Where is the best point to hit with heat…?
Is it possible if I take the big nut off in the middle would it release the hub…?
No that is the nut for the axle. It has no affect on the rotor. Leave it alone.
I’ve only done these once and years ago so my memory is not great but the bolt should have been a flat head. So as soon as you drilled the head off, it should not have been holding the rotor on any more. Possibly because of the way that hole looks now, there might be some bolt fragments holding the thing on but really I think it is just on there tight and maybe rusted and you gotta just get more aggressive banging it off from the back or with the bolts or both.
Spray around the lugs. Are you using a 5 or 10 lb sledgehammer? A regular hammer won’t cut it. I usually bang on the front of the rotor, between the lugs, several times at each position (between each pair of lugs). Then I whack the back side of the rotor two or three times with the sledge, turn the rotor a few inches, whack two or three times, and so on. Eventually the rotor lets go. Best of luck!!! I have fought this battle many times and it is NOT fun.
Looks all pretty now lol. But it has a light shaking when heavy breaking. And once in a while when going out of park it does an aggressive bang. Like the breaks got stuck then released. Is this normal sence they are new. …?
Congrats on your progress!
New calipers and rotors on both sides? Pads and the pad mounting clips?
Those rusty hubs well scoured so there’s no rust deposits interfering with perfectly flat mounting of the rotor?
Rotors brought up to proper torque in 3 steps? That also helps avoid warping.
I did replace the rotor mounting screws, with a little antisieze on them. Some consider that optional.
Did you screw the caliper bolts and bracket with the right torque?
Not trying to rain on your success but be sure and listen for any growl coming from that corner. Whacking on the rotor to remove it can damage the wheel bearing. Been there, done that!
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How did you get it off? What did the trick?
A hammer that was almost as big as me. It took breaking it to get it off. A couple big hits and it broke. Then had to crowbar the rest off…
Too bad she had to take this approach but she probably wasn’t aware it could take some life out of a wheel bearing.
The symptoms you reported above are not normal for any rotor/pad replacement job I’ve done. I expect you still got some problems to resolve. It’s very possible something got damaged with all the heavy duty banging.
I’ve had that problem before, on a VW Rabbit. I had heated it with a propane torch, then laying underneath and pounding on it w/a 4 pound hammer. Then when I was resting from the hammering, it fell off by itself. Right on my leg …hot, ouch… lol …
Removing stuck rotors is a common problem posted here. YOu might read through some of those old threads to prepare yourself for the next time. Tester’s method seems to get good reviews, surprised it didn’t work for you. Did you try heating the rotor with a propane torch? Mechanics use a blowtorch, but a propane torch is better than nothing. If you want hotter you could use MAPP gas instead of propane. Same idea, same equipment. It takes a lot of heating to get something with that much metal-mass hot enough to expand. There is a rotor puller tool available for that task also. Ask your auto parts store if they have one you could rent next time.
Her rusty rotor looks typical for rusty rotors around here. I have never been able to get enough heat in the rotor with a propane torch to do any good. PB Blaster, time and a big hammer are what the bad ones need.
Tester’s trick with the bolts might work with grade 8 bolts but not hardware grade. Even the rotors with the threaded holes in the rotors need good quality bolts. The two bolt method might work of it is used to put pressure on the rotor and THEN hitting it with a sledge.
This is mainly a DIY problem, shops around here just get out the torch.
As far as damaging the wheel bearing, if it happens, it happens. The rotor has to come off.
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There’s an alternative I discovered out of necessity some years back. They can be cut off with sawzall. If they don’t budge after b’laster, wire wheeling and moderate whacks. A decent blade cuts like butter. Find place in knuckle that’s clear and slice. After scoring hat edge, they usually fall off or only need light tap. Ymmv.
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I’ve had good luck using Map Gas. Burns a little hotter then propane.
MAPP is a shadow of it’s former self. Ever since they stopped making real MAPP gas and replaced it with Propylene, it’s only marginally better than propane. Like only 122 degF hotter. Still better than propane but nowhere near as effective as the original MAPP. I’m down to my last 1/2 bottle of genuine MAPP…
I’ve still got a spare bottle but don’t know if it’s the old or new version. I’ll have to look. I mainly used it for sweating copper pipe and it does heat up fast so have to be careful to not over-heat the fittings.