I'm trying to take the front calipers off of my 84 GSL and I'm having a helluva time. The lower bolt is blocked by the control arm(?) and I can't get at it. It is a 14mm bolt if you don't know what I mean. Is there a trick to this (like compressing the spring or something) or an easy tool to use? I'm sure Mazda has a special tool just for it that costs about 160 bones, but I imagine someone has done this before without it. Thanks for the help.

 

Well, Buckaroo....

I know well of what you speak....You're gonna need a 14mm offset box-wrench, and a pry-bar. You may have to start with an open-end, but be very careful not to round off the corners. What I did was purchase a cheap 14 mm box-wrench from Wal-Mart, used my grinder to carve away part of the box, and a little bit of the handle near the top of the box. Be careful, test the fit into the dished part of the backing plate and onto the bolt-head while you grind. In a wee bit you'll have a caliper tool. Once you get the bolt loose, (use plenty of penetration oil) you'll find you can't get it out past the steering knuckle. This is when you need the pry-bar to push the steering away from the plate just enough to get the bolt out. Watch your fingers!!!

Once the bolt is out, it's back to the grinder. Carve away enough of the threaded end so that you can just fit the bolt into the dished plate without having to use the pry-bar. Once done, clean everything throughly, and use caliper grease on the plate and bolt to prevent rusting. Suggest once a year work out the upper and lower bolts and regrease so that they remain easy to work with.....

Best to yuh, a tip of the dirty Stetson,
Denny, from the 'ol corncrib....

 

When you remove the top bolt, you can move the whole bracket back and forth that will loosen the bottom bolt. I used a really thin wrench once I got it loose...

 

It being my first brake job, and me only having the Haynes manual, it took a few hours, but I don't remember that being a trouble spot on my GSL.

 

GOT 'EM OFF!!!

I went through two (yeah, two) cheapo wrenches, broke one on each side. I bent them into an "S" shape and ground the hell out of them. Makes sense that they would break. My conclusion, not too tough as long as you know what to do. A pain in the *** if you round off the bolts (like I did a little on one side).

Pele - lucky

 

i always thought about using the "jaws of life" for getting my breaks off.