Badly galled rear caliper bolts

Crash Cash · Mar 31, 2011

So I replaced the front brake pads, which was a breeze. Of course things have to balance out, so the rear caliper bolts were really hard to remove, and when they finally came off, half the threads from the caliper came with them. The aluminum is so welded to the bolt that I can't pick it off, that's how bad it is.

Now I have to replace the damn things and Helicoil the caliper. At least I already have an M10 Helicoil kit.

This is with 22K miles on the bike, and the first time I've had these bolts off. Anyone else have this problem? My Google-fu didn't find anything.

JamesK · Mar 31, 2011

Wow, sorry to hear about your problem, but I've never heard of this before. 109+k miles on my '07 and no issues, but I've had those bolts out many times

Are you able to use the same OEM caliper bolts with the Helicoil repaired threads?

kaitsdad · Mar 31, 2011

Crash, just went through the same thing with a friends bike.

Partshark.com sells the entire rear caliper assembly, Part No. 3P6-2580W-01-00, for $176.05. That's a complete assembly, with pads, shims, bleeder. A simple bolt up and bleed.

See if this link works: PartShark rear caliper

Before you install the new caliper, pull those slide bolts one at a time and lube them, including the threads.

Checkswrecks · Mar 31, 2011

I put anticorrosive stuff on them when changing tires. Some caliper pistons wear pads faster than other positions, so I swap pads at those times too.

Crash Cash · Mar 31, 2011

kaitsdad said:
Crash, just went through the same thing with a friends bike.

Partshark.com sells the entire rear caliper assembly, Part No. 3P6-2580W-01-00, for $176.05. That's a complete assembly, with pads, shims, bleeder. A simple bolt up and bleed.

Yeowch. That's $164 more than it'll cost to Helicoil it and buy a new pair of bolts. The bolts are only $6 each. That'll be fine as long as I take the time to make sure it's drilled square, and I have room to put the drill press up on the lift without even taking the hose off.

Fred W · Mar 31, 2011

You could probably just chase the threads on the steel bolts and re-use them. Since they'll be threading into the hardened helicoil you won't have any further galling issues. But being a lazy (as well as cheap) SOB, I'd probably opt to pull off the caliper and drill the holes out on the drill press. It's not that hard to re-bleed it compared to the horizontal set-up time of the drill press.

Crash Cash · Mar 31, 2011

Good idea! I chased 'em and they're in pretty good shape. Bad news is they're M10x1.25 instead of M10x1.5... those metric Helicoils are rarer than hen's teeth. And dealing with nasty ol' brake fluid... blearghghargh. Hate that stuff.

Crash Cash · Apr 5, 2011

Crash Cash said:
kaitsdad said:

Crash, just went through the same thing with a friends bike.

Partshark.com sells the entire rear caliper assembly, Part No. 3P6-2580W-01-00, for $176.05. That's a complete assembly, with pads, shims, bleeder. A simple bolt up and bleed.

Click to expand...

Yeowch. That's $164 more than it'll cost to Helicoil it and buy a new pair of bolts. The bolts are only $6 each. That'll be fine as long as I take the time to make sure it's drilled square, and I have room to put the drill press up on the lift without even taking the hose off.

And of course it was a total waste of time doing the helicoil bit, so I'll go ahead and buy the new caliper. You may commence with the "I told ya so"

But it looks like Partshark.com wants UPS signature for anything over $100, so I'll go with Ron Ayers for a few more bucks.

Fred W · Apr 5, 2011

Crash Cash said:
Crash Cash said:

kaitsdad said:

Crash, just went through the same thing with a friends bike.

Partshark.com sells the entire rear caliper assembly, Part No. 3P6-2580W-01-00, for $176.05. That's a complete assembly, with pads, shims, bleeder. A simple bolt up and bleed.

Click to expand...

Yeowch. That's $164 more than it'll cost to Helicoil it and buy a new pair of bolts. The bolts are only $6 each. That'll be fine as long as I take the time to make sure it's drilled square, and I have room to put the drill press up on the lift without even taking the hose off.

Click to expand...

And of course it was a total waste of time doing the helicoil bit, so I'll go ahead and buy the new caliper. You may commence with the "I told ya so"

But it looks like Partshark.com wants UPS signature for anything over $100, so I'll go with Ron Ayers for a few more bucks.

That sucks.

What happened with the helicoils? Problems drilling out the holes? Problems tapping them?

