WARNING!! Check/Loc-tite your Brake Caliper bolts!!

[suspension]

Just curious…. What do you guys torque them to?

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[NC_Overland]

12/19

Dang. I’m 11/19, but my entire rearend assembly, brakes and all, was replaced under warranty at 20k miles. Front or rear brakes? I still have my original front brakes. I check them at 60k and they had a surprising amount of life left. I didn't check the bolts though!

 

[Lost1wing]

I have a life time of removing and installing calipers and I have never used locktite or found missing hardware. Must be the " NEW" metal or new techs at the plant, robots? One thing about factory torque specs though. The values are for new bolts and clean threads. Locktite will change the value a bit. Does the tsb call for locktite?

Personally, I would clean the holes and bolts and smoke them down. I have the feel.

 

[whysoserious]

Just curious…. What do you guys torque them to?

Brake caliper bolts and more...

2020-2023 JT Gladiator Torque Values (All of Them in One Place) | Jeep Gladiator (JT) News, Forum, Community - JeepGladiatorForum.com

 

[PaulW]

Link says torque to 92 foot pounds
Btw my 23 Rubicon had a rear bolt fall out. Sheared off the remaining bolt and destroyed the pads. Interesting drive to the shop from the Baja desert. Mechanic disassembled and remove the broken stub, replaced pads and now all is good.
No evidence of thread locker on the stub and the mechanic said it came out easy.

 

[fourfa]

92 ft-lbs rear, but 144 front FWIW

 

[mx5red]

Dang. I’m 11/19, but my entire rearend assembly, brakes and all, was replaced under warranty at 20k miles. Front or rear brakes? I still have my original front brakes. I check them at 60k and they had a surprising amount of life left. I didn't check the bolts though!

I have a life time of removing and installing calipers and I have never used locktite or found missing hardware. Must be the " NEW" metal or new techs at the plant, robots? One thing about factory torque specs though. The values are for new bolts and clean threads. Locktite will change the value a bit. Does the tsb call for locktite?

Personally, I would clean the holes and bolts and smoke them down. I have the feel.

Right rear bottom bolt, then left rear top bolt.
The tsb bolts, which I ordered, came with loc-tite goo on them

 

[WILDHOBO]

So, I just had my second brake caliper adapter bolt remove itself!

First time was in April on Passenger Rear Lower bolt, which almost stranded me on the highway by jamming the caliper into the wheel and crumpling the parking brake/brake shield. Write up about those shenanigans here and here.

I checked/tightened other bolts at that time, and haven’t thought about it since. Yesterday, heard a grinding noise in a parking lot and got out to investigate, only to see a missing Top bolt on my Driver side now.

As I posted before, there is a TSB out for this to replace with 06513551AA M12x1.5x33 bolt, though googling says it is a 30mm bolt just like the originals I have. I only have 33 mm of depth so a 35 mm bolt will not work without careful use of washers.

I did not before but I replaced the bolts with heavy coatings of blue loc-tite on them. Suggest everyone do this!!

Everyone should pay attention to this. I personally use orange. Stronger than blue, but still removable with hand tools. I do the same on the three bolts holding the unit bearing on.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Are these one-time-use bolts like the ones on the Cherokees? FSM says replace them with new ones and properly torque them when you do a brake job, youtube experts all re-use them...

That’s because of the thread locker on the new ones very likely.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Does that mean that after the TSB (2021 Gladiators and earlier), that they fixed the issue? Seems unlikely.

Easy insurance to just throw some orange on them.

 

[MassMopar]

What are we talking here. $5-10 a bolt, for 4 bolts? On a 40-60k truck? Just buy new OEM ones and torque them correctly. They're keeping your brakes on. Don't reuse 1-time use (torque to yield) bolts that stretch as you tighten them, and definitely don't add your own rando threadlocker to them as it'll act as a lubricant which will f-up your torque spec AND probably won't be rated for the heat it'll see. Spend the $40? and quit cheaping out on probably the most important system on the truck.

 

[WILDHOBO]

What are we talking here. $5-10 a bolt, for 4 bolts? On a 40-60k truck? Just buy new OEM ones and torque them correctly. They're keeping your brakes on. Don't reuse 1-time use (torque to yield) bolts that stretch as you tighten them, and definitely don't add your own rando threadlocker to them as it'll act as a lubricant which will f-up your torque spec AND probably won't be rated for the heat it'll see. Spend the $40? and quit cheaping out on probably the most important system on the truck.

These aren’t like the twisty driveshaft bolts. They recommend replacement because of the thread locker. These stop dead when you hit the 145 ft lbs. even with existing bolts and orange thread locker.

I hear where you’re coming from. I won’t reinstall a driveshaft without new bolts on these. They have one time use sealing surfaces, and you can feel them twist with hand tools. But these are monster, probably 12.9 rated bolts with fine threads, and they’re smashing two machines surfaces together, not clamping something.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Don't reuse 1-time use (torque to yield) bolts that stretch as you tighten them, and

These aren't that. The reason FCA says not to re-use certain bolts is the locker, not stretching.
These aren't torque to yield.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

These aren’t like the twisty driveshaft bolts. They recommend replacement because of the thread locker. These stop dead when you hit the 145 ft lbs. even with existing bolts and orange thread locker.

I hear where you’re coming from. I won’t reinstall a driveshaft without new bolts on these. They have one time use sealing surfaces, and you can feel them twist with hand tools. But these are monster, probably 12.9 rated bolts with fine threads, and they’re smashing two machines surfaces together, not clamping something.

Yes, well said. Like many other fasteners, FCA has the "do not reuse because techs are using them - and they don't bother with Loctite and so on. It's new bolts for them, like the nut on the pitman shaft - the nut isn't bad, the locking compound is.

 

[Pilsner]

Funny mentioning this, been replacing the brakes on my 08 JK for a while and never used loctite. Replaced them on my wife's Hyundai Tuscon and low and behold a bolt backed itself out. Bought some replacements from the auto parts store and they come with that red loctite already on them. So from now on all caliper bolts get loctite.

Ironically enough, on a side note. Later found another issue where a suspension bolt lost the nut and almost came out. Back drivers tire had some feathering which got me looking into it. Never touched that and we are the only owners, so other than just loosening on it's own, no idea what happened.

I just had one back out completely on a JK lol. Brakes are oem and only 24k on the odo. Mine was the caliper guide bolt, not the bolt holding the whole bracket on. Had never been out. Caused the caliper to shift and contact the wheel. Loud immediate grinding clued me in.

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