Jump to content

Rotors Rusted To Hub

sullivanjay

Recommended Posts

sullivanjay Enthusiast

sullivanjay

Posted
Posted

I have a 95 K1500 / Z71. I have replaced all the brakes once already on this truck. It's time to do them again and the rotors are rusted to the hub on the front. I have used Kroil and PB Blaster and also heat / cold water to no avail. These rotors are stuck pretty badly. Anybody have any tricks to free them up? Thanks / J

Spurshot Senior Enthusiast

Spurshot

Posted
Posted

Heat the rotor with a welding torch, then the hammer size mentioned above.

peteking Enthusiast

peteking

Posted
Posted
Big hammer.

 

+1. I have my short-handled 2lb sledge for such jobs.

 

...also might want to use a scrap piece of 2x4, and hit that. Then nothing valuable is damaged in case of a stray blow?

sullivanjay Enthusiast

sullivanjay

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Done deal. Heat, cold water, big hammer, Groil, PB Blaster, would never have done it. Porta power between frame and rota, two minutes a side. Never had to do this before but put it in the memory bank. In fact if the rotor will not come right off the next time I know what to do. / Thanks for help / J

pm26 Senior Enthusiast

pm26

Posted
Posted

Many new rotors have two threaded holes that you screw a properly fitting bolt into and turn with a wrench. The bolts will force the rotor off without any effort. I noticed that my truck rear drums have such threaded holes.

jrod332 Enthusiast

jrod332

Posted
Posted

i have found it a good idea to put the lugs back on a little bit so a stray blow from the hammer doesnt hit the stud and mess up the threads.

Spurshot Senior Enthusiast

Spurshot

Posted
Posted
Done deal. Heat, cold water, big hammer, Groil, PB Blaster, would never have done it. Porta power between frame and rota, two minutes a side. Never had to do this before but put it in the memory bank. In fact if the rotor will not come right off the next time I know what to do. / Thanks for help / J

 

 

Why not put some grease on the snout of the hub and base of the studs when you put it back together? It may help for the next disassembly.

Bish Senior Enthusiast

Bish

Posted
Posted
Done deal. Heat, cold water, big hammer, Groil, PB Blaster, would never have done it. Porta power between frame and rota, two minutes a side. Never had to do this before but put it in the memory bank. In fact if the rotor will not come right off the next time I know what to do. / Thanks for help / J

 

 

Why not put some grease on the snout of the hub and base of the studs when you put it back together? It may help for the next disassembly.

 

 

I put a light coat of anti-seize on that surface where the rotor and hub meet.

pm26 Senior Enthusiast

pm26

Posted
Posted

I could not remove one of the rear drums on my truck when I was inspecting the brakes. It has the threaded holes mentioned in my post above and that is the easiest way to get it off. You need to supply your own metric bolts though. The bolts will push against the hub/axle flange and force the rotor or drum off without any damage or effort. Also, they use two toothed washers to secure the drums on new trucks. These must be removed of course when servicing the rear brakes. The best way is to use needle nose pliers to bent each tab on each washer. It is not necessary to reinstall these washers, but you can reuse them and bent the tabs back after installation with a screwdriver.

 

Do not use a large three jaw gear puller to try to get a rusted brake drum off. I made that mistake years ago on an old car and distorted the drum in the process to the point where it had to be replaced. Rotors are not quite as susceptible to damage when forced off like that, but it is not a good idea in any case.

sullivanjay Enthusiast

sullivanjay

Posted
  • Author
Posted

My truck makes many many trips north towing snowmobiles to Island Pond Vermont from Boston every winter. It's a four hour trip with lots of road salt.( Canadian boarder) Before I poped the rotors off with the porta power I used a flash light to see what the issue was from looking into the back of the rotor / hub. It was obvious what the problem was. It was not rusted to the hub but the rotor itself was so rusted it would not pass the hub. I knew no amount of banging or even penetrating fluid would have helped. I'm an ex auto mechanic and never have run into rotors that would not come off with a few hits with a nice Eastwing 4lb sludge that's 12" tall. Had it since about 1970. The rotors where so rusted that cutting them off was an option. By the way one rotor had the back pad surface missing 1/2 way around and the other had 4 cracks through the pad surface from hitting it. There is no rust what so ever on the hubs. Just need to clean the surface the rotor slides on. 1/4" all the way around. It was all the rotors. They are NAPA premium rotors and not OEM equivqlent. I tow a 7000 lb. travel trailer and don't skimp on brakes. I have the NAPA replacements in the garage but have decided to replace the calipers also. The truck will rust out before I ever have to do brakes again so lesson learned here. To much New England salt/rust.

To the two guys that mentioned a rust inhibitor. Exactly my thought's. From now on I will never seize the rotors upon assembly.

Found the note on Penatrating sprays interesting. I have always liked Kroil. I tried PB Blaster on this project to no avail. I had a trailing arm bolt snap on a snowmobile. Can't wait to try the Acetone / Tranny thing.

Thanks to all who replied. / J

Norseman Senior Enthusiast

Norseman

Posted
Posted
I have a 95 K1500 / Z71. I have replaced all the brakes once already on this truck. It's time to do them again and the rotors are rusted to the hub on the front. I have used Kroil and PB Blaster and also heat / cold water to no avail. These rotors are stuck pretty badly. Anybody have any tricks to free them up? Thanks / J

 

BFH!!

