How the hell to get rotors off?

[repo]

As far as i know these rotors have been on there since 1999. They are rusted on good. I have tried wacking with a deadblow hammer, liquid wrench, prying, and screwing the caliper bolts all the way through the bracket to push on the rotor but there is not enough rotor to push on.

What is the trick to this?

 

[RPS99SHO]

You need heat. And I'm not talking your wife's hairdryer heat. I'm talking $9 Harbor Freight heat gun heat. 5 minutes each corner should do the trick.

 

[repo]

You need heat. And I'm not talking your wife's hairdryer heat. I'm talking $9 Harbor Freight heat gun heat. 5 minutes each corner should do the trick.

I have a heat gun (for stripping paint) and a MAP pro plumbing torch for soldering pipes.

 

[I_bRAD]

Use the plumbing torch

 

[LookAtThatDog]

I beat on those *****es until my ears rang when I replaced my originals. All my neighbors mustve thought a train was coming through. DING DING DING DING

 

[fblainen11]

I've done TBU on two 3rd gens now. Only had problems with one rotor not coming off easily on my 97. Hit it with a hammer for a while....finally it came off.

 

[pauldub]

You can loosen the lug nuts a little and do some low speed sharp turns. Worked on my daughter's Echo after several Chicago winters.

Oops, now that I remember better, that just got the wheels off.

 

[Cree]

3lb sledge got mine off in a hurry. Wear Ear Pro.

 

[repo]

3lb sledge got mine off in a hurry. Wear Ear Pro.

Where did you hit on? The back?

 

[Chuckles89]

Yeah, hit them hard with a sledge hammer. Hit on both sides.

 

[m88tow]

You're replacing them anyways so hit them right on the face of the rotor towards the truck not out away. This usually is enough to break their rusty hold. Sometimes you have to hit them so hard that the rotor surface and the hat break into two pieces, at that point they slide right off.

 

[repo]

Thanks everybody for giving me "permission" to wail on them, I never feel right using big hammers or heat on my truck. Although the feeling subsides after a few beers :thumb: Heat didnt do much but finally got that dirty bastard off by whacking on the FRONT surface with a 48oz deadblow.

I snapped the head off the screw that holds the brake line bracket when i took the caliper off though. More trips to the hardware store for an extractor set.

 

[01thunder]

for future use, get kroil and a 4-6 lbs beater. kroil creeps into everything and loosens rust quick. make sure the hub doesn't have rust scale on it, otherwise the rotor won't seat correctly and the assembly will wobble and cause steering problems you won't know where they are coming from.

 

[higgy]

when you reassemble put some never seize around the hub center so they will fall off in the future

 

[repo]

Yeah I am going to rub it with emory cloth and liberally apply anti-seize for next time. I have heard that kroil stuff is good but I usually have sucess with liquid wrench if I leave it for a long time, but I was impatient today. Going to leave the other side soaking overnight.

 

[Cree]

Yeah I am going to rub it with emory cloth and liberally apply anti-seize for next time. I have heard that kroil stuff is good but I usually have sucess with liquid wrench if I leave it for a long time, but I was impatient today. Going to leave the other side soaking overnight.

Go easy with anti seize. Too much and it will actually do exactly the opposite of what you want it to do.

 

[repo]

ok the other side was actually worse. In the end I cut a steel plate and clamped it to the rotor and alternately drove the lubed up caliper bolts all the way through to push on the back of the rotor until I heard a crack, then squirted deep creep in the stud holes, and repeated the process with the rotor turned 180 degrees and it came right off. Looking at the rust inside the top hat there was no way penetrating oil would ever reach it.

 

[m10karind]

I used a 12lb sledge on mine. The 3lb dead blow wasn't doing it. :boxing:

 

[96LTDrus]

ok the other side was actually worse. In the end I cut a steel plate and clamped it to the rotor and alternately drove the lubed up caliper bolts all the way through to push on the back of the rotor until I heard a crack, then squirted deep creep in the stud holes, and repeated the process with the rotor turned 180 degrees and it came right off. Looking at the rust inside the top hat there was no way penetrating oil would ever reach it.

This was going to be my suggestion. I really struggled until I figured out driving a bolt from the opposite of the caliper bracket into the stuck rotor and POP!:gun4: