So I had just finished replacing my drum brakes on my '98 Civic coupe and all i had to do was bleed the brakes. I go turn the bolt loose and it snaps right off. would it be easier to just replace the whole caliper instead of using a bolt extractor? Does anybody have a good guide for taking off a caliper?

 

2 bolts hold the caliper on if I remember correctly.

 

yup unless DX in which only one bolt for the caliper and 2 for the caliper mounting bracket.

 

He refers to drum brakes and I'm pretty sure he broke the bleeder bolt.

If you can get a hold on the broken bolt with an extractor socket, then that's the route I'd take.

 

Worst case a new brake cylinder is only about 10 dollars or less.

 

a new cylinder is so cheap its not worth the effort to fix, i just gave away two new ones

 

A set of extractor bits would LITERALLY cost more than a brand new wheel cylinder. Off to Autozone with ya!

 

You need to remove the drum and shoes to replace wheel cylinder. You only need to remove the bleeder bolt if you remove the broken one.

 

Ron's has a point. It would be more time out of your day to replace the wheel cylinder completely. You *CAN* wrestle the old wheel cylinder out without taking the shoes off, but it's kind of a pain and definitely not the proper way to go about it.

Then again, you might not have much room to work with an extractor bit and drill. I guess it depends on if the bolt broke off flush with the hole or not.

Is there anything left of the bolt to grab onto?

 

If he can get hold with a small bolt extractor socket, then the job would be pretty easy.

 

Try to get a grip on the broken bolt stub w/ some vice grips.
If you cannot free it up w/ this approach, then go w/ replacing
the wheel cylinder. You can do it in about an hr if you have
never done it before. You can then elect to have the extraction
from the old wheel cyl serve as a side project for future use.

Do as follows:

1) break loose the brake line; use a flare nut wrench to avoid
rounding of the nut (believe its a 12mm but not sure)
2) loosen the two wheel cyl mounting bolts (10mm)
3) once you get play in the wheel cyl, complete removal of
brake line
4) remove mounting bolts such that wheel cyl is held by brake shoes
5) detach the two tension pins; you can use a pair of diag cutters
or other plier types (there is also a special tool commercially available
from Lisle and likely others)
6) twist the old wheel cyl out from btw/ the two shoes
7) work the new wheel cyl back in btw/ the shoes
8) get it seated to a point where it still has some forward/backward play
9) get brake line re-connection started
10) fasten tension pins
11) re-fasten mounting bolts
12) complete brake line tightening

I use a small silicone plug in the brake line once I break it loose.
You can see this procedure performed on an 84 Civic at Youtube.
Make sure that the brake line has started to seat on the wheel
cyl before fastening the mounting bolts/tension pins. There needs
to be a little play in the wheel cyl to accommodate the brake line.
Bleed the line. Re-adjust shoes as necessary.

BTW, treat the bolt stub w/ PBBlaster before following the vice grips route.
Be generous. Let it bathe in the Blaster.

 

This. ^

It doesn't much more thorough than that.

The only thing i could really add is to cap off or crimp the brake line when you remove it so you don't drip brake fluid all over the garage floor/driveway.

 

Use this as an excuse to overhaul your rear brakes, new cylinders,hardware kits,shoes,and inspect the drums basic mechanics