Well alot of you may have seen my "may have saved a life today" thread. Well yesterday i was headed out to the GF's house and i was gettin off onto a on ramp to get back onto a local hwy in a conjested part of town. Luckily i was only doin about 25-30 mph because the on ramp is pretty sharp curve. SO i hit the brakes and this horrible noise and sterring wheel shake starts goin off!!! Im like WTF!!!! lol so i get pulled over off the ramp into a safe area and it was a task to get stopped. The bottom bolt that bolts the cailper to the knuckle came out.....found out its a common problem on all fords. So one my buddies in his jacked up heavy chevy saw me and pulled over to help. had a floor jack and 4 way whick i usually do but had taken it out the day before!! He helped me out and ran up to the parts store to get another bolt...it didnt excatly work so i took the top bolt and put it in the bottom and put the other in the top. So it was nice for someone though i knew them to stop and help out!!

 

I have lost numerous caliper bolts. I keep two in my glove box! lol

 

Thats a Bitoch

 

I've read a lot of horror stories about losing caliper bolts so I locktite mine every time I remove them. I don't wanna go through this lol.

 

good karma ftw!

 

red locktite red locktite red locktite red locktite red locktite


Tight as ***** and did I mention red locktite?

 

I'd never heard of this problem before. At least now I know when it happens to me. I never used locktite on mine when I did the brakes about 60,000 miles ago.

 

a few weeks up until the day i tore my IFS off my brakes would pull when i hit them hard.

when we got the wheels off and started taking the rest of the stuff off we noticed a bolt was missing.

 

Happened to me twice now, once on both sides.

The passenger side came loose and actally wedged the caliper between my rim and rotor, destroying the caliper, brake hose, rotor, and gouging my rim.

needless to say, now I use loctite.

 

ive never even heard of this problem. only time it happened to me was when i overtightened by bolt and stripped it out. then i lost it. but i still didnt have this happen to me. lol

 

I think im like some of the other people and havent heard of this problem either....

 

I owned five Rangers and never heard of this . But it's something I will look for in the future .

 

I think I'll take mine out and put some locktight on them lol

 

i never had this problem and now that i read this ill make sure i dont with lots of locktite

 

it's happened to me twice as well, one on the driver's side and one on the passanger side. And yes red locktight red locktight red locktight

 

same here. put a nice ring around th inside of both of my front rims. didnt mess my calipers or anything though.

 

same here has happened to me i use locktite now

 

Its happened to me WITH loctite but I think one of the calipers threads are almost stripped out. thankfully its always the lower one so it does not wedge into the rim. It just skid's across it and I am like what the hell is that noise. Now on every long trip when I check my oil at the gas station I check the caliper bolts. lol

 

ive never lost a caliper bolt! glad it worked out though, i do believe what goes around comes around.

 

This makes me want to go out and check mine now. LOL

 

There were a thread or two on here about 2 years ago with pics of the carnage it caused.But like a lot of info posted , over time it gets lost or forgotten .
Maybe we could get a 'Safe Repair Practices' sticky going in the General forum ?
Things such as locktite on certain safety parts,never reuse axle u-bolts ,8 reasons not to smoke when changing fuel filters...

 

This happened to me with my Cougar a while back. I remember hearing a clicking or a BONK when i would be coming to a stop in the car. I lived with it for a while not knowing what it was, then one day i took the wheel off. Well, my right side lower caliper bolt was GONE, and my caliper was moving a ton. It moved enough to totally destroy both brake pads, ate up the inside of the rotor and damaged alot of stuff.

After that, i replaced all of the hardware down there. Spindles were ok, but new bearings (just cuz) rotor, caliper, hoses, and all new clips, bolts, rubber bushings for the caliper bolts and everything. I dont remember using locktite, but i might have, (the kit came with a bunch of greases and other lil things like that.)

I havent done the brakes since then, but no more problems since. Stops straight and true even with 165/80 15s on the front :D

 

GREAT IDEA!!! yeah apperantly from what i hear from alot or people, this is a common problem with all fords!! so make sure weather you do your brakes or a shop does them make sure you/they use locktite on the caliper bolts that bolt the calipers to the knuckle!!! i was very lucky that i was goin slow enough to get it stopped without the caliper chewing my rim in half and other carnage!!

 

Got a pic of the light carnage to inside of rim with my camera today.....like i said i was lucky this was all it did!! lol

 

I never had the problem until I let someone else work on the sport trac. Lost a caliper bolt and had a bunch of loose lugnuts.
I loctite caliper bolts now too.