Hi,

I'm new and while this is an old thread, thought I would toss in my 2 cents. MY 98 Explorer rear rotors were stuck as if welded. So, I asked my mechanic his trick. He chuckled and asked where I was pounding on the rotor. He said that the only place to hit which would work was on the flat part between the studs with a pretty big hammer... but don't hit the studs.

With the studs heavily on my mind I was a bit nervous about big whacks. There had to be a way to whack and protect the studs. My solution was low tech and worked nicely. What I did was cut 3 inch lengths of PVC pipe and put one over each stud. To keep the PVC from bouncing off I stuffed a small amount of paper towel in when I put them over the studs.

The PVC pipe protected the studs from both direct hits and glancing blows. In compression it's quit strong and I actually did hit one. Because the PVC is larger than the stud, a misdirected blow sends the energy to the rotor, not the stud. The PVC did not break.

And yes, I used a 4 lb hammer and heavy blows.

IT WORKED!

Dave