rear rotor disc change horror!!!!!!

[snowwolfwarrior]

I decided to change the rear rotors today, off came the wheel, easy, off came the brakes, easy, but I could not get the rotor off the hand brake shoes, when the shoes had been put on at some other time in the cars life, the bottom shoe spring had been put on the wrong side, so it was covering the shoe adjuster, so I could not get a screwdriver to loosen the shoes off.
I had to get some long 8mm studding about 150mm long and jack the rotor off the shoes, I had to jack a bit the hammer the drum at the same time, as I was jacking I could hear noises that sounded like things breaking, took me over an hour to get the rotor off, because the rotor was cocking the shoes and locking them to the drum, it broke all the spring clips bent the adjuster, I did manage to straighten all the bits back up and get the shoes back on, but jeeees, what a lot of hassle it was, once I got that all sorted, the new rotor went on ok, then it started raining big time, typical England, had to get it all back together, so got drenched doing the last bit, I will attempt the other side tomorrow. wish me luck chaps.

 

[concretejungle]

good luck man.

 

[mabrodis]

wow that sounds like alot of work! I have heard of people not being able to get rear drums off before and having to just cut them off with a sawsall/grinder...wow would that suck.

If the other side is similar I would maybe try something else to get to the adjuster, maybe evening try to break something in there, maybe cutting a chunk out of the brake backing plate...doesn't sound like fun.

Good Luck...

 

[snowwolf]

Well, just to let you know, the other side was a piece of cake, changed rotor and pads and all done in 40 mins and that included wire brushing up the brake parts, and then again all the tools were still in the back of the car, so were at hand........ me happy man..... but mon a sad note, my starter motor got far worse today at starting, click click grrrrr, grrrr, I knew the contacts were on their way out and purchased them a few weeks ago, may have to change them over the weekend, if anyone else has done theirs, any funny quirks, it does look simple to get motor off, is it a bolt from the bell housing side at the bottom and a nut from the motor side at the top, do you think that the motor comes out from the top or the bottom of the car?

 

[landtank]

Well, just to let you know, the other side was a piece of cake, changed rotor and pads and all done in 40 mins and that included wire brushing up the brake parts, and then again all the tools were still in the back of the car, so were at hand........ me happy man..... but mon a sad note, my starter motor got far worse today at starting, click click grrrrr, grrrr, I knew the contacts were on their way out and purchased them a few weeks ago, may have to change them over the weekend, if anyone else has done theirs, any funny quirks, it does look simple to get motor off, is it a bolt from the bell housing side at the bottom and a nut from the motor side at the top, do you think that the motor comes out from the top or the bottom of the car?

Was it so bad the first time it took the WARRIOR out of Ya?

 

[snowwolf]

Glad you pointed that out landtank!!!! Thats wierd... I do remember when first joining the forum, my first name (snowwolf) would not let me log on, thats why I had to make another nick up, so added the warrior, (snowwolf warrior) is my dogs kennel name. I have been recently using my laptop and main pc, thats where there confusion has come from.... I think LOL, I'm just geetin to old for thid pc lark.

 

[Beowulf]

snowwolf,

You don't say which engine you have so I'll offer that if you have a 1FZ-FE, there are two bolts that attach the starter to the bell housing. One goes in from the front and one goes in from the rear. Get plenty of light down there and don't take out a bellhousing bolt and expect the starter to come out (it can happen )

Some remove the left front wheel to get better access. Some remove the starter through the wheel well. I've done it 3 or 4 times and just slide under the vehicle with all 4 wheels on the ground, remove the 2 starter bolts, remove the electrical wires (remove cables at the battery FIRST) and snake it out the bottom.

Takes about 30 minutes to R&R.

-B-

 

[snowwolfwarrior]

Cheers beowulf!!!!! That is a good write up on changing the starter, it's always best to have someone say exactly what to do.expect, I will have a go today if I get back from a funeral early enough......Thanks.

 

[stayalert]

A series of extensions and a BIG lever (ie pipe over a breaker bar) where what I needed to unfix the starter fasteners.

 

[TX_TLC]

If you access to them pnematic tools make it much easier. Taking the tire off and removing the wheel well skirting does help you see the big picture better, but it was easier to do all the work from underneath.

Good luck!

 

[mabrodis]

Once you get the starter out it's pretty easy to figure out, but here are the scanned pages from the FSM for a LX450 (actual contacts might be slightly different shape, but same info applies I think).

http://www.colorado4x4.net/tech/starter_contacts/starter_contacts.html