How to remove rotors?

lol. remove the brake calipers. you'll see.

Gandalf said:

Well I was going to start installing my new brake setups today and one I got the wheels off I realized I didnt have a clue how to remove the rotors. For the fronts do you have to remove the cotter pin (how do you unbend that thing? and can I reuse it). And then remove that very large nut, what size is that thing ayway? I doubt I have a socket that big or that deep. As for the rears I have no clue. Any help would be great, thanks!

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No you don't need to remove that pin and the big bolt, that's for your axel.

Remove your caliper by removing the two outer bolts that go into the caliper (they are either 10 or 12MM). Suspend the caliper from the strut using some string, and you should be able to remove the rotor.

Your rotor will probably be rusted to the hub, so spray that area above the big nut you were talking about with WD40. Then get a hammer and smack the back side of the rotor, rotate it, and smack it again. Keep doing this until the rotor is loose.

BTW you only want to use that method of removing the rotor if you are replacing them with new ones, since it will ruin your rotors.

Uses the same procedure for the rear rotors. SOme of the bolts on the rear are a different size then the fronts. Once you do the fronts you will have a good idea of what you will need to do on the rears.

Just take your time, maybe set aside a whole day to do everything, that way you can let the WD40 soak and walk away if you get fustrated!

chimmike said:

lol. remove the brake calipers. you'll see.

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You should make a HOW-TO:

1) Remove calipers
2) You'll see

it IS that simple haha.

Well, it can be confusing when you have removed all bolts and your rotors still won't budge.

a little brake cleaner and a rubber mallet always helps

Yeah thanks guys, (and by guys I mean everyone except Mike obviously). I got the calipers off fairly easy but then the rotors wouldnt budge at all and smacking them with a hammer wasnt on my list of things to try I need to go get a mallet then, causeall I have is a claw hammer. Should I buy a rubber mallet or will I need an actual heavy metal mallet? Also real quick, I saw a post saying our rear calipers are the type that have to be rotated as they are compressed with some special tool, true? I obviously dont have that tool. I think I'm gonna do my rotors and pads tomorrow, then do the new SS lines and speedbleeders another day.

put a 2x4 behind the rotor and hit that with the hammer

PBlaster. Lots of it. And a rubber mallet. a BIG one.

OMFG...here we go with the misinformation. Look in the FSM on http://www.southern-shift.com/manual.htm for the procedure for removing ANYTHING. I'm not going to touch this one because of the liability, but I will tell you these key things:
1. When removing the calipers, you'll need to compress the piston using a 5" or 6" C-clamp on the outside of the pads/caliper to get it off...otherwise, you won't get everthing back together.
2. To free a stuck rotor once you have the caliper off, spray the lug-studs with PB Blaster or WD-40, wait about a minute, and then tap the face of the rotor with a rubber mallet. DO NOT bang on the rotor because you can FUBAR the wheel bearing.
3. HAND THREAD EVERY BOLT BACK IN, then turn them in with a wrench. If you crossthread any of hte bolts in the brake/suspension components, you've created yourself a slight nightmare that a shop will most likely have to fix.

Good luck.

Thanks extreme, I have done brake pads before, just never rotors. I know how to cmpress the piston in a normal caliper with a C-clamp, but I had heard the rears were different, something to do with 2 holes that you stick a tool into and the piston actual rotates to get pushed back in.

Gandalf said:

Thanks extreme, I have done brake pads before, just never rotors. I know how to cmpress the piston in a normal caliper with a C-clamp, but I had heard the rears were different, something to do with 2 holes that you stick a tool into and the piston actual rotates to get pushed back in.

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Oh, you're doing the rears too? Yeah...different procedure there. You have to turn the piston a certain direction (clockwise?) to get the piston to go back in (only on the rears). Um...definitely check out the FSM before doing this install, then. I can't get the FSM to load for some reason, so if you can't either...I'll try to give you pointers, but it was forever and a day ago that Havok and I installed his brake components.

Yeah if you really have trouble with your rotors a large gear puller works great thats what I ended up doing. oh and when your hitting your rotor with a hammer you should put the lugs on part way because if you don't when the rotor breaks loose they will fly off.

Put the lugs on??? The rotor is not gonna fly off when it breaks loose, maybe I'm confused as to what you are saying. When I do get the rotors off is there any procedure to seat the new rotors? Or do the lugs seat them when I put the wheels back on.

MoltenSpec03 said:

Yeah if you really have trouble with your rotors a large gear puller works great thats what I ended up doing. oh and when your hitting your rotor with a hammer you should put the lugs on part way because if you don't when the rotor breaks loose they will fly off.

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Good point, but you shouldn't have to hit that hard...if you do, then you're going to damage something.

Gandolf: What he's saying is to thread the lug nuts on probably about 1 cm or so to prevent the rotor from flying off and hurting you. I know what he's talking about...I had a near miss. Havok and his friend banged on the rear rotors for a long time with a mallet to no avail, and then I showed up with PB Blaster, sprayed it on, waited ten seconds, hit the rotors with a mallet, and they came FLYING off.

Good call, Molten!

Ok guys, thanks alot for all this info. So I basically have eveything I need except for this tool to rotate the rear caliper piston. I might just d the front brakes tomorrow and then the rears later. At least I got t rotate my tires today, haha.

pushing in the rear piston.......how is this done? (cant use a c-clamp like on the front.....really?)

IMO just do the brake lines also. Its no big deal if you're already in there.