Check them Caliper Bolts!!!!! SCARY!!!

[Texus]

Just happened to get off the hwy a mile early, came to a stop...truck shuddered to a grinding stop with a not so good noise...thought I lost the tranny... so I jump out, look under... and lying right there on the ground was the bottom brake caliper mounting bolt!!...couldn't go forward...cause to caliper had lifted up & ground itself into the rim!! bunch of shavings lying there too... well, was able to back up & had my tools, but was misisng the one socket I needed, the 17 mm ... a buddy was close by & saved the day... everything looked all good under there.. bolted back up... and away I went... will be lock-tighting thes & the other side this weekend...

Scary because... I would have kept goin 70 mph to the next exit... don't think that bolt would have stayed there... and who knows how this would have panned out @ speed...

Just had my GF in Son for some wheeling a couple days before about 35 miles from home...

So, could have jarred loose from wheelin?? Maybe, but most likely it had been loose for a bit...

The last time it was off was last spring when I did the birfs...

I bet I got cursed by a GMC... got super-wedged & high-centered when wheelin & had to get my Bro to yank me with his truck...

So yall... if ya have not lock-tighted them, it might be a good idea... atleast check'em out in the mean time... unless ya want the pucker factor like got!!!

 

[NorCalDoug]

good advice.
I've been lucky so far, but wheeling can cause some of these bolts to come loose.

Glad to hear nothing super-horrible happened.

 

[Elijah]

Thanks for the good reminder. Thank goodness nothing too serious for ya.

 

[Boston Mangler]

Glad to hear all is ok!

Something similar happened to me the other day while driving my DD. I heard a horrible gringing noise on my way home from work, got home, pulled the wheel off and the caliper was just dangling there with NO BOLTS holding it on. The 2 bolts holding the caliper were GONE! Both bolts have since been replaced and locktighted!

This was on my honda civic, but scary nonetheless!

 

[e9999]

wow, glad you're fine!

I got to get under there and check these bolts. I always check the 4 at the very bottom of the knuckle assemblies every time I'm under but should add these caliper bolts to the routine as well.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Properly torque them and you shouldn't have any trouble. Note that the front and rear calipers have significantly different torque settings. I have always wondered if the difficulty in getting a torque wrench in there and the relatively high setting specified by Mr. T conspire to have these issues materialize.

DougM

 

[ROCKCLMBR 7]

same thing happened to a buddy of mine about a year ago in the mid. of the nite 300 miles from home. he spent 400 bucks on a tow back to memphis only for me to find the next morning that the caliper bolt had fallen out cause he didn't torque the after his last birf job. i would tend to agree that would be scary as s**t!!!!
Matt

 

[terry.mc]

AA covered my tow and the local Toyota dealer let me off the hook for $25

I totally should have caught it, but the noise is sooo bad you just think that the front end blew up and freak.

 

[cruiserdan]

90 lb-ft and it is a chore to get in there and torque them when you are flat-backing it. I just repacked my fronts 2 weeks ago and I had forgotten the acrobatics required.

 

[MH_Stevens]

My last rear brake job was done by the dealer and when I did my rear pads again last week it took the 24" socket arm and a whack with a 4lb hammer to loosen them. Shows just how tight the dealers think it needs be. I did them back up at considerably less torque and now I'm thinking I just might re torque them before I set off to Tucson next week.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Michael, (and others)

This is not a place to install a fastener without a torque wrench or factory spec info. For the safety of all of you and your families, be properly informed. I always have a hard time doing these because my torque wrench barely fits in the inner fender, so I'm sure some mechanics are just winging it with their larger pro wrenches, or breaker bars.

DougM

 

[alia176]

I lost a caliper bolts completely due to improper torque. Luckily I caught the problem before any catastrophic happened. Check the torque on these things!

 

[Riad]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=81040

and

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=81283

 

[Texus]

hhmmm...

weird that I'm not the only one... but nice to know I'm not alone... I will always be a little leary from now on...

 

[cruiser88]

running outside to check my new brakes

 

[MoGas]

It can be an expensive repair. It happend to my PO and wiped out the knuckle housing.

The reciept I have for the brake job was 1500 miles prior to this.

 

[Tentsontop]

Had the same thing happen to me one day. The bottom bolt on the PS come out. I heard it drop, but thougt I ran over something until I came to the next stop sign. I had to run back about a quarter mile to look for the bolt. Luckily I found it and put it back in. I check them all the time now along with those trunion studs.

 

[MH_Stevens]

I just re-torqued my rear disk brake bolts to 90ftlb as Dan said here (even though he may have been referring to the front caliper bolts that are 90ftlb) THEN I read my '97LC manual page BR17, paragraph 8d, and it says only 65 ft lb! My hand tightening prior to re-torquing was 80 ft lb so this 65 looks real low. An error maybe?

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Man, read this last week and it happened today. In the parking lot at the hardware store, turning left into a parking spot and applying brakes, truck starts grinding and bucking. Found the caliper pressed hard against the rim, had to back up to get it to release. Bolt had backed all the way out, but was still in the caliper. Put it back in finger tight and got home.

 

[tltaylor22]

I had this happen two years ago on my way to a wedding in SLC. I had every seat in the cruiser full and had been bragging about how reliable cruisers were. I got off the freeway and came to the first light, the I couldn't go forward. It worked fine in reverse. I called our local Master tech who came over and after a minute or two he checked the caliper. Same deal. I just figured it was karma.