rear brake issue

[farmerjim]

i went to replace the rear pads on my 04 lly and can't get the torx drive bolts out, is there a special tool for this? they're in there very tight, as i broke my torx drive socket, also tried the impact gun on a low setting no luck. the bolt heads seem very shallow and my socket kept falling out. what gives? any help would be great, jim

[bpick24]

When I do rear brakes on those it does stink, I remove the whole caliper and bracket as one. If I can't get the torx bolts to break loose, I heat the caliper around the bolt slightly just to the point where it's almost red then take an impact on high, and 90% of the time they break free. You may need a Snap-on, Mac or Matco Torx bit, as they hold up better than the cheapies.

[Tow Master]

Not trying to be dumb. But heres a few tricks... You might need to get a good impact Torx. Make sure you have the right size they usually go up in 5. Some time you need to spray them with Wd-40 for a few hours to get them to loosen. Also. Use the socket, no extension and hit the socket into the torx with a hammer. That usuall helps alot. If you hit it good that also helps loosen it from the inner threads. Last if all else fell you might have to heat the bracket its threaded into with a set of torchs.

You could always do like bpick24 suggested and remove the caliper bracket as well.

[usafracer]

I agree with tow master. I just give them a good wack with the hammer and it stets the socket in really nice and they come out. When you put them back togethere slap some never seize on them.

[rtbadman]

I know this an old thread but I thought I'd post my experience since I just took those T55 bolt out of my calipers and it was a bitch.

I ended up using a putting the calipers back on and using a 3/8" ratchet with and a 4' piece of pipe on the ratchet handle. On the upper bolts I cut a wooden wedge for between the ratchet head and the leaf spring to hold the torx bit and ratchet tight against the bolt. Broke the bolts loose with ease.

On the lower torx bolts I cut a piece of 1x2 to length to support the torx bit against the ground to keep the ratch from rolling. Then I clamped the ratchet to the caliper with small bar clamp to keep the torx bit from coming out of the bolt. Again using the cheater bar the bolt broke loose with no problem.

A shorter cheater bar probably would have worked but the pipe I had was 4' and I didn't want to cut it cause it's also the handle for my conduit bender.

Roger