72 broken brake bleeder

[Gary S.]

I broke a brake bleeder in the rear during a brake bleed job. Despite PB Blaster, light tapping and a little patience it sheared off at the caliper.

Has anyone had luck either with an EZ out or carefully drilling the bolt out using incrementally larger drill bits? I just got my VBP front O ring kit installed and was hoping to preserve my original calipers and save me the hassle and delay of another brake job, this time on the rear.

Ideas?

[Terry M.]

[Gary S.]

Re: 72 broken brake bleeder

Thanks Terry.

[Floyd B.]

http://www.jpcycles.com/product/240-797?utm_source=PLAs&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CLfIh8T2nrkCFUyk4Aodcj4AcA

[Gary S.]

Re: 72 broken brake bleeder

That is a lot of machining work I would guess. Thank you for that link. I am going to take it to a machine shop that I have locally and see what they say.

[Floyd B.]

Re: 72 broken brake bleeder

>> That is a lot of machining work I would guess

[Terry M.]

Re: 72 broken brake bleeder

I bought some reman calipers (NAPA) for the rear of one of my Caprices and one of them was brand new and the other had one of those inserts. It frustrates me now because I never have the correct size wrench to bleed that caliper. All the others are 10mm, but that one is smaller and I have to make several trips to get the correct size wrench. A minor irritant, but the remans were less expensive than the parts to rebuild the originals myself. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

[Dick W.]

Re: 72 broken brake bleeder

I broke a brake bleeder in the rear during a brake bleed job. Despite PB Blaster, light tapping and a little patience it sheared off at the caliper.

Has anyone had luck either with an EZ out or carefully drilling the bolt out using incrementally larger drill bits? I just got my VBP front O ring kit installed and was hoping to preserve my original calipers and save me the hassle and delay of another brake job, this time on the rear.

Ideas?

Take the pistons back out, heat the area around the bleeder, let it cool, frail the h**l out of it, soak it in a good penetrating oil, heat again, then try a left hand drill bit. The combination of heat and vibration from the frailing will sometimes allow the fastener to back out when using the LH drill bit. Nothing ventured, nothing lost if it does not work. If that does not work, I would take it to a machine shop and let them remove the screw. If you break an easy out, the only way to remove it is EDM, which none of us have in our shops.

[Tom L.]

Re: 72 broken brake bleeder

Used one of these on one of my calipers a while back.

http://www.jegs.com/i/Wilwood/950/22...FYik4AodRykAYQ

Just drill and tap with a 1/8" pipe tap and screw it in, worked great.

[Paul J.]

Re: 72 broken brake bleeder

Gary, I would do what Dick says, but before I sent it to a machine shop I would try to drill out the broken bleeder without damaging the threads in the caliper housing. This can be a little tricky, especially if you don't have a drill press, but I've had good results with this method. I hold the caliper down with clamps and brace under it, and I use a drill bit in the press that will slide into the broken bleeder to set up the vertical alignment. Don't worry about damaging the seat because you're not going to drill that far. You only need to go as far as the threads on the bleeder screw. Gradually increase bit sizes until you can just see the threads in the housing. Now the fun begins as you have to dig the shavings, thread remnants, and screw base out.

If you mess this up then you're into the repair kits previously mentioned. If you don't feel comfortable doing this you can still go to the machine shop.

Paul

[Gary S.]

Re: 72 broken brake bleeder

Thank you all. Just back from minor surgery so nothing happening today. I will try Dick's method first and then, if that doesn't work, off to a small local machine shop.

[Patrick H.]

Re: 72 broken brake bleeder

I usually find that the cost of a rebuild kit isn't much different than the cost of swapping a caliper with one of the major rebuilders.
You might find it most cost effective to buy another caliper and send this one back as a core.
Unless, of course, this happens to be an original caliper to your car.

Patrick

[Gary S.]

Re: 72 broken brake bleeder

Hi Patrick,
Therein lies the rub. To the best of my knowledge, both of the history of this car and the mileage, I have no reason no to believe that this caliper isn't original. I initially talked to VBP and asked if I would expect an original and correct caliper in exchange for mine. "Maybe". Hmmm. I am going to sit on this for a bit if my local machine shop isn't able to help me. Plus I can always look for a correct and original caliper to rebuild if the machine shop can't help and I choose not to go with one of the alternatives as expressed here.

Thank you to all who offered advice.

Gary

I usually find that the cost of a rebuild kit isn't much different than the cost of swapping a caliper with one of the major rebuilders.
You might find it most cost effective to buy another caliper and send this one back as a core.
Unless, of course, this happens to be an original caliper to your car.

Patrick