86 rx7 pads;

So I'm changing my own brake pads for the first time, and the first wheel I take off is the driver side rear.

I read in my downloaded manual that I just have to remove the lower bolt and then lift up the caliper. Sure no problem! Easy enough!

For starters I unscrew the lower bolt and as I'm pulling it out, I hit an "arm" so I can't pull the bolt all the way out, only most of the way out. So I figure that must be as far as it has to come out to raise the caliper. But the caliper won't raise, or even 'budge' for that matter. Even if I pry it hard upwards.

So now I figure that the top bolt may need to be loosened, as I'm assuming that it pivots on the top bolt. So for the next hour I spend reafing on this top bolt to no end, and it won't budge. A few rashed knuckles later, this thing is not budging... I've got ratchet and a wrench acting as a reafing bar, but nothing is working. Can getting the break caliper up really be this hard??

Does the top bolt have to be loosened? How come the caliper won't lift up???

Thanks.

 

Are you loosening the caliper mounting bolts or the bolts that the active (piston) side slides on?

The actual mounting bolts have 17mm heads and are short enough that they easily come all the way out.
It's not unusual for the mounting bolts to be semi-frozen in place as they are fairly large and fine threaded but some PB Blaster should help.
Use anti-seize on them during reinstallation to avoid problems in the future.

 

i think the bolts that mount the capers to the hub are 14mm but that's beside the point. put a wrench on each bolt and hit it with a mallet if you cant break them loose with your hands. lefty loosey, righty tighty. +1 on the anti sieze

 

I tried the hammer force on the wrench. The wrench actually started to strip the bolt, so I used a stripped bolt socket and even then I'm nailing the thing with the hammer and it's not budging.

I assume the first bolt was the correct bolt. There was really only two bolts I could see. One on the bottom and one on the top.

 

Did you leave the emergency brake on?

 

yes? Would that affect the bolts?

-- edit: am I an idiot, I guess that would hold the brakes to the rotor, not allowing it to go up!

 

^^ Lessons learned the hard way always stick.

 

Won't affect getting the bolts loose though.

 

thanks bros, after I released the ebreak, the caliper flipped right up!! I didn't need to undo the top bolt, guess it's good to know now where it pivots from, and no, its not the top bolt!

On a side note, after trying to compress the piston with a C-clamp unsuccessfully, I went and bought one of those piston cubes... worked like a charm!

What a great feeling when you getter done successfully!!