front caliper bolt stuck. 3/8 allen stripped out.

[Bfox]

Hello i have a 97 blazer and the front caliper bolt is stuck. I put my allen on the bottom bolt it came right out. I go for the top and it wouldnt budge. I noticed the allen didint fit tight like the bottom did. I looked even further and its stripped. Now the bolt is stuck. any ideas how i can get this out. I dont know if i posted in the right place or not. But i searched for what i was looking for and didnt find anything. anybody out there have this problem or know how to fix this without breaking it off in the spindle? thanks fellow chevy lovers.

[mwaldrp]

Do you have a good pair of vice grip pliers? If I remember correctly the outer portion of that bolt has ribs or spines that the pliers could grip to nicely. Be sure to use lots of penetrating lube on the bolt before you try to remove it. If that doesn't work there are tools designed to remove stripped bolts that dig into the remaining metal for grip. Try the pliers before you invest in a set of those however. I wish you good luck Bfox. Stripped bolts can be a real nightmare.

[inafogg]

are you sure its a 3/8 & not a torques head??i've used a smaller size pipe wrench on 1 that i had froozen.good luck

[mwaldrp]

Originally Posted by inafogg

are you sure its a 3/8 & not a torques head??i've used a smaller size pipe wrench on 1 that i had froozen.good luck

The 97 blazer may be different but my 97 Jimmy is definitely a 3/8 in. allen head. The pipe wrench is a good idea.

[mike2004tct]

A few years back, I had the head snap off the caliper bolt.

I used my Dremel tool to cut the bolt between the bracket and the caliper, slid the shaft out, removed the caliper, and used a vise grips on the remainder of the shaft to remove it from the bracket that it screwed into.

And yes, the '97 is a 3/8" Allen hex head.

[krivasauto]

[quote=mike2004tct;6371837]I used my Dremel tool to cut the bolt between the bracket and the caliper, slid the shaft out, removed the caliper, and used a vise grips on the remainder of the shaft to remove it from the bracket that it screwed into.quote]

You might also be able to use the dremel to cut a deep slot in the tool and use a good flat-blade screwdriver with a big pair of vise grips clamped onto the screwdriver shaft. Push hard on the screwdriver and use the vise grips to torque the bolt off.