Rear rotor is stuck

[Gary S.]

In my prior post about a frozen E brake star wheel and the responses here plus my reading, I decided to take the right rear rotor off and service the E brake. Following the directions to drill out the rivets, I successfully removed all of them and marked the position of the rotor to the hub. The rivets heads are off, the rivets drilled all the way through with a 1/4" bit but the rotor won't come off. Yesterday when I backed the car up after reinstalling everything, I got an indication that perhaps the parking brake mechanism is frozen inside the "hat" and not releasing.

So, with the rivets gone, all the hardware disconnected, I cannot remove the rotor from the hub. What is my next move? If the parking brake mechanism is frozen in place as suggested by others, how do I fix this?

Gary

[Larry M.]

Re: Rear rotor is stuck

Gary:

Make sure rivers are drilled out COMPLETELY from the rotor, since during installation they have been squeezed tightly into the holes of the rotor and will try to hold unto the rotor unless they are drilled completely out.

Then disconnect the parking brake cable to the parking brake lever to take all the force off the lever. Then push lever as far as you can to its "neutral" position.

Try to rotate the rotor. Then use a dead-blow hammer and begin hitting (not too hard to damage the bearings) the rotor as you rotate it 360 degrees. Hopefully rotor will now disengage from the spindle.

You can also try to move the "frozen" adjustment star wheel to loosen things up........but make sure you go in the correct direction. You may need to get a new adjustment wheel to be sure of this direction. I cannot remember anymore without using this as a guide.

Larry

[Gary S.]

Re: Rear rotor is stuck

Larry,
FIXED it.

I did most of that with the exception of removing the cable from the lever. On youtube I saw a fix whereby longer bolts are threaded through the caliper mounting holes and push the caliper off. I did that and got a bit of movement. I then rotated the rotor 90 degrees and repeated it. I kept rotating the rotor and eventually the bolts pushed it enough that the rotor is off and I have confirmed that parking brake mechanism was seized in the on position and the pads are mostly gone.

Time for new parts.

Thanks for the advice.

[John D.]

Re: Rear rotor is stuck

When I had this problem some judicious work with a BF hammer around the hat section of the rotor helped immensely.

[Gary S.]

Re: Rear rotor is stuck

John,
I DID that. I started with a heavy rubber mallet and progressed to my bigger steel hammer to no avail. I mentioned above that I threaded the caliper mounting bolts through the threads where they contacted the rotor. I turned each bolt until it contacted the rotor and then gave the bolt a turn. I turned the rotor 90 degrees and repeated that. That worked and the rotor gradually came off.

In another link, I had posted that my star wheel was frozen. When I got it apart there was enough corrosion to prevent any turning using the screw driver tip. The rest of the mechanism is working and new parts are coming in tomorrow. I am reasonably convinced that a suggestion to use and oxy/acetylene mini-torch might have loosened it. But I don't own one. It is fixed and we will install tomorrow or Friday.

Gary