real quick question on brake caliper fittings and worst case scenarios

[sehaare]

98 SOHC 4wd XLT Going to be doing the brakes today in the road salt rustbelt of Chicagoland. Calipers are originals, If I get in there and the piston are froze up and I have to replace them, I'm worried about rusted fittings. Looking at the drawings, it appears that the brake line fitting connection to the Caliper are Banjo fittings.

I see two worst case scenarios.

One is that the banjo bolt's flats are rusted away and I can't get a socket to grip, which means I'd be basically screwed unless I can get vice grips on it.

The second is that the banjo bolt is frozen, and I snap it off. In that case it should be no big deal as I should be able to slide the brake hose off the end of the snapped banjo bolt.

That sound about right or am I missing an even worse scenario?

Thanks in advance

 

[Bazz270]

you right.

anyway....in both scenarios you can simply use regular bolt extractors without caliper thread damage.

 

[Pete Deering]

98 SOHC 4wd XLT Going to be doing the brakes today in the road salt rustbelt of Chicagoland. Calipers are originals, If I get in there and the piston are froze up and I have to replace them, I'm worried about rusted fittings. Looking at the drawings, it appears that the brake line fitting connection to the Caliper are Banjo fittings.

I see two worst case scenarios.

One is that the banjo bolt's flats are rusted away and I can't get a socket to grip, which means I'd be basically screwed unless I can get vice grips on it.

The second is that the banjo bolt is frozen, and I snap it off. In that case it should be no big deal as I should be able to slide the brake hose off the end of the snapped banjo bolt.

That sound about right or am I missing an even worse scenario?

Thanks in advance.
I live in a rust belt area, and I never had a problem with the banjo bolt's. If you can't get that bolt loose; replace the flex line with a new banjo bolt's same a the calipers. Make sure the slide pin are free, use brake caliper grease on the slides. If your worried about the banjo bolt's, you should worried about getting the rotors off. Use anti- seize on the axle flange. Good luck

 

[Pete Deering]

Just thinking about your concern; the Banjo bolt is sandwich between two copper washers, which do not rust. On the Banjo bolt, use a socket with a short breaker bar and hit the end of breaker bar handle with a hammer. That will break the Banjo bolt loose.

 

[Pete Deering]

98 SOHC 4wd XLT Going to be doing the brakes today in the road salt rustbelt of Chicagoland. Calipers are originals, If I get in there and the piston are froze up and I have to replace them, I'm worried about rusted fittings. Looking at the drawings, it appears that the brake line fitting connection to the Caliper are Banjo fittings.

I see two worst case scenarios.

One is that the banjo bolt's flats are rusted away and I can't get a socket to grip, which means I'd be basically screwed unless I can get vice grips on it.

The second is that the banjo bolt is frozen, and I snap it off. In that case it should be no big deal as I should be able to slide the brake hose off the end of the snapped banjo bolt.

That sound about right or am I missing an even worse scenario?

Thanks in advance

Still thinking about your ?. The I believe you will most likely have is loosing your bleed screws. I usually spray penetration lube on the threads, also hit the top of the bleed screw with light taps. Then use a socket on a small breaker to free the screws. Also light taps on the handle.. Clean off the caliper piston with brake clean. Then open the bleed screw and then push in the caliper piston.

 

[sehaare]

Still thinking about your ?. The I believe you will most likely have is loosing your bleed screws. I usually spray penetration lube on the threads, also hit the top of the bleed screw with light taps. Then use a socket on a small breaker to free the screws. Also light taps on the handle.. Clean off the caliper piston with brake clean. Then open the bleed screw and then push in the caliper piston.

The only reason that I would even think about touching the banjo bolts would be if I find the caliper is shot, and at that point I'd be replacing it so I wouldn't need to worry about the bleed screw on the old calipers. Thanks for the reply.

 

[sehaare]

you right.

anyway....in both scenarios you can simply use regular bolt extractors without caliper thread damage.

If i have to resort to fooling around with those brake line fitting then It would have been due to the calipers being shot and I wouldn't care at that point if the snapped off bolt was in the old ones as I would be putting new ones in.

 

[sehaare]

I think the fitting on the other end of the brake hose would be in just as bad shape and I sure don't want to damage the threads on the brake line that it is attached to. So I'm fine with damaging a caliper that I'm replacing but I don't have the tools to redo hard brake line.

 

[C420sailor]

Replacing hard brake line isnt that bad, but it’s money you don’t want to spend if you don’t need to.

Use a good 6pt socket. A couple months ago I replaced an original caliper off my truck, 322,000mi, 24 years. Most of its life in NY. With a 6pt, the banjo came right out.

 

[cpocraig]

Re

98 SOHC 4wd XLT Going to be doing the brakes today in the road salt rustbelt of Chicagoland. Calipers are originals, If I get in there and the piston are froze up and I have to replace them, I'm worried about rusted fittings. Looking at the drawings, it appears that the brake line fitting connection to the Caliper are Banjo fittings.

I see two worst case scenarios.

One is that the banjo bolt's flats are rusted away and I can't get a socket to grip, which means I'd be basically screwed unless I can get vice grips on it.

The second is that the banjo bolt is frozen, and I snap it off. In that case it should be no big deal as I should be able to slide the brake hose off the end of the snapped banjo bolt.

That sound about right or am I missing an even worse scenario?

Thanks in advance

Regardless of the status of your caliper you need to do a complete brake system bleed out. Brake fluid will allow moisture to collect in the low spots of the brake system and needs to be purged annually. This will stop the hard lines from corroding from the inside out. The low spots also include the calipers. The number 1 reason calipers fail is the corrosion to the inside of the caliper/ piston. Start at the passenger rear and work your way around with the drivers front corner last.

 

[96eb96]

I think the fitting on the other end of the brake hose would be in just as bad shape and I sure don't want to damage the threads on the brake line that it is attached to. So I'm fine with damaging a caliper that I'm replacing but I don't have the tools to redo hard brake line.

Replacing the connection to the flex brake hose could likely twist the hard line and ruin it. If the hard lines were never replaced, there is a good chance they are ready to leak somewhere along their length.