front brake caliper bolt - thread and pitch?

[bman40]

I have an 1989 gs 500E and I want to replace brake pads.

My (stupid) bike has allen (hex) key bolts on it - which are pretty well stuck on...I treid to undo them and they gave me thet scary "about to strip the head' vibe so I stopped trying, beofre I screwed it up.

I'm off to Sears to pick up an extractor set for the bolts, and want to replace them with some stainless 'standard' metric head bolts.

Can ayone tell me what the thread count and pitch of these might be?

thankx

barry

[sledge]

Barry....be careful. If the bolts are in tight enough to round off, chances are they are also tight enough to shear an extractor. Secondly stainless bolts are nowhere as strong as "normal" bolts and I personaly would not be happy using them to hold the caliper in place.

[spc]

+1 on the stainless, no way I'd trust it with my life

[bman40]

thanks guys.

I got the extractor set - used a large adjustable wrench and a five-foot length of black iron pipe - extra leverage was just the ticket - pooped off nicely.

I'll keep the standrd bolts as suggested.  **what dissolves thread locker? the previous owner had SO much on the threads on this bike - everywhere and tons of it... I'd like to dissolve it off the threads and free them up a bit.

Barry

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

heat em with a torch.

[starwalt]

The allen bolts are fine, but you had an over zealous application of thread locker to deal with. If you don't already have a set, I recommend THIS be added to your arsenal of tools.

If you are a Craftsman Club member (it is free of charge), you will get the sales catalogs and just may find them on sale with an additional 10% off the sale price.

One can never have enough tools....or a big enough tool.   


There is no locktite specified by Suzuki for the caliper mounting bolts, just minimum torque. I see no harm in using a thread locker, but use one that is service oriented.

Here's a scan of the front brake from the service manual - with torque specifications.
Click on it to get the image full size.

[RichDesmond]

Get a hand impact tool, the kind you smack with a hammer to loosen the bolts. The vibration and downward force from the hammer blow works wonders. There'd be a lot fewer rounded bolt heads and stripped phillips heads out there if more people used one at the first sign of trouble.