removing frozen brake caliper bolt

[hillm250]

I went to remove my front wheel last night to get a new tire today, I figured this is a 15 minute job. The axle came out no problem, however all the brake caliper bolts refused. After 3 hours, lots of bolt blaster and some redneck engineering I got 3 of the 4 bolts out, (all the bolts are trashed now) 1 bolt still refuses to move. I was able to remove the caliper on one side and get the wheel off, so I should be able to reinstall with the new tire the same way.
However, at some point the frozen bolt (which is rounded off) will need to come off. I don't want to weld to it since it is close to the forks/brake caliper. Anybody have any suggestions? I want to KILL whoever changed the tire last, no anti seize was used and the bolts were torqued way past spec

 

[ski84]

Try some Kroil on it.

 

[ElTigre1]

Try some heat. I have had good luck with just a hairdryer.

 

[packnrat]

heat, a good heat gun, or even proper use of a rosebud tip on a gas torch.

or if not then get a drill and drill out the bold. go a step at a time sometimes the less meat in the bold can cause it to loosen up, then at some point a "easy-out".

just drill straight and true...if not new parts needed. :banghead:


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[Duster_360]

Try some Kroil on it.

+1 - try Kroil, its awesome!


I used Kroil to get a WWII Jap rifle barrel off the action it had been on for 60 some odd years. I was the 5th one to try and Kroil made all the difference.

 

[hillm250]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I was able to successfully remove/re-install the wheel with only 1 brake caliper removed. However if the caliper with the frozen bolt has to come off I'll try the kroil. I Also found some cool sockets at sears for removing rounded off bolts.