Went to fit new HBrake shoes and clean up the mechanism/adjuster yesterday (first job ever attempted on a car!), I managed to get the off side done without too much trouble, however the near side brake caliper bolts are well seized and are now slightly rounding. Any help on how to try remove them (I have replacement bolts) would be much appreciated!

Many thanks in advance

In the past I’ve soaked them in WD40 or similar and used a punch and a hammer to get them moving until I can get some vice grips on them then it’s a case of twisting pulling and lots more WD40 along the way. Don’t despair if it’s the first job you’ve done on a car you’re doing well.

Thanks for the very quick reply! Will spraying with WD40 frequently be ok as I'm unable to soak them as the calipers are still attached? I've got a small pipe wrench on the way with the hope that that might be able to grip better. I'll obviosuly make sure that I clean down the discs afterwards

Yes spray lots on like you say a good clean down of the disk after will be fine.

Aww you say your doing the hand break shoes WD won’t help your pads but new ones will sort that out.

If you do round the bolts off trying to und do them get a slightly smaller socket on them and then hit it on to the bolt heads with a hammer if you soak them in WD40 or similar the action of hitting on the smaller socket will result in getting a good grip at the same time "shocking " the bolts loose, even better if you have a impact driver. 2013 FL2 XS.
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It's a hard lesson learned, but always use a six sided socket on these type of bolts.

Multipoint sockets invariably round off the heads of exposed fasteners. Treat yourself to a set of impact sockets, and as advised above drift the next size down on to the bolt head, making sure to goes on inline with the bolt, using a good size lump hammer.

Some heat from a blowtorch will help to free the corrosion, but be careful with the caliper seals. I find a mix of old ATF mixed with acetone to thin it down a bit, is far superior to WD 40 for easing corroded bolts.

Some years ago, I bought a second hand dewalt electric impact gun. I was restoring an old MX 5 at the time. I would have been lost without it, the fixings were made out of green cheese lol. Best £30 I have ever spent!

Good luck, let us know how you get on 👍

Thanks for the help and advice all, I'll be having another attempt tomorrow hopefully so I'll post the results then!

Hope you can get them off easily from memory, If it's the carrier ones they should be around 150ft Lbs so are tight. No bolt has yet defeated me but some have been absolute out and out sods.

A suggestion is to bang the bolts with a hammer to break the rust off the thread then a good set of mole grips if the head has rounded. Lots of stuff on you tube

JOJSloan wrote:

Went to fit new HBrake shoes and clean up the mechanism/adjuster yesterday (first job ever attempted on a car!), I managed to get the off side done without too much trouble, however the near side brake caliper bolts are well seized and are now slightly rounding. Any help on how to try remove them (I have replacement bolts) would be much appreciated!

Many thanks in advance

I presume you are referring to the caliper carrier to knuckle bolts (24) not the caliper to carrier bolts . If the former then I'd try some heat to the bolts. I'd not be keen on heating the caliper bolts as too many rubber bits nearby.

 Jules

I Like Chips wrote:

Hope you can get them off easily from memory, If it's the carrier ones they should be around 150ft Lbs so are tight. No bolt has yet defeated me but some have been absolute out and out sods.

JLR manual says 81 lbft / 110 nm for the rear carrier to knuckle bolts. And to use new bolts, but few people actually do that.

If someone has previously used 150lbft (nearly double) then the bolts may need replacing - just something to consider.

I once bust a wheel bolt on my BMW because I inadvertently set my torque wrench to lbs ft rather than nm  Jules

Jules

Quite right the rear calliper to hub should be 81 ft lbs.


It's the front bolts that are 148 ft lbs

what ever bolts they are,as suggested by grimdog, use a 6 sided socket.

Thanks everyone for your assistance, a combination of WD40, hammer, breaker bar and better (6 sided) socket finally got them off! The shoes have been replaced and the mechanism cleaned up, the near side didn't work at all I don't think .

It's nice to have a handbrake that somewhat works now

jules wrote:

I Like Chips wrote:

Hope you can get them off easily from memory, If it's the carrier ones they should be around 150ft Lbs so are tight. No bolt has yet defeated me but some have been absolute out and out sods.

JLR manual says 81 lbft / 110 nm for the rear carrier to knuckle bolts. And to use new bolts, but few people actually do that.

If someone has previously used 150lbft (nearly double) then the bolts may need replacing - just something to consider.

I once bust a wheel bolt on my BMW because I inadvertently set my torque wrench to lbs ft rather than nm