Stuck Rotor pictures - for your amusement

[bowlby29]

I did a front brake job on my 2000 SL2 last week, and the driver's side rotor was severely stuck. I spent 3 days spraying it with penetrating oil and whacking the face & rear with a hammer. As a last resort, I made a cut about 1/2 inch in from the outside of the rotor face, halfway around the rotor. I then drove a chisel in that cut, and was able to pry the rotor off that way.

Certainly not the best way to do it, but it only took about 45 minutes using a hacksaw and dremel (compared to at least 6 hours with the hammer). Best of all, I was able to remove the rotor without damaging the hub. I haven't heard of anyone else doing this, so I figured I'd post as a "this worked for me", as well as giving you a good laugh at my expense.

You'll notice how thin the rotor was on the inside - the caliper slide pins were in bad shape and not letting the caliper put pressure on both pads evenly. The last shop that did my brakes both removed the rubber boot and failed to adequately grease the pins.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B13...ew?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B13...ew?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B13...ew?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B13...ew?usp=sharing

[bachands]

Wow! There must have been a lot of brake pedal shudder from the unevenness of the rotor faces. Or perhaps that happened from all your hammering

[fdryer]

Its amazing the rest of the suspension doesn't show any rust except the rotor. Hopefully with all the hammering, the wheel bearing didn't suffer.

[OldNuc]

Antiseize and paint will prevent that from happening.

[Jette Racing]

Originally Posted by OldNuc

Antiseize and paint will prevent that from happening.

1996, next week I'll do the inner and outer ball joints. As I work on a part I try to make that part as new as possible, including a thorough cleaning.

[IMG][/IMG]

[bumpdraft]

^...and in SLC, your good paint work will last

Originally Posted by fdryer

...Hopefully with all the hammering, the wheel bearing didn't suffer.

A small tap will bring on the growling.

[OlHillbilly]

Some serious rust action there.
A little bit of heat on the rotors and they would have probably came right off. Don't have to get them glowing red, just warmed up good. Between the rotor expanding and the heat itself, will most always break rusted parts right loose.

[VUEmaniac]

Don't think I've EVER seen one that effed up and I've probably don'e a few thousand brake jobs. 99% of the time, a few whacks from behind with a bfh (if you know you're going to replace it anyway) does the trick. If it was me, I'd plan on replacing the wheel bearings. They are dirt cheap and it's not a hard job.

Kudos on the paint job.

Best,

[bowlby29]

New brakes feel awesome - especially considering where I was before the brake job.

fdryer - struts were replaced 2 weeks prior. Tie rod is in surprisingly good shape on this side; passenger is rusted to hell and no-longer adjustable. A week of driving and there's no sound from the bearing - I'm sure time will tell.

OldNuc - My new rotors are factory painted - didn't have antisieze handy but I might pull them later to apply some. Good call.

Jette Racing - holy hell man, that's like a sleeper art car . Impressive! I have started painting select parts as I replace them - guess I'm more conservative sticking with flat black!

OlHillbilly - maybe I didn't heat it enough, but tried a propane torch on it for a few minutes as well (combined with the hammer). I saw a warning elsewhere about destroying wheel bearing seals with too much heat so I didn't push it more than a few minutes with the torch.

VUEmaniac - I might try to do that soon, although I don't have a press so I might just replace the whole hub. I think a replacement valve body might be the next thing on my list given the occasional hard shifts.

[OldNuc]

When using antiseize it MUST be a extremely thin coat so wipe on a pea sized gob with a paper towel, that will be more than enough.

[trottida]

Originally Posted by bowlby29

VUEmaniac - I might try to do that soon, although I don't have a press so I might just replace the whole hub.

You need a press either way. The hub and bearing come together but hub is pressed into the bearing and the hub & bearing pressed into the knuckle. The bearing is between the knuckle and hub.

[bowlby29]

Originally Posted by trottida

You need a press either way. The hub and bearing come together but hub is pressed into the bearing and the hub & bearing pressed into the knuckle. The bearing is between the knuckle and hub.

Good to know. I'll either use a buddy's or pick up a cheap one.

[dfuerst]

Harbor Freight 12 ton has more than enough oomph, and is cheap. Use a vice, hammer, and drift to get the old one out (it'll take far, far longer to rig up the press to push it out). Use the press to install the new bearing and hub. The rigging for the install is simple; deinstall will have you scratching your head till you are bald.

I had the same problem when I did the driver's side wheel bearing -- the rotor was rusted to the hub. No amount of hammering and harsh language in either direction would free it up. It took less than 5 minutes with an angle grinder to cut off the rotor.

Darren

[00_SL1]

OK, I realize this job is all done now, but thought this might be relevant to the topic. I found this over the weekend after fighting with the rotors on my van.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtsTJCRljAs

[dfuerst]

Tried that -- didn't work.

Darren