Frozen Caliper Bolts SOLVED

[Michael Williams]

Thanks for all the input from James, Brian & Richard. I should have
taken the hint right from the start that this was going to be a little
bit to one side of simple. Just in trying to get off the wheel was a
challenge. Two of the bolts loosened right up but the other two took
several careful minutes of bouncing my 180 lbs on the lug tool for them
to even budge. I was thinking all the time of Phil and his monkey lads.
The hex bolts on the caliper were conveniently sized at 7 mm. This was
one size I did not have so a quick trip to the local auto parts store
provided me with a set that went 6 to 8 mm with nothing in between.
Honestly did not know the correct size till then since the hex tools I
have are SAE and I was looking for something inbetween 1/4" and 5/16".
Ran back to the parts store for an exchange. Now I know where 7 mm fits
in the SAE world. Got the caliper right off but the carrier was another
story. Try as I might I could not get it to budge. Went looking for the
WD-40 and just like everything, when you look for it, its not going to
be found. Quick trip to Wal-Mart for that. Sprayed the bolts down,
waited, yanked, pulled and no success. Sprayed some more and came in to
write the list. With my limited area to work in my dream of an impact
wrench and air compressor was looking better and better. I tried all
different pipes that I had around the house for an extension but they
were either too small or too long. ( I had parked my car too close to
another one of mine in front) Next was a quick trip to Home Depot with
the Mrs and my Craftsman. Surely  they would have a pipe wide enough for
the crescent end and get it cut to order. I was a bit disappointed by
finding out I needed a 11/2" ID pipe but all of theirs were about 10 ft
long. I didn't really feel like forking out 15 bucks for that. Well
thanks to the Mrs. she spotted some 12" long pipe in the size needed. A
quick trip home and an assist from her in holding the socket flush gave
us VICTORY !!!!!!!! Well I got the pads back in but the piston had
pushed out so back to the parts store to find a caliper spreader. They
were all out but the salesman said to use a C clamp instead. I guess my
brain had quit functioning by now to see the obvious. That was a great
idea, I have one at home :o) NOT !!!!!!!!
Back to Wal-Mart then the parts store. C clamps were hard to find. Even
the salesman at Wal-Mart was surprised. Yea I guess everyone was sitting
around thinking that today would be a good day to go buy some C clamps
What I've learned today is that simple jobs are not necessarily THAT
SIMPLE. All the tools that you think you have, you really don't and its
always good to have the wife there as a helper and extra set of eyes.
Now on to tomorrow and the right side brakes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike Willliams
East Coast Mike