Last night I heard sort of a grinding noise out of my front end. It sort of concerned me a bit. I stopped to take a look and the front brake caliper was hanging by one bolt. It took off all my wheel weights too. The caliper appears OK as does the wheel. While I was in there I noticed my steering joints were also loose. The front end was rebuilt in June of last year. I drive it pretty much every day. Is it possible for it to take that long to loosen up from poor installation? Or is somebody screwing with my Cruiser? I would hate to think that, but it just seems that if they were going to loosen up that it would have happened a lot earlier.
Scary Caliper (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter ginericLC
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Thread starter
- #3
The adjusting nuts on the steering linkage. I always get confused as to what it is called. Relay rod?
The brakes were done to the FSM specs by myself last June. They haven't been touched by me since, until last night.
Pretty Scary stuff. The night before I was doing 80mph down the interstate. Imagine the caliper coming off and locking up the wheel
The brakes were done to the FSM specs by myself last June. They haven't been touched by me since, until last night.
Pretty Scary stuff. The night before I was doing 80mph down the interstate. Imagine the caliper coming off and locking up the wheel
LOCTITE !
this reminds me of my friends motorcycle a year or so ago. he took it to a local shop to have new pads put in the front. on the way home he heard something hit the rim so he pulled over to look for it. he found one of the caliper bolts had come loose. the same shop that did the work actually confused my friends ducati for a buell. monkeys i tell ya... monkeys.
this reminds me of my friends motorcycle a year or so ago. he took it to a local shop to have new pads put in the front. on the way home he heard something hit the rim so he pulled over to look for it. he found one of the caliper bolts had come loose. the same shop that did the work actually confused my friends ducati for a buell. monkeys i tell ya... monkeys.
This is what it looks like when both bolts come out.
Happened on my 60 at the Gambol last year.
Happened on my 60 at the Gambol last year.
Eric,
I wonder how this could happen, because I remember that when I did my birf job last month, those bolts that hold the calipers were so tight that it actually bent a braker bar I was using to get them loose. I also remember that the dust shield would somehow impede the bolts from coming all the way out (me thinks!).
Now you are scaring me, I remember the torque specs call for 90lbs for those bolts. Since I did this job recently I will take the wheels off tomorrow and check. Unfortunaltely the only way to actually check those bolts and/or re-tighthen them is to remove the dust shield and that looks like a big job.
Glad things did not turn out worse.
___________________________
Antonio
1994 FZJ80
I wonder how this could happen, because I remember that when I did my birf job last month, those bolts that hold the calipers were so tight that it actually bent a braker bar I was using to get them loose. I also remember that the dust shield would somehow impede the bolts from coming all the way out (me thinks!).
Now you are scaring me, I remember the torque specs call for 90lbs for those bolts. Since I did this job recently I will take the wheels off tomorrow and check. Unfortunaltely the only way to actually check those bolts and/or re-tighthen them is to remove the dust shield and that looks like a big job.
Glad things did not turn out worse.
___________________________
Antonio
1994 FZJ80
I've had that happen on my '92 p/u after my bro-in-law worked on it. Pissed me off.
Might be good for us to check the torque on those when we rotate our tires all.
Glad it was'nt a big deal Eric.
Might be good for us to check the torque on those when we rotate our tires all.
Glad it was'nt a big deal Eric.
- Thread starter
- #10
What is weird is I've been monitoring the knuckles very carefully after seeing pictures and horror stories about knuckle studs breaking off from being loose. I never expected that my brake bolts would back out. Mine are not covered by the heat shield. It is a 91 so it might be slightly different. Actually, my 94 is similar because I did the brakes on it not too long ago.
I've been thinking I might replace the whole knuckle. I don't know if any of the threads were damaged by this. I'm sort of scared that it might not hold. Not something I want to spend money on, but I have a family now and I need to think of the other families ont he road that I could kill if I didn't make sure everything was 100%
I've been thinking I might replace the whole knuckle. I don't know if any of the threads were damaged by this. I'm sort of scared that it might not hold. Not something I want to spend money on, but I have a family now and I need to think of the other families ont he road that I could kill if I didn't make sure everything was 100%
I hope that none of you guys are putting Antiseize compound on them 
I don't think I would worry about replacing the knuckle. Once we tightened the caliper back down on my p/u (which you can see in part of the Moab vid I just sent you ) it never came loose again and I drove it for about 60 miles of mt. road and then into the city before I figured out what was wrong with it. I bet if you just snug it up again it won't do it anymore.
As far as someone tampering with it, well, you could put a little bit of that yellow paint that the junk yards use to id parts to see if it moves. Or if it has been moved.
) it never came loose again and I drove it for about 60 miles of mt. road and then into the city before I figured out what was wrong with it. I bet if you just snug it up again it won't do it anymore.As far as someone tampering with it, well, you could put a little bit of that yellow paint that the junk yards use to id parts to see if it moves. Or if it has been moved.
semlin
curmudgeon
atijerino said:
Antonio, you do not have to remove the dust shield to get at the caliper bolts. In fact, you can't remove the dust shield until you have removed the caliper.
Eric, I would inspect the threads on the other bolt and, if you can see, the threads in the knuckle housing. Maybe some grease monkey messed it up a while back and they had it jammed in there somehow before you got to it. Someone a while back found a larger bolt torqued in there by some idjit.
R
robbie
Guest
it is 90 ftlb for the front and 70 ftlb for the rear bolt on the brake holder not the slide bolts. I can not remember the slide bolt torque at this time. later robbie
landtank said:I hope that none of you guys are putting Antiseize compound on them
Nope
I never put that stuff on the bolts . I make sure I only get it on the pads where they meet the rotor
My brakes last way longer this way but it does cut down on the stopping power
This crap happened to the Bighorn I bought. Bought it with the issue and got the vehicle at half price... The grinding noise coming from the left rear brake area was quite scary... A new rear rotor, and set of rear brake pads later everything was all good. A little bit of erosion on the cylinder and a gouged rotor was the damage... The caliper never came off.. but somehow a brake pad just fell out of place (probably not installed correctly at the used car stealer).. grr.. but a great deal on a good car for me!!!
