Hey guys, need some quick advice.

I am doing my brakes, and when getting the caliper bolts out I got the top one, but the bottom ones head broke off. I cant grab it with anything it is too far in there. Is the only option to try and drill it out? I dont have any kits (have a drill and bits though). But I dont have access to a parts store either..

any help is appreciated

 

Ouch. That is gonna be fun.... Can you get the caliper off anyway? (rotate it away from the rotor, and then slide off the pin?)

Drilling is going to be a problem if you can't get the caliper out of the way. (but, if you can get it out of the way, there will be plenty to grab ahold of.... so, no need to drill)

 

I will still be able to get the caliper off before i remove the bolt? Can you explain a bit more.. rotate it away from the rotor?

 

Not exactly sure..... but, can you rotate the caliper on that bolt enough, so you can clear the rotor, and slide the caliper off the bolt?

 

Take a look at your situation and see if you can separate the sliding part of the caliper (the part that normally contains the pads) from the part that is bolted to the hub. Get that sliding part out of the way and then see if you have some more room to work with. If you broke the head of the bolt off, with the other bolt removed, you should be able to wiggle that part of the caliper off the broken bolt (because now it has no head to stop the caliper from coming off) and maybe rotate it back and forth till it comes all the way off. The you can use vice grips or something to grab the broken bolt and remove it.

 

Ill try that, and get back to ya. thanks

 

I would start by soaking it in any kind of penetrant I could get ahold of. PB Blaster is a friend of mine in those situations. No matter what plan of attack you have for it, you are going to want it to move when you tell it to. Soak it.
Worst case: Depending on what you are working on, (I assume its a second gen dodge pickup, being as thats where you posted) calipers arent that expensive. You may need to cut your old one off, gaining access to the broken bolt, and buy a replacement. That is the "if all else fails" approach. Good luck.

 

Alright so i wasnt able to move it too much - with some taps from a hammer it moved maybe in inch or so. Good thinking jkeaton, i think that will work but it doesnt seem to move much more. I will try greasing it up. WD 40 might be my only option for that. Do i run a risk of damaging anything with a hammer?

 

Cast iron caliper? Probably not. I would get a better penetrant than WD-40 though.

 

If you can swing it out some, I would think you coud remove the rotor possibly and crate more room. Not sure though, never been up that creek