop to investigate the weird pulsing i felt and noise I heard. Ended up removing the caliper, stuffing it with a couple of wooden paint brushes, and hanging it out of the way so I could make it the two minutes to my house.

It took quite a few trips to the hardware store to find the right size bolt to put in there..

 

[isenegger]

im missing the lower bolt on my sport. where do i get a replacement?

 

[my pos mounty]

I was lucky enough to find one at a hardware store when I lost one and the caliper went through the aluminum rim on the freeway. That was fun, let me tell you.
Minimum would be a grade 8 bolt, take the other one out and bring it with you and have them match it up. Don't worry too much about head size, the length is one inch IIRC.

 

[96eb96]

This thread is why you should invest in a torque wrench! Pros who don't use one (hopefully) have a feel for the torque after doing hundreds of brake jobs.

 

[CDW6212R]

The torque is the same as for a lugnut. The hard part is that you can't get into the wheel well easily to get good leverage on both bolts. I have a 3/8" very long ratchet that makes it easier for me to do.

Using a drop of loctite red is wise also.

 

[MustangAndy]

This happened to me on my '03 F150. I post up a picture later of the battle damage to my wheel.

My story is a bit worse though. For a few months I owned both a '97 and an '03 F150. The '97 had some nice AR alloy wheels and 32" BFG A/T's whilst the '03 had stock 16" crap on 29" tires.So naturally since I was in the process of selling the '97 I decided to swap the sets on both trucks as well as the spare tires since they matched the associated set to each truck. Well unbeknown to me in 1999 Ford changed the size of the lug stud - 12.5mm on pre '99's vs 14mm on the newer trucks.

Long story short I'm on my way to work one day when this happened. I had two saving graces that day - My mother works in the same building as me AND she happened to have my brother's 01 Sport for the day. I managed to limp my truck off the highway and into the parking lot where I attempted in vain to put the spare off my '97 on my '03. Had to call mom to come get me. I ended up having to drive back home to a local salvage yard that had the spare tire off an Expedition that would fit. It was smaller but at least I would be able to drive my truck home. I also stopped at a Ford dealer where I received a new bolt - the parts man was kind enough to just give me the bolt since it wasn't a perfect match with him saying "If it gets you home that's payment enough". It worked fine and I'm still using it today. Now I know when I hear the thump it means go easy and get home or to a garage fast.

 

[deanna1372]

i'm having the same problem i have tried loctite locking washers everything the problem is i live in the mojave desert and away from everything i drive my kids in this truck so if anyone has any ideas at all to keep this from happening again please let me know by the time i can get somewhere to fix the problem the bolts are gone i really have no idea what to do other than replace the caliper but im afraid ill run into the same thing

 

[SBJ420]

what size are these bolts? I need to take off my caliper on my 95 and noticed the bolts are rounded off and I am at work and need to pick up a bolt grip socket to fit.

 

[CDW6212R]

They take a 17mm socket I believe.

 

[Scout3]

Just bought a 97 exlorer for my son. Called me last night in a panic. Right front wheel had locked up, causing him to skid and jump a curb. Grab my jack and tools and ran over to help him. Found just what others have posted. Bottom caliper braket bolt was missing and top one loose. Caused the caliper to pivot and jam against the rim. Took the matching bolt out from the drivers side to take to auto part store to get a replacement. Found someone had put antiseize on the bolt instead of lock-tight. We are going to clean and locktight all the bolts this weekend. Scary could have been bad, but no damage done. Heed these warnings and check those bolts.

Ed