Need help with my LJ rear disc brakes

GreenLantern2000

GreenLantern2000

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Joined
Aug 23, 2019
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Metro Detroit, Michigan
Hi all - First time posting here. I recently purchased a 2005 LJ knowing I was going to have to throw some money into it (mostly because it has lived here in the rust belt). It has a grinding noise coming from the passenger side. I assumed it was the front brakes, so I installed new pads and rotors but the grinding continued and I determined it was the rear brakes. With the LJ, it has the Dana 44 rear with disc brakes, so I bought some more pads and rotors, and attempted to install them today. Lots of rust everywhere...

I ended up shearing off both caliper bolts, and didn't know that the emergency parking brake had a drum-like setup underneath the disc brakes. I am pretty sure the grinding has something to do with the parking brake because the pads still had some meat on them. So, now I have a couple questions I am looking for some help with:

1. Should I go ahead and replace the parking brake shoes and hardware, or just attempt to adjust them to get rid of the grinding? I didn't see anything like a broken spring that I would think cause the grinding noise.

2. How in the world do I get the sheared off caliper bolts out now? My thoughts are possibly soak it in penetrating oil for a couple days and try some vice grips and a torch. Another option I've seen are these EZ Out tools, but I've never used one.

Here's a couple shots of the caliper:
48770302221_73721036dc_b.jpg


48770302056_8af98aa2a7_b.jpg
 
If you have a welder you could place a nut over the broken bolts and weld the nut to the bolts on the inside of the nut and the heat from the welding may help in removing the bolts.
 
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I’d call a local junk yard and get another set of caliper brackets. I think your going to waste a lot of time trying to get them out.
 
If you can grind it flat and use a center punch you to get a starting point for a good drill bit you should be able to drill those out, usually with the heat from a drill bit they will come out you could also chase the threads with a tap set- harbor freight has this stuff pretty cheap. Definitely it it with some heat- maybe some vice grips can grab what left from the other side.
 
I wouldn't grind any off those bolts yet. Try the welded nut trick, or get the center punch from the front side to drill. But start with heat and penetrating oil .(I like Kroil) if you try to drill out from the front then there is a chance the heat and friction from drilling may cause them to loosten and unthread themselves. But you need to get onto some rust control as soon as you can.

And....Welcome to the Forum!
 
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I would have started with the penetrating oil for a few days before trying to remove them, but you know that now. That said drill them out and use a square fluted easy out, not the spiral type, use heat as a last resort. That rust is pretty bad, good luck with your project.
 
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Thanks for the advice. Here is my current update...

I've been applying a DIY penetrating oil mix of Acetone/ATF fluid to the sheared bolts - once last night, and twice again today.

I attempted to loosen the exposed bolt with a pair of needle nose vice grips and regular vice grips, and it is just chewing up the exposed end of the bolt. I bought an "EZ out" bolt extractor set, but there is not enough room to get at the front side of the bolt with my drill to use them.

I would like to remove the brake caliper bracket, but it looks like it is integrated into the backing plate. Actually, the backing plate appears to be a combination of caliper bracket, emergency brake drum equipment, and backing plate - all in one. It also looks like to remove the backing plate - I think I need to pull the wheel hub/axle first. At this point, I think I may be getting in over my head... :)

If I have to pull the whole assembly anyways, I am wondering if I might be better off getting a new one or, like Tony mentioned - pick one from a junkyard. Definitely something less rusty. And I won't have to mess with drilling out the bolts anymore.

The good news is... My local junk yard doesn't have any Wranglers, but it looks like the Jeep Liberty used the same part # the junkyard has five different Liberty's to pull from. Looks like the used part would be about $50 instead of $300 for new. From what I can tell looking online it is Mopar Part #52128414AC.

The bad news is... I probably still need to do all this to the driver's side.

I may give it another go with some heat and more penetrating oil, but I am starting to think I am better off swaping the whole assembly if I can find a replacement in decent shape.
 
GreenLantern2000 said:
Hi all - First time posting here. I recently purchased a 2005 LJ knowing I was going to have to throw some money into it (mostly because it has lived here in the rust belt). It has a grinding noise coming from the passenger side. I assumed it was the front brakes, so I installed new pads and rotors but the grinding continued and I determined it was the rear brakes. With the LJ, it has the Dana 44 rear with disc brakes, so I bought some more pads and rotors, and attempted to install them today. Lots of rust everywhere...

I ended up shearing off both caliper bolts, and didn't know that the emergency parking brake had a drum-like setup underneath the disc brakes. I am pretty sure the grinding has something to do with the parking brake because the pads still had some meat on them. So, now I have a couple questions I am looking for some help with:

1. Should I go ahead and replace the parking brake shoes and hardware, or just attempt to adjust them to get rid of the grinding? I didn't see anything like a broken spring that I would think cause the grinding noise.

