Volvo 480 Club Europe

Okay they are worn, so i decided to get some GSF discs and pads.

they were £90 in total, was i ripped off?

anyway- i took the caliper apart, like you do, and got the pads out, tried to undo the caliper to hub cradle bolts -17mm i think. i whacked them, hammerd a socket on them and alsorts, but they won't budge..

any advice on getting these bolts off would be great. no i'm not getting and angle grinder to them!

stephen

Had exactly the same problems. Eventually went to Chris(1rolls) place and it took 10 minutes with britool socket and a breaker bar!

So I would suggest just buying a single 1/2 drive 17mm britool 6 sided socket and getting a breaker bar of at least a metre in lengh. Get an assistant to push against the end of the socket to keep it on while you push like a mad man and they should budge. Even worked on a couple I rounded off.

Since doing this, I bought a Sykes Picavant socket set and breaker bar in anticipation of doing this job again! The sykes/britool sockets have a special system on thier 6 sided sockets which applies more pressure to the sides of the bolt to stop the points rounding.

I got my discs from GSF for £8 each! And the pads were £19. Think you got ripped off on the price! This was for a 1.7 though.

suddy wrote: any advice on getting these bolts off would be great. no i'm not getting and angle grinder to them!

stephen

Why not?

If you've really rounded them off badly this'll be the way.

Decent socket and breaker bar from the start mate.

Why you taking the caliper off to change the discs and pads?

martinholmesuk wrote:Why you taking the caliper off to change the discs and pads?

Perhaps because you have to.

I don't remember taking the whole lot off

you have to get most of the caliper off to let the discs come off....they just catch a little if not....you cant force them either.....i ended up grinding them off, then tapping etc and putting in new ones.....theyre chamfered funny, and round easily....mechanic friend broke 3 snap on 'turbo' sockets trying to get mine off....they look like a normal socket, but have 'teeth' that cut into the knackered head.
grinder could be best bet dude.
rgrds
rob

can't you just undo the little screw, then jiggle the disc out without moving the caliper?

suddy wrote:can't you just undo the little screw, then jiggle the disc out without moving the caliper?

You can on a 480 turbo with vented disks!

It's close, but i dont think it can quite be done. Not on mine anyway.

I also seem to have pulled my hamstring from the force of undoing the caliper bolts at the weekend..

Get a blowtorch, long breaker bar and a hex socket.

Then give it some stick.

pol

You might get teh old worn disc out, putting a new thicker disc in though..... the non vented ones definitely not.

Okay I believe you now, the discs will not come off without removing the caliper bracket.

Going to try the breaker bar method, and to hammer on some 16mm 12sided sockets to the bolts. I am in fear of rounding off these bolts, anyone succesfully done it with 12 sided sockets --i really hate them you know.

If the worst happens, and i need to saw the bolt heads off, what remains in? Do i need to then get my drill out, or are they just pins?

Stephen

suddy wrote:Okay I believe you now, the discs will not come off without removing the caliper bracket.

Going to try the breaker bar method, and to hammer on some 16mm 12sided sockets to the bolts. I am in fear of rounding off these bolts, anyone succesfully done it with 12 sided sockets --i really hate them you know.

If the worst happens, and i need to saw the bolt heads off, what remains in? Do i need to then get my drill out, or are they just pins?

Stephen

Go and get a 6 sided socket. You won't regret it. If you cut the bolt off then you will need to find something that will grip the stub of the bolt to undo it. From what I remember it's a bit tight for space.

Richard

Agree with the 6 sided socket business. Doesn't need to be a britooool one. I bought a toughened Draper one for the job a couple of years ago and have always remembered the difference it made. Dont use shitty star ones for this job! Also a bit of heat helps. Get a blowtorch in there and cook them. Mind your cv boot, and balljoint boots. Then straight on there with a nice 6 side socket on a breaker bar.

pol

Thanks to all for your help.

For the benefit of other members,

I hammered a 16mm hex socket on one of the bolts, the rest I used a 17mm hex. Got a 2ft breaker bar, and got the bolts out quite easily. I replaced with new ones (90p each from Volvo).

Used a G-clamp and wooden block for pushing back the piston.

Think the rule is, the right tools make the job easy. Took me a couple of hours first time.

Too true.

pol