As I was putting my calipers back on I noticed that the previous owner had used a bolt with the wrong threads on it to hold the caliper on. As I tried to reinstall, that bolt hole in the knuckle is stripped. Any ideas - or do I have to pull the hub and rotor off to tap that hole and then drill the caliper larger to take the larger bolt???? This is on a 73 cruiser with a mini truck disk brake conversion.


Thanks,
Greg

you can either replace the knuckle or pull off the caliper, helicoil the stripped hole and bolt it back together.
i'd go for the helicoil or better yet, threaded inserts.;)

either of those options still require removing of the hub & rotor to tap the hole -- correct? I just rebuilt the knuckles so I don't want to pull it apart if I don't have to. I guess I am going to have to do that though.

Greg

whats helicoiling and how do you do it? im gussing a special welder that fills in the hole on cast stuff...then you drill and tap that?:confused: :rasta:

A helicoil is a spiral slinky looking thing that is threaded into an enlarged hole, restoring the original thread size and pitch. the right size for the caliper is 12mm X 1.5 pitch IIRC. Napa should have them, not sure of the part number.

I did the same thing on my mini. I got the next bolt size up(grade 8) in SAE, it's just a tad larger and the thread per inch are realy close and tapped the hole, The only draw back is I had to drill the hole in the caliper larger too. I had the tap so it cost me $.20. I've since had the caliper off 3 times and no problems. I'd do the heli coil, at the time I had no cash though. You don't need to remove the hub or rotor for either fix, just the caliper.

clifton ir right. the only thing you'll have to remove is the caliper. a helicoil is a spiral insert. to install one you have to drill out the existig hole, thread it and then screw in the helicoil, which has threads on the inside, allowing you to use the original bolt.:smokin: