I was driving out of the mountains yesterday at the end of an out of state hunting trip when I hear a bang and my brakes started feeling weird. Did some basic diagnostics, didn't see any leaks or anything obviously wrong, and continued driving to the auto parts store in the nearest town so I can do more tests.
While pulling into the only NAPA for 60 miles, I hear a CRUNCH and suddenly I can't turn my wheel all the way to the left. I step out to find brake fluid pissing out all over the drivers side tire and my caliper is at the bottom of the rotor:
So the bad news is that I lost both caliper bolts and the stainless steel braided brake hose was sheered off where the fitting meets the caliper. The good news is that this happened in the parking lot of a NAPA and I did not catastrophically destroy my caliper while simultaneously losing brake hydraulics on the highway while I was driving 65 MPH.
I was out bright and early this morning trying to find some replacement bolts and new brake hose. The NAPA guy managed to dig up some m12 x 1.25mm bolts that needed some treatment from the hacksaw before they would fit. They definitely aren't perfect, but they should do the trick until I get to Boise where I can find OEM replacements.
As this was happening, one of the locals in the NAPA overheard my plight and said he has an old '86 4Runner for parts that might use the same brake hose. Sure enough, the hose looks like a good fit and connected up to the male hardline without an issue. Here's the problem though: the threads on the male-male NPT fitting that connects the brake hose to the caliper are totally fxxxed.
I suspect the damage happened when the caliper was pulled down to the bottom of the rotor and torqued incredibly hard. I believe the female threads inside the caliper are still good as I was able to successfully install a male-female fitting, and all I need to stop the leaks is another male-male fitting.
So what's the fastest way to get a replacement NPT 10 x 1.0mm male-male fitting in the middle of nowhere? Any other ideas to consider?
While pulling into the only NAPA for 60 miles, I hear a CRUNCH and suddenly I can't turn my wheel all the way to the left. I step out to find brake fluid pissing out all over the drivers side tire and my caliper is at the bottom of the rotor:
So the bad news is that I lost both caliper bolts and the stainless steel braided brake hose was sheered off where the fitting meets the caliper. The good news is that this happened in the parking lot of a NAPA and I did not catastrophically destroy my caliper while simultaneously losing brake hydraulics on the highway while I was driving 65 MPH.
I was out bright and early this morning trying to find some replacement bolts and new brake hose. The NAPA guy managed to dig up some m12 x 1.25mm bolts that needed some treatment from the hacksaw before they would fit. They definitely aren't perfect, but they should do the trick until I get to Boise where I can find OEM replacements.
As this was happening, one of the locals in the NAPA overheard my plight and said he has an old '86 4Runner for parts that might use the same brake hose. Sure enough, the hose looks like a good fit and connected up to the male hardline without an issue. Here's the problem though: the threads on the male-male NPT fitting that connects the brake hose to the caliper are totally fxxxed.
I suspect the damage happened when the caliper was pulled down to the bottom of the rotor and torqued incredibly hard. I believe the female threads inside the caliper are still good as I was able to successfully install a male-female fitting, and all I need to stop the leaks is another male-male fitting.
So what's the fastest way to get a replacement NPT 10 x 1.0mm male-male fitting in the middle of nowhere? Any other ideas to consider?
