Hi all,
I have a 1970 small block. Have had it for 25 years and never had to do anything with the brakes. Figured it was well due to give them some love. So I was going to rebuild the calipers and master cylinder and replace the rubber lines with stainless flex lines. I also started experiencing that when I brake, the car pulls pretty hard to the left... I assume that means the front right caliper may not be working?

Got the calipers off the car.. But I can't break the bolts free that hold the caliper halves together. What seems strange is there is not room to put a socket on those bolts, so I have to try to break them free with an open ended wrench? They are so tight. I'm afraid I'm going to round off the corners. Does this sound right? Should I be able to get a socket on them? I'm wondering if these are not original calipers? Maybe previous owner changed them?

Any ideas/suggestions of how to get them separated?

 

Pics helpful but my memory is fronts are really torqued on..get a bar and a socket and remove with it carefully in a vice..some say loosen when on car..i prefer vice as you must then torque them back..some say 6 point better.I used what i had 12 point half inch with breaker
that s with oem ones....no clue what you have but again pic helpful..
personally other than hoses less than 10 years old and leaks..i dont mess with anything..
every other year brake bleed/ flush..
also my lesson learned...go with o ring kits..lip seals for me were 50/50

good luck!

 

Yeah, a 24" breaker bar, 6-pt socket and a vice should easily loosen the bolts.

 

Thanks guys... I'll post pictures tonight. But due to how the casting is, I can't fit a socket over the head of the bolt. Wish I could because then I could use my electric (battery) impact.

 

impact sockets will not fit on use a regular thin walled socket with a breaker bar

 

Or grind a bit of material away from around the bolt.

 

Put them back on the car. No need to hook up the fluid lines.. Now you can put a breaker bar on the bolt. If you have an impact wrench, now would be the time to use it. I have rebuilt many calipers, and have never seen a Delco caliper that I could not put a six point socket on. Pictures would help. Jerry

 

How will that help when he already said he can't get a socket onto the bolt?

 

Craftsman has a "thin-wall, 6 pt. Those thin-walls come in handy on rocker arm nuts too.

 

You guys were right (again). I had previously tried my impact sockets and they wouldn't fit. But my standard socket would. I put the caliper back on the car and used a breaker bar and got them free. The other side seems to be more difficult to get the socket on... But I'll figure it out... Maybe that one will need to be done on a vice.

Thank you all - stay healthy!

 

I offer this only as general knowledge, because I am not certain of the clearance problems you need to solve, I hope it might help somewhere, sometime.

Metrinch is a computer designed tool line that grips and drives the nut only on the sides, not using the corners at all, so no danger of rounding the corners of any fastener. I have seen other sockets and wrenchs that also drive by the flanks, and not the corners, but don't remember the names. The metrinch stuff works on both metric and SAE with the same tool, a benefit of the design. The only drawback is that the sockets will fall off the nut, unlike a tool with a tighter fit that grips the corners. I'm a fan of the stuff, liking most space saving stuff in general, plus I never have to figure out what standard the stuff I am repairing is built with.

This reminds me of a story, if you have time.

I used to sail into Valdez Alaska , where, besides the oil pipeline as the attraction, there is a seasonal tourist trade , fishing for big halibut. There also was an airboat that ran out to the glacier. Unfortunately for the airboat, it was left unattended , and the tides had the thing captured underwater for some time. Once the ice thawed, the control surfaces no longer moved when it was recovered, and the vessel was abandoned on the mud flats . A local used to pass by this wreck everyday, and started to apply penetrating oil to the control rams, every day as he passed by on his daily walks, a couple of drops and an attempt to move the wings. In time he got the control wings to wiggle a bit, and with more time, full function of the control surfaces was restored, and he got himself a "free" flying boat. The complete repair details were not discussed when the story was told to me, I never saw the owner, but it did make me a believer in liquid wrench and those types of products.

 

I am glad you got the caliper apart. When reinstalling, you can assemble them on the bench and torque them on the car. Jerry

 

... That is exactly how I do it, break them loose on the car than remove them from the spindle. Reassemble them when done and then remount them on the spindle to torque them to spec.

Good luck... GUSTO

 

I always break the bolts loose on the car. Glad you got it