Torque wrenches and caliper bolts

[davepl]

So yesterday I was installing my restored calipers. I had cleaned up the caliper bolts (wire wheel) and they looked OK in general. A little antisieze and I started tightening.

The shop manual states 120 ft lbs, so I set my torque wrench (a halfway decent Craftsman click type) and had at it. It seemed like as I approached what "felt" like it should be right, the wrench wouldn't click. The bolt just kept "yielding" a little more and a little more and then... bang. Broke the head right off.

I thought I was doomed (easy out for that kind of torque? how to drill in that location?) but managed to get some needle-nose vice grips in through the caliper and back the bolt out (dodged a bullet there!).

So, two questions:

- Are the caliper bolts so standard that I can get one at OReilys or is back to payroll deduction at LMC for me?

- Anyone experienced this with a torque wrench? It normally seems just fine, but there have been three times over the years when it seemed never to click and I wound up breaking something.

I don't mean its miscalibrated (though it could be), or it would always be off. It's just one out of 50 times it seems to NEVER agree to click.