I'm having a hell of a time removing the caliper for this brake job.

This is the first brake job I've done since I bought my 2000 Ram 3500 wagon. I've completed the drivers side however the passenger side has brought a problem to light

The bolts holding the caliper to the adapter are torx, in contrast to the allen heads on the drivers side. and while one came off somewhat easily, the previous owner stripped the other terribly.







I've soaked it with penetrating lube and gone after it with vice grips, tried allen and torx, and I seem to get nowhere. My options are further limited by the control arm being right next to the head. Because of this I can't even drill it out!



Do any of you have experience with these bolts? I'm just looking for any suggestions or tricks in order to get it out to finish this brake job. My van can't be out of commission much longer

 

Take off the brake hose.

Take off the two large caliper mounting bolts that are behind the rotor and caliper.

Slide the caliper off with a large screwdriver. Throw that one in the garbage if you don't need it for a core and install a new caliper.

 

Also those bolts have 150+ pounds of torque on them so I have always had to remove them and install them like this below.
This trick works with a ratchet too. Be careful!

 

Hold a socket in place that's a bit larger than the head of the bolt, but smaller than the diameter of that washer.
Then use a large clamp on it to press the washer down. Doing this should give you enough of the bolt head exposed to get it off.

 

It looks like with the stripped bolt head the washer limits you getting a good bite on it. Also, the guide pins and boots should be available (not sure of the washers) n looks like it might be a good idea to replace pins and boots anyway, so sacrificing them may be the option.

What about bending out 2 sides of the washer and cut away the boot to expose more of the head to help get a bite on it to break it loose...?

just trying to toss in another idea