so whats the trick to getting the caliper bracket bolt off? i ground down and bent a wrench as well as ground the bracket plate a little and still cant get it off.

 

take off the bottom two bolts the hold the strut assembly onto the control arm, the rotate the hub til you can easily get to the bolt.

 

i just finished replacing every single part of my braking system. i tried the above but after one bolt was out decided not to continue. i was able to loosen the bolt from the bracket and easily slide it out because the rotors were so worn, when i put the new rotors in i had no such luck, so i loosened the rotor. removed the dust cap, cotter pin and nut. slid the rotor out just enough to be able to slide the caliper bracket out without removing the bolt

 

+1.

 

one of these woked great for me, no grinding or taking off unnecessary parts

 

all i do is grind the caliper bracket's lip that prevents a wrench from seating on the head of the bolt. its not structural and after its ground i heat the outer area around the bolt with map gas and it comes free with minimal effort. removing the two lower strut bolts can be impossible at times, especially when 7's have seen road salt and are corroded. mine were seized in so much that i had to weld another nut to the bolt head to expand it enough to even budge the bolt and the surrounding metal around the bolt was red hot.

 

i tried to remove the bottom two bolt first but it aint happenin' lol i guess ill just have to grind the bracket more, its just a pain to get my grinder in there good enough, i figured there was an easier way. after about 5 min of looking at it i just thought "wtf was mazda thinking" haha

 

Man.... sorry to put you through so much work Curtis. Makes me glad to be in Florida and not have to deal with road salt and the accompanying rust.

 

+2. Good tools and a good breaker bar helps.

 

I've never understood this problem. Maybe it's the wrench that I use (Craftsman) but I use the box end to break it loose, then the open end to remove it. Never takes more than a couple of minutes.

 

Not all offset box end wrenches are the same. The one that works for me is a 14mm/15mm off set box end wrench made by Cornwell tools. It has the right degree of offset and the tool is thin enough to fit.

If you install G-Force turn in spacers that have ackerman correction this bolt gets easier to get to.

When you reinstall the bolt – clean the threads and use an anti-seize compound so the bolt is easier to deal with next time.

 

+1 on no road salt.

 

this might be a good idea! i just did the brake and clutch masters on my Triumph, and what should have been a simple job turned into a pedalbox+ master cylinder bracket + master cylinder rebuild project. i had to clean the threads of EVERY fastener involved.

 

After alot of frustration i made this up, it works great.

 

Was meaing to buy a set of 60 degree offset wrenchs, and this was a good opportunity, however i was broke the day i needed them, and ended up with a $20 set of autocraft (advance auto brand) wrenches. the 14/15 from that set fits in there just fine. I assumed a nicer,non ratcheting boxend would also fit, if an autocraft one would. But agreed, all it takes is a wrench.

 

+1 - worked for me as well

 

Removed both front brackets at the junkyard the other day. No special tools.
IIRC I had the wrench between 10 and 12 o'clock. The wrench didn't fit on as good as you would like, and grinding the spindle/plate would make it much better.

 

Or make/buy a special wrench, if you're working on a lot of 7s, as opposed to grinding all the 7s