So glad I checked...

[pastorjwat]

I had an urge to check out my brakes, and it simply would not leave me.

So last night, I go out to my driveway, jack up the Trailblazer, (on Stands of course), and discover that one of the caliper bolts was MISSING.

It was on the driver's side, bottom bolt. It was literally held on by one bolt! I found one in my garage that had a different size head on it, but it fit perfectly.

I am really glad I checked.

Thanks to this forum, I have done a bunch of stuff myself, probably saving myself hundreds, maybe close to $1000 in service repairs.

Alternator, Spark Plugs, Fan Clutch, Cleaned Throttle Body, Ignition Coil.... I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

Anyways, glad I was able to avoid disaster!

 

[Boricua SS]

that happened to me and my Dodge when I first started driving... was coming off an express ramp, and the front caliper bracket bolt fell out and the caliper popped outta place.. what made things even more interesting, the bolt fell right on top of the lower control arm so I didn't even have to go buy a new bolt or caliper bracket...

 

[DARKASS04EXT]

Ive had 2 bolts come loose on me in the last 3+ yrs. 1st i was about 20min from home after a 7 hr trip, came over the Delaware Mem Bridge and the rear of my truck started making noise. I pulled over and couldnt see anything (3:30am), got it home and the next day when i backed it up the caliper slid up. Luckily for me, while moving forward it stayed mostly in place. The noise was a rear pad that got uncentered and was jammed into the bracket and rotor. I replaced the pads and bolt and all was fine. I had a 2nd bolt come undone on the other side but i noticed that prob right after it happened. I went to the store for car wash stuff and heard a little noise, while washing my calipers it started moving with my hand. Uh oh... Again got a new bolt and all was good. The crazy thing is both times its happened ive had my 22" repos on so the caliper actually had enough room to pivot fully back and forth w/o hitting the rim. Which is a good/bad thing i guess. Big enough not to get damaged but then again big enough for the caliper to move enough to let the pad come out.

 

[seanpooh]

Same thing happened to me on one of my rear wheels. Whenever I reversed, I heard a screech. Did this for a few hundred miles until I pulled the wheel off. Apparently the caliper met the inside of the rim. I had a nice flat shiny spot on the caliper and the inside of the rim was gorged. When ever I had my tires balanced, they had to put on lots of weights...

 

[Mooseman]

Had that happen on my 08 Montana after I did a brake job and I'm sure I put them good and tight. They were the caliper bracket to knuckle bolts. One fell off and the other was holding by just a couple of threads. Went to the dealer because I couldn't drive it all the way home, $50 for that &@$%^! bolt plus labour! Now I use Loctite on these bolts.

 

[gmcman]

Glad to hear all was ok, good thing about the calipers is they are somewhat confined to their space. Generally if the bolts come out the wheel will keep them from flopping around, unless you have a set of 24's or something.

Was it the caliper bracket bolt or the caliper itself?

 

[pastorjwat]

Glad to hear all was ok, good thing about the calipers is they are somewhat confined to their space. Generally if the bolts come out the wheel will keep them from flopping around, unless you have a set of 24's or something.

Was it the caliper bracket bolt or the caliper itself?

It was the caliper itself. the caliper bracket bolts were still good and tight. Still pretty freaky, cause i know when I hit bumps it moved, at least a little.