77 rear brakes

Have you drilled out the rivets holding the rotor to the axle?

Are you sure the parking brake shoes are retracted from the drum section of the rotor?

Have you removed the caliper? ; )

If all of the above is affirmative, then try giving the rotor a whack with a tubafor to break the rust hold between the parts in the lug area.

Here's waving to ya - \||||

Owen ___

'67BB & '72BB

-- not affiliated with JLA forum in any way -- alt.autos.corvette is original posting -- ___

"To know the world intimately is the beginning of caring." -- Ann Hayman Zwinger

I just replaced the wheel bearings, and they had never been touched before in my 77. Had to send them to 3 different shops before someone had a press large enough to get them off. Everything came off hard as hell.

After two weeks, I was ready to use a sledge hammer if I had to. If you've done all the stuff mentioned above, then you'll probably have to hit it.

On other vehicles, I've used a lot of heat to get the rust to break loose. But those were drum brakes, and I don't know if that is a technique to use here or not. Probably someone else knows, though.

Just to clarify for the OP - a press isn't necessary for rotor removal but is for bearing replacement.

Here's waving to ya - \||||

Owen ___

'67BB & '72BB

-- not affiliated with JLA forum in any way -- alt.autos.corvette is original posting -- ___

"To know the world intimately is the beginning of caring." -- Ann Hayman Zwinger

Thanks, Owen. I see how my wording could be misconstued. Having raised the idea, now I'm curious too about using heat to separate rusted parts in this area. Does anyone have experience or knowledge about that as a procedure?

Thanks for the info.

I drilled the rivets out and took the caliper off ; ) The thing still wont budge. Its not stuck like the parking brake is too tight, plus the rotor turns quite freely. I think the years of rust and never being off just have it seized. I think getting old smoke wrench out might be the next idea. Leave it to GM to rivet a rotor to the axle. I wonder who I could write a nasty letter to?

Thanks

You might try a couple "impact" methods before resorting to fire. Have you tried placing a 2x4 on the pad surface and hitting that with a 2 or3 lb mini-sledge a few times? Maybe even put the car in gear so the axle won't turn and then put a steel bar into a cooling channel on the outside edge and give it a few solid whacks both forward and in reverse directions.

As to why they are riveted, as I recall the explanation, it had to do with the order of the parts hung on the chassis moving down the assembly line. The calipers weren't placed on the chassis until a while after the trailing arms and rotors were bolted on. The rivets held the rotors so they wouldn't fall off.

Or it could have been that the trailing arm assembly supplier had the responsibility to not only set the bearings and hub in the arm but to supply the rotors as well. Riveting them on would assure all arms arrived at the chassis with a rotor attached.

Here's waving to ya - \||||

Owen ___

'67BB & '72BB

-- not affiliated with JLA forum in any way -- alt.autos.corvette is original posting -- ___

"To know the world intimately is the beginning of caring." -- Ann Hayman Zwinger

yeah, I've tried the all the impact methods short of renting a jackhammer. I'll try a few more before actually burning the car down, but I'm afraid it might come to that.

Fire was the gods' greatest gift for a reason.

Yeah, a little bit of fire went a long way. I just heated up around the flange area and soaked it with WD-40 and let it cool a little then it came right off. The cooling seemed to be the important part becasuse it still wouldn't budge when hot.

Thanks for the input from everybody!

Glad it all came together for you.