Replacing caliper knuckle bolts
Captconan
09-10-2010, 07:47 PM
I'm doing all 4 wheel brake job on my 92 Sentra and am replacing the front rotors too. To get those off I need to remove the "knuckle", which is referred to as the torque plate in the haynes manual, which is part of the caliper assembly. Lo an behold the bolts that hold the knuckle in are rusted beyond hope and I managed to break off 3 out of 4 bolts with only one surviving. After heating it up and using lots of penetrant, I was able to get both broken bolts out off the one torque plate that had both broken bolts. I took the surviving bolt to NAPA to get replacements.
SO i get back to put the knuckle back on and not only does it NOT fit in the knuckle but the bolt won't even fit into the hole that secures the knuckle to the rest of the car.
The replacement bolt starts to go in the knuckle when I attempt to screw it in, but there is simply too much resistance for a perfect fit. And it will not go in the hole that secures the knuckle to the rest of the car at all. It just seems a couple thousands too big.
Are these bolts that came on the car non-standard? I've gone to a couple auto parts stores with the knuckle and they can't give me a solution other than to buy new torque plates and perhaps hone out the holes that are too small.
Ideas anyone? I'm on day 4 of this "easy" brake job.
SO i get back to put the knuckle back on and not only does it NOT fit in the knuckle but the bolt won't even fit into the hole that secures the knuckle to the rest of the car.
The replacement bolt starts to go in the knuckle when I attempt to screw it in, but there is simply too much resistance for a perfect fit. And it will not go in the hole that secures the knuckle to the rest of the car at all. It just seems a couple thousands too big.
Are these bolts that came on the car non-standard? I've gone to a couple auto parts stores with the knuckle and they can't give me a solution other than to buy new torque plates and perhaps hone out the holes that are too small.
Ideas anyone? I'm on day 4 of this "easy" brake job.
vgames33
09-16-2010, 06:25 PM
Should be regular metric hardware.
Do you have a picture of what you're trying to do? The only "torque plate" that I've ever heard of is for boring engine blocks.
Do you have a picture of what you're trying to do? The only "torque plate" that I've ever heard of is for boring engine blocks.
ctwright
11-19-2010, 07:39 PM
A little too late now but the rotor can be taken off separately, but it is a pain, the book says you have to take the whole knuckle & hub assembly to a shop. I just beat the living daylights out of the rotor till it came off, b4 tried with a puller and it just broke part of the rotor so I wouldn't recommend trying a puller b/c all the tension, after that I used a big hammer. I was replacing it anyway. Had some ball bearings fall out, put them back in, packed with grease really well then put the new rotor on.
The book also says the balljoints can't be replaced separately and that you have to get a whole control arm instead, however those can be replaced separately.
The book also says the balljoints can't be replaced separately and that you have to get a whole control arm instead, however those can be replaced separately.
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