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • fondupot
      Exhaust heat while towing!

      By fondupot · Posted

      You can install tailpipes that direct the exhaust sideways vs the OEM one that goes straight back. There are several on the market, do you own research. HOWEVER, you need to make sure the Venturi vents are still intact, otherwise it will throw a engine code. There is a sensor somewhere that detects back pressure on the exhaust. And if it doesn't collect the correct metrics, it will throw the truck into limp mode. 
    • Atlas
      Wow I'm in a pickle. (Broke down truck) and a story.

      By Atlas · Posted

      "Teardown" is complete. Head surfaces are clean and ready, new intake is prepped and ready. Coolant drained and water pump is removed, radiator is removed, new hoses and pump are ready.   The replacement intake is also from a '95 (with I think 260k, the odometer said). Noticeably less pitting where it covers the rear coolant passages. I'm not sure if that's a tribute to more frequent use, more frequent coolant changes/upkeep, or if the intake was machined at some point. But it appears I found a good one.   My coolant hoses were original, and the lower hose still retained the factory spring inside. It's not really rusty, but it's got deposits all over it. Unsure if I should re-install it (will thoroughly clean it first). Someone said hose technology has gotten better since 1995 (has it?) and I don't need the spring. I think modern EPDM is what made those hoses last from 1995-2026, so it's a question of how much suction can the water pump really pull, and will it collapse the hose without a spring?   I'm stopped and waiting for parts, however.   When I first brought the truck home, the fan was intermittently hitting the radiator shroud. I could see someone had monkeyed with the shroud (put a bunch of cardboard as a spacer between the upper/lower shroud halves. Someone said the motor mounts have likely failed and the engine has sagged. I wasn't sure I believed that. The engine is really solid in its mounts: To remove the old intake I *just* nearly permanently welded to the heads with freshly cured RTV and gasket snot two weeks ago, I literally had to use the arms on my lift and a chain with a bolt attached to the intake to pull it loose. It almost picked the front of the truck off the ground before ....scuuuuuuuuuuup.... I could actually hear the gaskets tearing and it broke loose and the whole truck settled back down. Motor barely moved.   SO, those parts I'm waiting on... The lower radiator mounts/bushings had completely failed. The radiator needs to be insulated from the rad support, and the bushings help the rad stand at the correct height. The plastic "baffle" was also destroyed at some point. Someone had attached the shroud to it incorrectly, overlapping a joint that should have been underlapped, creating another suspect issue potentially causing things to hit the fan. Broken tabs, side is busted off, and it's perma-formed/bent where it was jimmied incorrectly.   The baffle? Unobtainum. Long since discontinued from GM, of course. Aftermarket/capa/chinese? Also unobtanium. In GM's infinite wisdom, it appears there are at least two different variations whether the Blazer is 2 or 4 door, and I can't yet tell if they shared the same part with the S-pickups. Plan B, if I can't find a viable used one, will be to create a bracket to re-assemble the critical joint I need to seal a gap with the shroud. But that will bug me, it won't be...perfect.   The water pump bolts appear to have been installed with...plumber's putty. I guess, sure, if it works...? I've found a few "backyard fixes" like that. Someone's been here before....   If I can't find someone to jam bamboo under my fingernails to fill my free time this week I think I'll install the driver's power window motor and replace the rear door speaker that's inop. I've got a genuine GM "9.5" ohm working replacement. Why GM used a non-standard resistance....nevermind. Of course they did, you can get more sound from a cheap factory amp that way.   And the saga goes on...
    • glenn27
      Different requirements for oil filters?

      By glenn27 · Posted

      // Thank you, also for your  response. More information is always good. This 2013 GMC is most likely my 'forever truck"-I'm 77 and retired...and truck only has 42K on it-very clean-so I try to keep it that way.  Tks again for your  response- glenn
    • smooth68
      Alternate wiring for Kicker sub with Bose system. (DO THIS)

      By smooth68 · Posted

      I started my install this weekend. Everything was pretty straight forward but I ran into one issue with running power through the firewall. The nipple grommet on my High Country already has a small harness running through it - has anyone else ran into this issue? And on the engine bay side, does the wire basically just penetrate the factory wiring boot? I did this on my '22 Trail Boss and it seems much easier but thats been a few years. My other thought would be possibly drilling a new hole adding a rubber grommet just to the lower left of the factory hole. Thoughts?   Has anyone used a T-harness off the Bose amp and obtained power from there? It seems a little odd that such a small amp needs 3 power leads
    • glenn27
      Different requirements for oil filters?

      By glenn27 · Posted

      ///// Ok--Thanks for that info--I could not find yesterday when I looked for the specs on that NAPA filter what I wanted. Their website is not very user friendly. I buy all teh filters for  our three vehicles once or twice a year. Have always run NAPA Gold on everything I own....I buy it thru my Son's account for his business-which he has a Heavy Equipment repair shop-one reason he uses NAPA so much-they have such a full line of coverage for just about anything/anywhere- He gets s  good discount because of volume bought. Anyway-Thank you -Sir for your response.   glenn

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...