How to pull the brake rotors off a 97 Honda Accord?

During the timing belt adventure I noted my front left rotor has some respectable grooves in it. At 128k miles I figure I've gotten enough life out of them and have decided to replace the pair, along with new shoes and pads. Anyway, the rotors are bolted to the back side of the hubs. I've pulled a half shaft (passenger side) before on this car, and even after popping the shaft out of the hub the assembly didn't fall off or shift. So, what was holding it together? The rotor's bolts? Also, go ahead and do wheel bearings while I'm there, or let 'em alone if they're not rough or noisy?

"Alan" wrote

Actually, in order to remove the half-shaft the ball joints and the tie rods has to come loose. It only requires 8-bolts and the knuckle assembly will crumble. The hub unit and the bearing are pretty much stuck together like super glue.

"B.B." wrote

A Honda of these generations require that you remove the whole knuckle and then unbolt the brake disk (rotor.) From the looks of it, the 4 bolts are pretty tight, probably worth 200-ft lbs each to break loose. You might require a large vise grips or three large guys or gals to hold knuckle then unbolt them. A little luck and strategy might help because you're dealing with

I almost had to deal with this mess when I needed to replace a stud that broke on the hub. Bad engineering from Honda. I've heard of places that turn rotors in-car. This is an easy way out.

You need a 2-ton press. These things are precision fit and last long.

I haven't measured, but the grooves seem deep enough that turning wouldn't save the driver side rotor. Oddly, the passenger side is just hunky-dory. Rather than mess with turning it and then trying to balance the pair, I'll just change the rotors out with new ones. My strategy is to wait for payday and buy the parts, pull the front wheels, wedge the brake pedal down, pop loose the spindle nuts, pop loose the rotor bolts, take the knuckle off, ????, put everything back together. So after getting out the rotor bolts, and pulling the knuckle off, then what? Are there some more bolts hiding on the back side, or will I just need to pry the hub loose? Any snap rings tucked anywhere?

Cool, I can take all of the parts to work on my bike and press the bearings there.

"B.B." wrote

Okay, the correcto order goes like this:

pop loose the spindle nut (80 lb-ft)

pop loose the caliper mounting bolts (80 lb-ft)

pop loose the rotor bolts (40 lb-ft)

pop loose three or two ball joints, your choice. (40 lb-ft)(33 lb-ft)

pop loose more bolts

take the knuckle off

pop loose the bolts hiding on the back side of the knuckle (33 lb-ft)

pop new rotor in and assemble, take care to observe the lb-ft or they'll come loose. The number I gave you are basic to these types of system.

Good idea, save on gas and parts.

Related images below are for the 97 Accord.

Whoo hoo! Thanks a million.

Extremely helpful. Thank you very much.