How in the world do you remove the front brake caliper bracket on an '85 GS so you can remove the rotor? The lower bolt is hidden right behind the steering arm, so I assume you have to remve the steering arm...is this correct?

 

You can reach in there with a 17 mm wrench. That's how I took mine off.

 

NO! don't remove the steering arm.

One of my books suggested using a box wrench, and a large flat-head screwdriver wedged between the arm and the wrench to keep the wrench in place. worked great for me.

 

A regular wrench *can* work, but I would suggest getting a set of offset head wrenches. Sears has them and they will come in handy elsewhere. Good addition to you're toolset

 

Actually, it's a 14mm bolt...I can get a wrench on it, but not enough to be able to get any leverage on it.

 

Alright! A trip to Sears is in order! Thanks.

Rich

 

as bad as this may sound, i just cut the lip off that was blocking the bolt, i took maybe 1/4" off, just enough to get a normal wrench in

 

Hey! That worked great. Thanks. But I think I'll still run to Sears in the morning (it's beer thirty now )and get a set of offset wrenches.

Rich

 

any excuse to buy good tools, is a good excuse. glad it worked for ya!

now to ask my question about rusted rear disc brakes, but that's another thread...

 

yea, good tools are always nice. I've done the job the other ways, but getting those wrenches is *much* easier, stripping the head off that bolt isn't fun, let me tell you.

 

i guess that i should of asked about that before i took the whole arm off silly me

 

just came on here to ask but searched first looks like im going for a drive now because the bolt is pretty much already stripped...........and im not making it any better

 

I've been just using a 14 mm wrench and some patience mixed with a good deal of frustration to loosen the lower bolt, along with a 12 inch piece of 1.5 inch schedule 40 PVC to leverage the wrench. You need to get everything set up just right, but it works. The hard part is once you get it loose, there's not enough room to release the caliper because you can't back the bolt all the way off. When this happens, turn the steering wheel to get the best angle, then use a large flat screwdriver to pry out the 1/16 inch that you need to release the bolt. Eventually, the damn thing falls off. Then write a nasty letter to the mazda engineers.

Ray

 

I took it all the way down to the backing plate. It's like that on every car I regularly work on, because it's retarded from the factory. I still use an offset (Wurth) wrench to get it off.... partly because the offset wrench is about 8" long.

 

First you douse the area with the strongest penetrating lubricant you can find. PB Blaster, Liquid Wrench, whatever you can get.

Then get in there with a stubby 14mm wrench and the flat part of the tire-iron. You will barely be able to get the wrench in there. Once you crack the bolt loose, get the box end out and use the open end. You won't be able to fully remove the bolt, but you'll be able to get it out enough to get the mounting bracket off. Then you can get the rotor off, and finally the backing plate comes off.

If you do what I did and forgoe the penetrating oil, you can end up stripping that forkin' bolt (like I did).

What we have to do on Eric's car now that the bolt is stripped is take the whole damn thing out. We think that two bolts on the bottom and four on the shock tower should get it out. We need to install the shocks and springs on the front anyway. I just hope I can get it out of there without taking the rotor off. The Heynes and FSM say I have to take the bracket off, THEN the rotor, THEN take the whole spindle assembly out. I'm hoping I can do it out-of order.

Jon

 

You can get the rotor out with the bracket still attached, but that bolt needs to be loose.... I don't think there's nearly enough play to get that sucker out with the bolt still firmly in place.

Worst case, bust out the cuttin' wheel and kill 2 birds with one stone (cut the lip & bolt).