I am trying to remove the front rotors from my 1996 Camaro. I have the caliper and everything off, but the rotors seem to be rusted onto the spindle. I've already sprayed a bunch of WD40 on it and I've been beating the rotors with a hammer for about an hour now to no avail. Any suggestions? There's no other bolts or anything holding the rotors on is there? I'm starting to second guess myself now.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

Ive yet to do a brake job, on these cars but on my DSM there was two little bolts that were a bitch to take off, and they were rusted on etc

After I got them off, it was rusted to the spindel and I just beat the ever living **** out of the rotor until it came off, keep at it.

Hit it in different place's

Top, then the bottom, then the side, and then the other side


Just a real pain in the ***

 

BFH...

 

make sure ur emergency break is depressed lol, we found that was a big problem when it was pulled up. lol. beat the **** out of em wit a mallet.

 

Beat the **** out of them with a BFH like everyone said, and I found it was helpful to spin them from time to time as well.

 

I know that on the LS1 cars they used little slip on retainer ring clips on some of the wheel studs that could keep the rotor from coming off. These are very obvious though and look like little lock washers that are pressed onto a couple of the studs over the rotors. Supposedly these were just used to keep the rotors on the hub during assembly of the car.

If you have the wheel off then there is nothing else holding the rotors on in the front - they're not like those pesky Honda disc or anything. With the rear you just want to make sure that the parking brake is off since it is essentially a little drum brake inside the rear disc that can hold it on if engaged.

I think that in your case (assuming that the little retainer clips are indeed not there) you just need to work your way around the rotor with something like a 3lb dead blow hammer. Just be patient and maybe soak it in some PB Blaster for a few hours...

 

Go take some roids, then beat on it again with your hammer. As stated above, if you are workin on your rears make sure the e-brake is off!

I was going the brakes on my girls car, and she insisted she took the e-brake off, well after 30 min of beating i checked..... and it was on...... still...... damn women.

 

I double checked and didn't see any washers, retainers or anything and another friend suggested PB blaster so I'm soaking it tonight and hopefully it will come off with the big hammer tomorrow. It's the front so no ebrake issue.

 

I had them really stick on my 95 camaro. I hammered on them for a while nothing. I ended up taking a map gas torch and heating the hat of the rotor up. then hitting it with Wd40 around the hub and around the studs while it was still good and hot. then let it cool. After that a little hammering and it came off.

 

I would be very CAREFUL not to use a gas torch there. A lot of things can go bad really fast......In fact heat causes the metal to expand so I think it would make things worse. possibly came off due to hammering and WD40 alone....

 

Well, I finally got the rotors off. Didn't heat them, just used the PB blaster and beat the living hell out of them. At first I was pounding them from the back which seemed to make the most sense, but I found that beating them in the front corners popped the opposite end loose finally.
Thanks for everyones suggestions and encouragement.
You guys rock

 

Holy ****, you guys saved our ***! We have been beating on those rotors off and on for two days. Just a simple brake job while we rebuild the top end we thought. The damn brake job has been harder than the engine work! This is my youngest daughters first car (94 Camaro), and I am worried that she may never want to do another brake job again! Beating the damn things just didn't work, but the comment above about beating at the rotor from the front made all the difference in the world! Thanks again!!!

 

Yea. Take the Caliper off first.

 

No ****. Not an idiot.

The rotor hub rusts to the spindle hib. The tension from that rust was a bitch to brake free. The car was still wearing the original factory brakes (very worn). This poor thing was not maintained (133K miles), and we are trying to save it. For reference, it had three different brands of spark plugs in it, and one of them seemed to be the original! Oh, and a cooling system so clogged with sludge, that no coolant was running through the heater core or the bypass lines to the TB. The lifters and pushrods look fine, and the valley was a lot cleaner than I expected. Still, it is absolutely amazing that this thing even ran...

 

Might try some PB blaster or something a little stronger on rust than WD-40.

 

PB and BFH. And if you are going to hit it from the back, put a lug nut on loose just to keep the rotor from flying if you hit it hard enough.

 

20lb sledge, use block of wood against rotor. you'll need the mass of a sledge to be effective. A standard size hammer or even a 5 lb mallet will just waste your time and **** you off more.
You think your rotors are rusted on, you should've seen the rotors on my '89 f250 diesel when I had it, they were rusted on.