WARNING - Check your caliper bolts

[AZCooWhip]

My wife and I woke up to one hell of a surprise here in Death Valley this morning. I was backing into a parking spot and notice a “small” clunk noise as we arrived at our hotel for evening. In morning with more light I checked out the situation and was shocked I had lost the upper front passenger caliper bolt.

Death Valley. No parts stores. No vehicle repair shops. No hardware stores. Nothing. Very little phone service and spotty Wi-Fi at hotel.
Luckily we came across a small Jeep rental place that the owner was able to scavenge one off of one of his Jeeps. If not, we were screwed.
Closest parts stores were hours away and they had nothing. 5 hours from LAX or Las Vegas. Last resort was to have Mopar to UPS on to Death Valley when they opened on Tuesday and would have gotten in when we did.

Folks, check those bolts. I will be following up with Jeep upon our return.

We were VERY lucky today.

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[bigcheeshead]

Same thing happened to me years ago while offroading my 2009 JK on the Back Way to Desert Bar trail in Parker, AZ. Caliper bolt fell off and the caliper jammed the tire so I couldn't move at all. It cost over $2,000 for offroad recovery plus another $1,200 in repairs. Since that little misadventure I always blue loctite those bolts and make sure that the shops do the same when working on my Jeep.

 

[AZCooWhip]

I hear you on the blue. My exact words to my wifey.

Didn’t think I would ever have a failure line this on less than 20,000 mile vehicle less than 2 years old. Line and learn I guess.

Guess what I am ordering once I get home. Yep. A few extra bolts in the tool bag as well.

Someone was watching over us. Death Valley is tough enough as it is. We were on our way to head out to even more remote areas. No recovery teams here.

Cannot even imagine having a blow out like yours and no solutions.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

There's a couple of threads about that here - and there's a TSB covering REAR caliper ADAPTER bolt loss.......... they don't mention the caliper bolts.

 

[AZCooWhip]

Papa, thanks for the info. Once we are back into civilization I will check that out.

Death Valley is still a place to visit. This place is incredible. Just when you think you’ve seen a lot.

Just do a bolt check before during and after ??

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Papa, thanks for the info. Once we are back into civilization I will check that out.

Death Valley is still a place to visit. This place is incredible. Just when you think you’ve seen a lot.

Just do a bolt check before during and after ??

No matter where you are, that's a scary part to come apart on you. I was thankful for manual mode in the transmission and good brakes on our CO trip last summer.

 

[j.o.y.ride]

I had a caliper bolt go missing as well

 

[Osteodoc08]

Thanks guys. Will check and torque them all down.

 

[Geoarch]

What's the part number?

 

[AZCooWhip]

This is the culprit right here.. Upper bolt Somehow backed itself out after 1.5 years of ownership. Many off road and rock crawling road trips with no issues or any indication that bolt was finding its way out.

Upon inspection at the same time, lower bolt was on its way out as well. If that one would have let loose, then it could have been bad.

Anyone know off the top what the correct torque is on these bolts?

 

[skindata]

@AllMoparParts.com
Benny should be able to help you out.

 

[RicardoLDV]

My wife and I woke up to one hell of a surprise here in Death Valley this morning. I was backing into a parking spot and notice a “small” clunk noise as we arrived at our hotel for evening. In morning with more light I checked out the situation and was shocked I had lost the upper front passenger caliper bolt.

Death Valley. No parts stores. No vehicle repair shops. No hardware stores. Nothing. Very little phone service and spotty Wi-Fi at hotel.
Luckily we came across a small Jeep rental place that the owner was able to scavenge one off of one of his Jeeps. If not, we were screwed.
Closest parts stores were hours away and they had nothing. 5 hours from LAX or Las Vegas. Last resort was to have Mopar to UPS on to Death Valley when they opened on Tuesday and would have gotten in when we did.

Folks, check those bolts. I will be following up with Jeep upon our return.

We were VERY lucky today.

Please protect other consumers by reporting this to the National Highway Safety Administration (www.nhtsa.gov or call 888-327-4236). Thanks!

 

[Volt0]

Anyone know off the top what the correct torque is on these bolts?

It’s in the attachment that @ShadowsPapa posted

 

[Bizill]

Still crappening to this day in 2025. Just got me, caliper ground into the rim. Same offenders, passenger bottom bolt and driver top. Lost passenger altogether. Replaced them all with new ones from Dorman and used ORANGE thread locker from Permatex. We'll see how that works out. Used fingernail polish to mark the bolts for easy visual identification.

...aaand, I just noticed I used the spec sheet for Gladiator torque values of 72-75 ft/lbs instead of the updated 92. FML. I'm gonna roll with what I did and not try to unsettle the thread lock and don't want to back them all out, add more TL and torque again. Woe is me.

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