2. How in the world do I get the sheared off caliper bolts out now? My thoughts are possibly soak it in penetrating oil for a couple days and try some vice grips and a torch. Another option I've seen are these EZ Out tools, but I've never used one.

Here's a couple shots of the caliper:
View attachment 116516

View attachment 116517
Click to expand...
1)
Get the broken bolt red hot quick and dump ice cold water on it. You have to do it possibly a couple of times .It will break the rust soak the whole assembly in brake fluid ( great penetrating juice )
- use lefthand carbide Drill bit
- use eazy out , not the cheapest kind
( I’ve got various sizes made in Germany / can’t remember the brand) you’ll find them in any good tool supply store

- last but not least :
-Price out new aftermarket parts or from a auto wrecker

—•||||||•— 👋🏿
 
I
DETOUR said:
1)
Get the broken bolt red hot quick and dump ice cold water on it. You have to do it possibly a couple of times .It will break the rust soak the whole assembly in brake fluid ( great penetrating juice )
- use lefthand carbide Drill bit
- use eazy out , not the cheapest kind
( I’ve got various sizes made in Germany / can’t remember the brand) you’ll find them in any good tool supply store

- last but not least :
-Price out new aftermarket parts or from a auto wrecker

—•||||||•— 👋🏿
Click to expand...
if you’re that far in ,consider replacing the axle seals/ bearings ,making sure you put a sealant ( peramatex aviation liquid sealant ) on the outside of the axle seal where it fits into the axle housing ,prior to installation
- I don’t mean to open a can of worms, but...if you don’t know the history of the LJ
- that’s what I’m about to do on my Long John 😊
 
DETOUR said:
I

if you’re that far in ,consider replacing the axle seals/ bearings ,making sure you put a sealant ( peramatex aviation liquid sealant ) on the outside of the axle seal where it fits into the axle housing ,prior to installation
- I don’t mean to open a can of worms, but...if you don’t know the history of the LJ
- that’s what I’m about to do on my Long John 😊
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice... I spent a couple hours getting the axle out and removing the caliper bracket, so I could attempt to use an easy out tool on it. I heated it up, but didn't throw cold water on it.

But I think I may be giving up. I found out that the local U-Pull salvage yard has 5 Jeep Liberty's in stock with this same part. Other other than my time to pull it off the vehicle, they charge $10 for the caliper bracket. I think I am going to stop wasting time trying to drill the bolts out, and just go get a replacement for $10.
 
You may as well get some drill and easy out practice based upon the vision you present in the pictures. A propane torch does not get the metal cherry red nor does it heat fast enough. The trick is to heat the metal around the bolt quickly without getting the bolt itself equally hot. Drill it out first with a good cobalt drill bit. Be patient and take the drilling slow. Breaking off a cobalt drill bit adds another dimension in extraction you don't wish to learn. I start with a smaller bit and graduate to biggest I can. After drilling, use an acetylene torch to heat the metal around the bolt cherry red. Screw in the easy out and continue screwing it until it turns out. The larger the hole you can drill without buggering the threads the better. If it were mine, I'd be replacing all the brake parts back there. Do it right the first time. The only brake parts I trust are the new one I just installed. There are plenty of areas to go cheap, brakes are one of them. Cheap dates, cheap beer, Cheap Trick, Cheap Charlie, Cheap Ho's.
 
One more piece of rust advice. When I have a risky fastener, besides heat and oil, I work it back and forth in very small increments patiently, hoping to make minute progress in freeing up the threads. Just backing it off often leads to snapped bolts.
 
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I really appreciate the advice. I've never had to deal with this before, so at least I'm learning a lot. I will say that I'm not sure I'll be buying an acetlylene torch or a welder any time soon, so I better make some new friends. :)

This morning I ended up trying the Upull yard because they had 5 possible vehicles listed. I found a Liberty from the same year as my LJ and while there was a little surface rust, the caliper bracket was in good shape. I figured after going through all the trouble, I may as well grab the bracket for the driver side too. Then I decided to just grab the calipers as well. So, $10 for bracket and $10 for calipers for each side - total of $40. I'm going to clean them up and hope they are truly interchangeable. And pick up some permatex.

liberty.jpeg


liberty_brake.jpeg
 
Not sure if anyone would be curious about the end of my brake replacement adventure, but my brakes are back in working order.

I was able to clean up the backing plate caliper bracket assembly pulled from a 2005 Jeep Liberty:


48917052536_49009c5073_c.jpg


I installed the new caliper bracket on the passenger side. And then I swapped in the pulled Liberty calipers on both sides. Here is a comparison between the installed Jeep Liberty caliper (left) and the original caliper (right):
48916525828_0ca0c788e3_c.jpg


And in the end, I now have shiny new rotors and pads on both the drivers and passengers side:
48916525813_11b721d31a_c.jpg
 
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