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Front rotor(s) seized to hub....

Arachnid

CEG'er
Joined
Apr 13, 2016
Messages
34
Location
Ajax, Ontario, Canada
What I was hoping to be a quick and affordable job, keeps getting worse.

Got the caliper bracket bolts loose, discovered left inside pad totally shot, so I went and got new pads...problem now is, the rotor is utterly frozen to the hub and liberal amounts of penetrant and a 12lb sledge arent doing any good :(

Any ideas? I know heat is one, but all i have access to is a propane torch. Should I just let it soak overnight and go at it again in the morning or?
 
I think that a rotor puller can be rented .... or my father used something else that he had. Either way it took chunks out of the rotor. In the end I believe he made relief cuts in the rotor to get it to break free of the hub.

Also watch beating on the rotor with a hammer, could lead to a bearing failure.


And as I have said in years past, always buy the best quality rotors that one can. Preference is to North American made if at all possible. The Napa ultra premium line comes powder coated, iirc. Anyway the North American made rotors do not rust like the cheap rotors made overseas.
 
Get some Liquid Wrench...spray into the holes where the studs come through. Rotate the rotor and spray so that that liquid can seep in several directions down behind the rotor and bearing face. Now take a BFH...I have a 3lb-er...and beat on the face of the rotor where the holes are...not where the caliper grips. Beat several times on each face between studs. That will help the LW to works its way down...and crush rust which is acting like an adhesive. Walk away and let sit for an hour. Now come back and take said hammer and tap on the perimeter of the rotor as you spin it. Should come loose with some effort and time.
 
You really only can bash the hell out of the rotor to get it to come lose. Put the lug nuts back on the wheel studs to protect the threads from a stray hammer blow. You don't want to damage the threads. Keep wacking away alternating sides of the rotors. Sometimes I use a 2' long 2x4 and put the cut end on the rotor face and hit the other cut end with the sledge.
 
I usually resort to crawling underneath the vehicle and swinging the hammer from the back. If you get it high up enough, you can get plenty of shoulder-room to make a good swing, and it usually only takes me a few hits with an average carpentry hammer.
 
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