Crash Cash · Apr 7, 2011

Fred W said:
What happened with the helicoils? Problems drilling out the holes? Problems tapping them?

I got one in straight, the other, not so much. I'm pretty sure I drilled it straight on the press, but I don't think I tapped it so well.

Fred W · Apr 7, 2011

Oh well... It was worth a try, right?

Crash Cash · Apr 7, 2011

Fred W said:
Oh well... It was worth a try, right?

Yeah, but it was an absolute epic pain in the ass to find Metric-Fine Helicoils. I could have done without that. And now I sit around trying to figure out a rig to help get a tap in straight and square.

RadioHowie · Apr 9, 2011

Crash, with something as "mission critical" as bolts holding your brakes together, I'd personally (IMHO) pass on helicoils and re-do the threads with TIMESERTs instead.

LINKY

HotRodZilla · Apr 10, 2011

Crash,

Do you have YES?? The same thing happened to my caliper when I replaced my rear pads last year. Thankfully the way the bolt stripped out the caliper metal, I was able to get it to secure. I talked to my Yamaha guy and he said Yamaha will not screw around when it comes to brake stuff.

He ordered me a new caliper and replaced it all under warranty.

Crash Cash · Apr 10, 2011

RadioHowie said:
Crash, with something as "mission critical" as bolts holding your brakes together, I'd personally (IMHO) pass on helicoils and re-do the threads with TIMESERTs instead.

Yeah, but it was an absolute epic pain in the ass to find plain 'ol Metric-Fine Helicoils... where the hell would I find THOSE? McMaster-Carr wants $89 plus shipping for the repair kit. Buying a new caliper is not that much more expensive and doesn't depend on my r4d machining skillz.

HotRodZilla said:
Do you have YES?? The same thing happened to my caliper when I replaced my rear pads last year.

No, I tend to pass on the extended warranty bit. If I'd put some anti-seize on it last time I changed my tire, this wouldn't have happened, but no, I was an idiot in a hurry, and Yamaha shouldn't have to pay for my screwup. Plus that would have required me to deal with my retarded dealer, the same dealer that refused to help with my ignition recall, and his shaved apes can't even put a front tire on right-way-round.

I was bitching about this with a machinist friend of mine, and he said "hey, you could've chucked the tap in the press and turned it by hand, with maybe a vise grip or something..." I must have given him a REALLY ugly look, because he backed up a step or two and put his hands in the air, saying "what? what'd I say?"

Crash Cash · Apr 12, 2011

I just got my caliper in the post... So clean 'n' shiny! Well, it won't stay that way for long! And what the heck am I going to do with a 2nd brake hanger?? Wall art?

Man, I'd druther do a dozen transmission rebuilds than work with brake fluid. Ugh.

Burnspot · May 13, 2011

Crash Cash said:
So I replaced the front brake pads, which was a breeze. Of course things have to balance out, so the rear caliper bolts were really hard to remove, and when they finally came off, half the threads from the caliper came with them. The aluminum is so welded to the bolt that I can't pick it off, that's how bad it is.

Now I have to replace the damn things and Helicoil the caliper. At least I already have an M10 Helicoil kit.

This is with 22K miles on the bike, and the first time I've had these bolts off. Anyone else have this problem? My Google-fu didn't find anything.

Went to pull the caliper bolts tonight while the rear tire was off and discovered the same thing...1/4 of the threads from the caliper was stuck on the bolt. I didn't mess with the other bolt. The bolt DID tighten back up firmly, but a new caliper assy will be getting ordered tonight (I have zero experience with helicoils or any of that stuff, lol). Hopefully, it'll make it in time for the camp trip next week, but I have my doubts knowing Partshark will likely need to wait for it to come to them. 27.5k miles on the bike.

Nikk · May 13, 2011

I ran into this problem just prior to my cross country ride in 2009. I had a local mechanic insert a Heli and all is fine since.

I tried to get mine replace through Y.E.S. even called Yamaha; no luck.

Aasland · Jul 31, 2011

Add me to the club. 72k, never had the rear caliper off until now.

Today is the last day of my YES so that's not an option for me, and I'm off and riding next Sunday for 3 weeks so guess who gets to pay for expediting shipping.

EDIT:

Whew! I managed to clean up enough of the threads with a tap'n'die kit to put it back together.

Badly galled rear caliper bolts

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