Remove Rear Brake Rotor without Disconnecting Brake Line?

[gorkermann]

(Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, just post a link if so)
Is it possible to replace the rear brake rotor of a Protege5 (i.e. take the caliper off the rotor) without also removing the brake line? The brake line was in the way of the upper 10mm bolt which allows the caliper to swing open. A spanner would have worked fine, except for re-torqueing the bolt afterward.

 

[pcb]

Is it possible to replace the rear brake rotor of a Protege5 (i.e. take the caliper off the rotor) without also removing the brake line? .

Yes.
I've done it many times.
You unbolt the caliper and tie it up to the strut above.
There's plenty of flexible brake line to give you lots of room.

 

[pcb]

The brake line was in the way of the upper 10mm bolt which allows the caliper to swing open. A spanner would have worked fine, except for re-torqueing the bolt afterward.

I don't recall anything being in the way.
It wasn't an issue for me.
I may have used a regular wrench if there was clearance issues?

 

[pcb]

A spanner would have worked fine, except for re-torqueing the bolt afterward.

Just wing it if you have to.
It doesn't need to be perfectly torqued.
Just tighten it up.
I have two torque wrenches.
I never use them. Lol

There have been members here on this forum that only use a torque wrench to tighten their cylinder head bolts.


Removing the brake line requires you to bleed the brakes afterwards.


I've replaced all my rotors many times.
It's basic maintenance.
I've never had to remove my brake lines or bleed my brakes afterwards.

If you've got a torque wrench, you can set it to 27 ft/pounds and use it on a bolt to get a sense of what it feels like before you tighten your caliper bolt.

 

[gorkermann]

thanks, I just used an open-end wrench for that one. Never done anything like this before so I went a little mad trying to follow the instructions to the letter. Do you loctite all your brake bolts or just tighten them?

 

[pcb]

I don't use loctite but I guess it may help if you're worried about the torque being exact.