Silvrshark

OK, I did the search and found a lot of people beat thier rear rotors with a hammer to get them off. I don't really want to do that , so does anyone have a better suggestion. I was going to have them turned and don't want to break them. Thought about taking it to a shop, but how do they get them off? A brake job on these cars is to easy to pay extra money when I can do it myself. any help will be appreciated.

SS4Matt

iTrader: (4)

just make sure when you jack your car up and get the calipers off, that you DO NOT HAVE THE EMERGENCY BRAKE ON! had to put that in bold, cause that's one of those things that is a total DUHHH mistake but will leave ya scratchin your head for a minute.... it's an easy job. i just did all the brakes on my car. took me a few hours

there really wasn't anything that was keeping them stuck on though? so i don't know why people are beating theirs with hammers???

Silvrshark

Thanks for the reply , the E brake was not on I double checked, I have done the front twice with no problem but the back would not come off. mileage is 49,679 if that makes any difference.

SS4Matt

iTrader: (4)

weird... i have likedamn near the same amount of miles...i just went out and checked 49,399. i did my brakes last week...maybe 2 weeks ago now, i forget ... but yeah i had no problems..if you don't wanna hit the rotor with a hammer...try just kicking it with your shoe...shoe won't put gauges and scratches in it like a hammer..and the kicking might loosen it up some...that's about as "back yard mechanic" as i can suggest haha..but it might work? good luck with it though!

Silvrshark

Thanks again, I thought I would try a wire wheel on a drill to remove the rust off the axle part (what ever it's called). and more liquid wrench or WD-40. If you think of anything that might be better let me know. Thanks!

Silvrshark

yeah maybe kicking it will work I'll put on my steel toe boots

JPMuscle

a big dead blow hammer works well as well plus after you clean all the rust of the axle take a little antiseize gel and put it on the axle to help make it easier for the next time.


-john

Silvrshark

Thanks, sounds like a good idea!

RedZ99

iTrader: (1)

I just removed the rears on my 99 z28. all 4 wheels off the ground and of course the e brake was still on and i forgot that. I looked over the rotors maybe 5 minutes before i smacked my self in the head and dropped the e brake handle. I had to pop the rotor on the SIDE, with the intent to hit it in the op direction rotor had rotated and kinda locked up on the wheel nut studs. used a small plastic 20-odd oz deadblow. A few fairly light taps in right spots and the rotor was loose.
don't understand your problems. You could use a mirror/flashlight around the rotor rear and make sure e brake pads are actually loose, but the rear hubs should now rotate back and forth easily with tranny in park, both sides off the ground. make sure a wheel stud is not bend over and clamping the rotor to hub.
I can't believe the rotors would be rusted to the hubs. make sure of course that the caliper is hung out of the way and caliper bracket is removed. BTW, factory manual says not to reuse bracket bolts. hope this helps.

Koncrete

iTrader: (3)

deadblow hammer, or a piece of wood and a regular hammer....

use like a 2x4 or something, and place it against the rotor, then hammer the wood....

67Ranger

iTrader: (16)

a hammer wont hurt anything, its just like if you were doing drum brakes. You just have to make sure you hit it in the middle where the emergency brake makes contact, not where your pads make contact.

todddchi

iTrader: (3)

And realize there are two different problems. One is the rotor is rust welded up to the hub. Nice heavy coats of PB blaster will help with this.

The other is that the rotor is free to wiggle, but is stuck on the ebrake pads. Grabbing onto that sucker and rocking it off or hammer whacking it is the only way to go. If you're that paranoid about it just go pick up a $5 rubber mallet and use that.

I suppose there is also a chance that your car was like a rental or something that someone drove around with the parking brake on for kicks. If the pads are excessively seated in the inner drum then that would make sense as well, and you'll need to get them closed up to get it off.

Koncrete is right using the wood spacer and a regular hammer is the way to go. Sometimes you just gotta force things.

Personally I just replace rotors when I do brakes. Our rotors aren't really all that expensive so it's worth the insurance to me.

Silvrshark

Didn't get a chance to work on them today. But will let ya'll know how it goes.

pHEnomIC

iTrader: (14)

My rear ones were seized on very badly, the front came off no sweat. I used some penetrating fluid and whacked em with a hammer. Btw, I used a 2x4 piece of wood as a hitting surface, i didnt want to gouge the rotor surface or warp it. The 2x4 spread out the force of impact.

johnpate01

iTrader: (3)

Use a 2x4. It might be cheap, but it will work.

Silvrshark

I still hadn't had a chance to work on them yet, been working too much, but I'm going to try that. Thanks for the info. Also I never had a problem with the front. This is the first time to do the rear brakes.

Silvrshark

Thanks I will probably try it. Don't want to pay for something I can do myself.

Koncrete

iTrader: (3)

if you haven't done it yet I forgot to mention this, try and have a helper ready to catch the rotor, I've knocked a stuck one off from head height and had it "chip" when it hit the ground.... even from a foot or two high I would have a helper to be careful, there are a lot of toes and stuff that are on the ground

yekta

iTrader: (8)

my 300lbs wrestler friend helped me when I needed to replace that

FBDYLVR

iTrader: (14)

When I did rear brakes on my friends' car, we got a 3 jaw puller from Autozone and ripped that bitch off the axle.