Steve King Posted September 11, 2010 Share Posted September 11, 2010 Has anyone had them come loose? Yesterday I lost nearly all braking power Luckily I managed to avoid rear ending anyone and was able to pull over in a safe place. There was a huge pool of fluid from the NSF wheel and it seemed to be coming from above the caliper. Today I discovered that one caliper bolt was missing and the other was finger tight! The caliper was pivoting on the remaining bolt and this had caused the joint on the short bent section of metal pipe to fail where it meets the hose! I was able to get a short section of copper pipe made up and was able to get a replacement bolt. I used Loktite, but can't help wondering if a tab washer arrangement would be better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crwoody Posted September 11, 2010 Share Posted September 11, 2010 Nasty - sounds like a bit of quick underwear change moment. Seriously though, it sounds to me that the caliper wasn't tightened up/refitted properly, has it been off recently? I must admit that I've never heard of a caliper coming loose. Generally speaking, the bolts/fixing are fit for purpose so long as the correct torque/ locking method has been applied, on that basis I would not have thought it was worth trying to re-invent the wheel - but I can certainly understand your concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted September 11, 2010 Share Posted September 11, 2010 The bolts should be loctited and then tightened mental tight (I finish them off with a breaker bar). I have removed them to find copperslip grease on the threads and other such stupidity. Even a caliper bolt with grease on that has been then tightened properly should not come undone, so I would guess that they weren't tightened properly. Les Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve King Posted September 11, 2010 Author Share Posted September 11, 2010 Nasty - sounds like a bit of quick underwear change moment.Seriously though, it sounds to me that the caliper wasn't tightened up/refitted properly, has it been off recently? No the caliper has not been off recently, which is the worrying thing! :unsure: I think that this is related to an incident last week, when a rather loud bang at 70 on the M6 gave me another brown trouser moment! I pulled over and carefully inspected all the tyres, driveshafts etc and could see nothing wrong. I pootled along the hard shoulder for a bit and everything seemed fine so I resumed my journey. I put the bang down to a large stone or bit of shed lorry tyre being thrown up by a wheel! I now reckon it was the caliper bolt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.