divil

I am just starting a caliper rebuild/refinish and I wanted to get the steel plates off. I don't think I really need to - I just wanted to be thorough, but I can't get the little torx screws out. Following a suggestion from Olli in another thread I put the caliper in citric acid for a few hours, which did a great job of cleaning it. Then I got an electric heat gun and heated the screw for quite a while. Still no luck. I tried hitting it with a chisel to rotate it...all that does it chip away at the head and soon there will be nothing left if I keep doing that.

At this point there are still a few things I haven't tried - like cutting a slot for a screwdriver, but I'm not too hopeful. Welding is not an option for me. I thought I might file 2 flat sections at opposite sides and grab it with a channel locks. I'm looking for opinions - my options seem to be either carry on with the rebuild and forget about the steel plates, or take them to a machine shop. What would you do? They don't seem to be having any corrosion issues, but I hate doing anything half baked.

Olli Snellman

At this point mig welding machine is your friend. I use it all the time when rebuilding calipers. Just weld a bolt to that caliper bolt and turn them away. I usually use 13mm head bolts to do the job. If you plan to re-use dust shields, remove them before welding.

divil

Thanks...since I can't do this myself, I'd have to take it to a shop. Do you think it's really important to get those plates off? It doesn't look like there's any corrosion under there. But it would be nice to clean an paint underneath them and never worry about it again.

Update...I took one of them to a machine shop and they agreed welding on a nut is probably the only way. They quoted $40 per caliper. That's not too bad but with the extra hassle and the risk of them damaging something, I think I will just leave well enough alone.

Olli Snellman

In most cases welding is the only way to go. Mig generates enough heat to loosen bolts. It's quite rare if you can remove all the bolts without "Mig-procedure"