Rear brake calipers cleaning and bleed screws replacement

Since last work I had been busy for more than 1 month for my daughter’s house moving.

This day I cleaned the rear calipers I left after removing the pistons.

I tried washing with hot water, alkaline detergent and so on…

Comparing with before cleaning it looked slightly better.  But it was far from my expectation.

I found one problem as usual.  The air bleed screw could not be loosen because the nut was deformed.

I tired with a bolt extractor, but it didn’t work well.

After trying some other methods, I drilled the side of the bleed screw to make a penetrating hole.  My new idea was to insert the thin shaft into the hole to turn the bleed screw. 

I couldn't find the suitable shaft, so I screwed the screw and hit it by a hummer to turn. But the screw was broken because it was not strong enough.

I was disappointed but turned the bleed screw by gripping the broken screw with vice grip…then, it seemed that the screw was turned slightly???

I grabbed the screw again and turned it carefully, and found that the screw was being loosened gradually.  So, I grabbed and turned a little, grabbed and turned a little … and finally I could remove the bleed screw! ☺︎

(My original blog was written on 19th Apr. 2008)