Ford real time help -- stuck on brake rotor (1 Viewer)

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octongue

octongue

Joined
Apr 6, 2007
Threads
52
Messages
475
Location
Columbus, Ohio
Website
eyebrowns.blogspot.com
I can't get this damned rotor off to save my life. I have beaten the s*** out of it, soaked it in PB Blast...
at this point i have broke the braking surface off, but the part that goes around the lugs is still stuck on.
Everyone that i've talked to has assured me that it might be hard to get off, but it will come off the hub without removing any additional clips/bolts or whatever.

What else can i do? I had to heat up the caliper bolts to get it off, but i don't have a big enough torch to heat up the whole rotor.
 
Hopefully you got the screws that hold the rotor to the hub. Not all vehicles have them, but many do. I know its very obvious, but I had to say it. Another thing you can do is heat where the rotor meets the hub. If you do this, make sure not to heat it too much because then you can cause damage to bearings and the grease in the hub.
 
Hit the rotor as hard as you can with at least a 2lb hammer right between the studs. It doesn't make a lot of sense to hit it on to the hub, but it's what you do. After 6 or 8 HARD hits, turn the rotor and hit it in a different spot.

The hard part is not hitting a lug. If you do that lug needs to be replaced.

It'll come. My students will bang away at one for 10 or 15 minutes before they tell me it won't, then roll their eyes when I get it with a couple of hits. Gotta not be afraid to hit it.

When it comes it'll pop loose from the hub. No point in hitting it after it starts to move in and out a little. It'll wiggle off from there.

Those Exploder front hub bearings are expensive. Don't put a lot of heat to them.
 
Beating hub/rotor with sledge = drastically marred surface, but no luck in loosening the thing.
Next stop = heat. probably new wheel bearings, as i will boil the s*** out of them getting thr rotor hot enough.
 
another trick which I've always had good luck with, is to use a bolt that fits the small threaded holes most rotors have on their hubs, most people don't even recognize they're there. Pops the rotor everytime.
 
fsusteve said:
another trick which I've always had good luck with, is to use a bolt that fits the small threaded holes most rotors have on their hubs, most people don't even recognize they're there. Pops the rotor everytime.
Click to expand...

Most American rotors don't have those. Saves a tenth of a penny per rotor.
 
So i got these brakes done. Turns out that the caliper on the passenger side (the problematic side) was bad, and had accelerated the break down of the rotor. After getting everything apart and then attempting to compress the piston and the caliper, I found that it wouldn't do so. I tried and tried, bought a special separator, which I quickly broke,a nd then gave up and got another caliper. After getting the new caliper, I did that side and went and did the other in less than an hour and a half. Needless to say, I learned a lot.

thanks to everyone's help.
 
might want to put on anti sieze

I have done tons of brakes. But one thing i never thought of is dabing on anti sieze where the rotor meets the hub so next time, its not such a pain to remove.

cars can be such a pain to work on when something refuses to come off!

I had to remove my next door neighboors exaust. What a headache. Bolts were rusted onto the cat. Had to propane tourch and hammer them then use vise grips to remove the remaining part that was not cut off previosly by a angle grinder!! nest time, im charging extra time when that happens.
 
The way I get stuck rotors and drums of is to use a air hammer with a flat bit and hammer between the studs never fails. Clean up rust and put anti seize on the hub before putting back together. I work on all types of vehicles and heavy equipment and this method works for me.

kyle
 
octongue said:
will a 4lb. "Engineer's Hammer" work? I don't want to get the wrong thing but it's pretty much a little sledge.
Work didn't have one so i need to purchase something this evening.
Click to expand...

Gumby said:
Sure. A rock on a stick will work if you can get some ass behind it.
Click to expand...


Gumby brings the funny.


I have a 2lb and a 3lb mini sledge hammer I use.
 
Gumby said:
Hit the rotor as hard as you can with at least a 2lb hammer right between the studs. It doesn't make a lot of sense to hit it on to the hub, but it's what you do. After 6 or 8 HARD hits, turn the rotor and hit it in a different spot.

The hard part is not hitting a lug. If you do that lug needs to be replaced.

It'll come. My students will bang away at one for 10 or 15 minutes before they tell me it won't, then roll their eyes when I get it with a couple of hits. Gotta not be afraid to hit it.

When it comes it'll pop loose from the hub. No point in hitting it after it starts to move in and out a little. It'll wiggle off from there.

Those Exploder front hub bearings are expensive. Don't put a lot of heat to them.
Click to expand...

You're a hell of a resource dude. I found this forum through a google search on stuck rotors, and all I found was people saying to keep nailing the rotor with a sledge hammer, one guy even said to sawzall it.

I hit that rotor with a 20lb sledge 20 times and it didn't budge. Did the Gumby method, about 3 whacks later I could see the rotor moving forward, and I was able to pull it off by hand. I was so thrilled I took the time to register and write this post.

Saved me a lot of headache man, because I was about to pull out the grinder if the sledge didn't work out.

Gumby. :clap::clap::clap:
 
stuck rotors

I also found this through google search.What a savior! The above posting is correct smack it hard for a couple minutes between the bolts and it will come off. A regular hammer wasn't enough, I had to use a small mallet and bang it HARD!:cheers:
 
After hours of trying to get a rotor off, banging at it with a hammer... I too found this through google and the method Gumby describes about hitting it where the lugs go (since in my case I have lug bolts) worked with just a few smacks... with an 8oz hammer even. pb blaster had even worked its way all the way through the contact area but wasn't enough to get it without smacking it in the lug area of the rotor.
 
I just wanted to say that I am another converted believer. I too registered here just to post this. I have 2010 Ford Expedition and redid the rear brakes today. I got to the part where I needed to get the rotors off and they wouldn't budge. I was hammering on the back of the rotor and using a propane torch around the lugs threads with no luck. So I came in the house and read this thread. I gotta say, Gumby hit the nail on the head. I had a piece of round stock steel that I used as a drift on the front of the rotor (So I wouldn't hammer near the lug threads) and wailed on the hub with a sledge. When I moved around to the back of the rotor, I used a piece of 2X4 block to drive on. Worked like a charm. Thanks Gumby.
 
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