Ok so had to replace my brake pads on my 85 4runner. Seemed like the perfect time to do wheel bearings as well. That's where the good stops. So I pull the driver side apart and its very dirty. Have a leaking power steering line Inneed to get to. Anyways get the bearings packed and installed. New rotors as well, old ones were cooked. Get the rotor and hub bolted back together, easy peasy. Trying to get the brake caliper bolted back on and I screwed up. I thought I had enough threads on it to ensure I was threaded in both holes. Put my 1/4" impact on it to snug them down. 3/4 way home it quits sinking, just spins. So I have cross threaded/stripped holes. I think I can just tap it to the next size up. From what I have read 1/2-20 is almost a perfect upsize. Only needed to drill out the caliper hole to accommodate the bigger bolt size.

My question is as follows. Do I need to tap it from behind, the direction the bolt enters it, or can I do it from the outside. So do I need to pull the steering knuckle or can I leave it on the axle attached to the truck?

Thanks in advance.

 

I've actually done this before on a Subaru and yes, 1/2-20 is what I used and it worked out great. I had the knuckle off when I drilled and tapped it, but I suppose you could do it the other direction without a problem. I don't see it being an issue as long as you drill it out very straight. Use lots of cutting oil and take your time!

 

You can drill and tap from either end, generally speaking. But you need to put the champher on the side the bolt enters from.

PS, don't use an impact for anything but removing stuborn nuts and bolts! Generally ones you know are getting replaced, and the thread chased. Lessons learned the hard way stick the best in memory.

PPS, for edification purposes.. An impact produces a thrust (in/out) motion, its purpose is to break loose sticking (typically galled) connectors by "thrusting" the two pieces apart from one another to over come the friction. This is very bad for threads, it causes them to separate (get a bigger gap). You should always start threads by hand, use a counter rotating action and they will "click" into place when the two starting threads align, and run them inby hand then with a low torque (short throw) wrench or ratchet. Following with a torque wrench of the appropriate size..

 

Was the 1/4" impact a typo ??

Maybe 3/4"?

If not I want to buy one of those with enough power to spin M12 bolts

Your sure it is the female threads and so bad it can`t be cleaned up??

 

It was a 1/4" Dewalt, 1800 ish inch pounds. I was cold and looking to run them down snug then torque them properly. I haven't pulled them out yet. It was a walk away from it moment. I will look at them to see if they can be cleaned up first. But gut feeling is they are in need of a resize.

 

Ok so I cant find a tap and dye locally or any bolts or nuts to try and clean up the threads. The OEM bolts look like the got the worse end of it. With some patience and a bit of oil I was able to get the to both thread back in by hand, the bolt threads are a bit better. I believe they will hold fine until I upgrade my brakes.

So now my next 2 questions.

A: I am looking at extending the brake lines when I put the lift on. Do these typically go direct to the caliper hard line or do they bypass the stupid hard line and go direct to the caliper?

B: There is a bracket that has a 12mm bolt that goes in to the brake line bracket where the hard and soft line join, and then to the 2 brake caliper bolts. Is this bracket necessary? If so for shimming the caliper bolts then can i cut the brake line bolt tab off.

With the hard lines it's challenging to get the beat up bolts to thread in with the tension on the hard line working against the bracket.

Edit: looking at extended brake line options i see some guys running 2 stock rear lines for the front "extended option. I don't like the extra joint in the line but that gives them a male female hook up to go in to the caliper from what i have read. Then looking at marlins website i see they sell the 26" "extended brake line kit for the front female/female. And a 26" male/female for the real. Any reason this rear extended line from Marlin wouldn't work for the front?

 

Well update: threads are still "sticky" but i can get them to hold torque so that a win. Found out my drivers side caliper was toast so drove 70 miles to get new ones, both sides. So tomorrow morning I will button up the drivers side and begin taking the hub and rotor apart to put the new rotor on it.

Its going to have new rotors, calipers, pads, and repacked wheel bearings. Figure when I regear i will do new bearings and cross over steering at the same time.

 

Helicoil is always an option as well.

 

Fighting a different problem at the moment. Got it ti take torque so I left it at that. However when I did the brakes in the rear i noticed that the passenger side rear Ebrake lever, where it enters the drum housing was frozen. After beating the crap out of it and plenty of PB Blaster got it to move. But not enough to be used.

Cant really gwt them to adjust right without the E Brake. Been actually looking at prices for 86-87 axles locally.

 

The bell crank is what's seized? I had the same problem and apparently it's common. Good news is they're replaceable, no need for a new axle. I was able to scrub mine down and then grease the crap out of em and they're still good a couple years later.

 

Not sure if its the bell crank or not. I will try and pull a tire and get a picture tonight.

Thanks

 

Cool, hopefully I can help save you a headache and some $, those bellcranks are a bad design, imo. They have rubber boot, but I think it just holds mud and water...and god help you if you drive on salted roads.

I spent a winter in Providence and pulled the ebrake one day. The dash light stayed on until I dug through a foot of snow and pulled the cable to release it. I quit using the parking brake after that. At first I thought it was the linkage assembly in front of the fuel tank, but 2 years later figured it out when I rebuilt the drums, which were fully seized and dragging by that point. It's good to have a parking brake again!

 

wouldn't be my 1st choice on a front brake

 

The family that owns the local napa near me warned not to helicoil a caliper with stripped threads. They said it would definitely back out even with red locktite cause of the temps that calipers can reach.

I found that drilling and tapping up to the next size (SAE, 1/2" x 20) worked great for me. You could also use a shouldered time-sert. Use high-quality grade 8 bolts.