How do I change front brake pads on a 2005 Tahoe

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alamantia

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I have the day off and wanted to replace the warped front rotors and install new pads on my 2005 Tahoe. I went to remove my caliper slider bolts with my 3/8" allen socket only to find out the slider bolts are a T55 torx. I replaced the 3/8" allen socket with a T55 torx bit and bent the bit trying to remove the slider bolts. They seem siezed in there pretty good. So then I removed the two 18mm bolts for the caliper bracket and took the entire bracket off to try and extract the pads that way. The pads have notches that ride on the caliper bracket which prevent me from extracting the pads. I tried to slide the caliper off the caliper bracket to get the pads out and it wont slide all the way out. I am starting to get frustrated. Any suggestions?
 

swtz71

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if you can put the bracket back on do so. then try spraying pb blaster then hit the top with a hammer not to hard but don't go to light this will hopefully shock the bolt and allow it to loosen. as far as the torx bit what I do is put it on the bolt head and hit it with a hammer as well, make sure you hit it dead on center.
That usually works.
I hope this helps.
 

ScottyBoy

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Get a t55 torx impact bit. It will not strip out or bend. Plus hit it with a hammer like
swtz71 suggested. The blow from the impact of the hammer will also help to unlock frozen threads and break free any rust or corrosion. It may or may not work, but it "can" help a lot of times.
 
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alamantia

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Yeah... these torx are not coming out. If I remove the caliper bracket from the spindle again and try to slide the caliper off the caliper bracket to extract the pads the caliper starts to slide out but gets hung up right before It clears the slider pins. Perhaps it is binding up on the inner pad. If I whack the pad with a hammer to free it up from binding, will there be enough room to seperate the caliper from the caliper bracket while still leaving the slides in tact? Has anyone tried this?
 

TnTahoe

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i dont think its possible to remove the pads without raising the top, i know this may sound dumb but are you turning the right way
 
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alamantia

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Righty tighty, lefty loosy... There shouldnt be any reason slider pins are reverse threaded that I can see.
 

swtz71

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i dont think its possible to remove the pads without raising the top, i know this may sound dumb but are you turning the right way
I agree it's not possible to do that. You would never get the pad out from the caliper side nor would one go in.
I hope as well you are not confusing your position and trying to tighten instead of loosening .

Can you put the setup completely back together? If so I would have a garage take care of it just so you don't get stuck without a truck.
 

TnTahoe

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if u are on the left side then you should be turning clockwise to loosen, if you have a breaker bar put it on there so that you can step on it with your foot, it may even help to bounce on it if you can
 

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