brake problem

You don't need to take off the center nut. If you are replacing the rotor just hit it around the outside diameter with a hammer. Might help to spray it down with some PB / WD40 or something.

"metro" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@localhost.talkaboutautos.com:

That center nut is for your driveshafts. Put it back, along with a new cotter pin.

Check to make sure the rotor is not held on by little Phillips screws on its face. If it's not, it's probably rust holding it on. You should find two small threaded holes in the face of the rotor near the wheel lug bolts. Put two M6x1 (?) metric screws into the holes and screw them in. This ought to pop the rust seal.

If the metal around the bolts starts bending forwards and cracking instead of the rotor popping loose, STOP! At that point you need to hammer from the back, like Josh says. Tap, turn, tap, turn, tap harder, turn, etc until it breaks loose.

Very good advice. This works every time.

Gary L. Burnore wrote in news:d24q4g$3u4$ snipped-for-privacy@oliveloaf.databasix.com:

Not in my area. In the Northeast, rotors that have been installed for more than two winters will NOT come off without some semi-destructive techniques. I did not know where the OP was, hence my advice (which you snipped) further to the M6 screw tip:

"If the metal around the bolts starts bending forwards and cracking instead of the rotor popping loose, STOP! At that point you need to hammer from the back, like Josh says. Tap, turn, tap, turn, tap harder, turn, etc until it breaks loose."

A ball peen hammer applied forcefully and often, inboard of the hub flange, will usually eventually break the rust seal, allowing you to hammer the rotor off from the back with satisfying results.

I spent a large portion of my life in Chicago, where they use MUCH more salt than they do in the North East (Having lived in NYC, and Western MA for a time, I know they use a sandier mix), I've never had to break one or bend it to get it off. Hammer, yeah a little. But not to the point of semi-destruction.

Gary L. Burnore wrote in news:d272em$i1d$ snipped-for-privacy@kneejerk.databasix.com:

When rotors rust in place, they do so by getting clamped in place by the rust that grows outwards from the perimeter of the hub flange, and inwards from the inner surface of the rotor's "top hat".

Since there is only a few thousandths of an inch clearance between the hub flange and the inside of the rotor's "top hat", it does not take long in a snowy environment (such as Detroit, upstate NY or Southern Ontario) for that rust to squeeze and weld the rotor in place.

When you hammer, what you do is use the small end of a 1# ball-peen hammer to beat on the side of the rotor's "top hat", just inboard of the hub flange. You hit, turn a bit, hit, turn a bit, for maybe five minutes. You are trying to create a vibration that will shock the rust into cracking.

Once you've done that, you can try beating the rotor hard from the inboard side of the caliper aperture. You might have to alternate between hammering the top hat and the back of the rotor a few times before it comes loose.

I have had to do this so many times I've lost count.

The only sure way of avoiding this is to remove the rotors once a year, sand off all that rust on the hub flange and inside of the top hat and apply a thin skin of anti-seize. The seizures occur on rotors that are left undisturbed for three or four winters. When I originally said two, that was overly conservative. It takes longer than that.

Yep.

Well, not actually weld, but press against, yes.

Generraly, you don't need to cause distruction, as you suggested. Only hit.

That part's not necessary on rotors with threads made to help push it away from the axle flange.

Even that depends on where you are. NY, yeah, about 4. Chicago, two is about right. The extra salt they use causes everything to corrode faster.

I'm telling you, PB blaster is the best stuff on earth. :)

Gary L. Burnore wrote in news:d27dcg$bkj$ snipped-for-privacy@blackhelicopter.databasix.com:

Ohhhh yes it is.

Guess you're just unlucky. :)