Ok, I can only blame myself for asking but......

No disrespect intended but that's perhaps the dumbest idea I have ever heard! Then again Im the guy with the stuck rotors!

Ill use the hot wrench as a last resort.

Tommy D

 

Sorry Kerry, I was out of town working at our satellite dealership.
The rotors are just slipped over the studs like 7700Rob said and sometimes the only way to get them off is to cut them like bremen242 said.
Sometimes you can pry on the back side of the rotor with a long heavy prybar, in between the caliper mount on the knuckle, while hitting the front face of the rotor, opposite the prybar, to break it loose.

 

Well Guys, Im going to have at it tonight.... wish me luck!!

Tommy D

 

Good luck! Better eachyer Wheaties!

 

Thats right, there still on there! <Ill upload poor camera phone photos as proof!>

3 hours of heating, cutting and best of all hammering got me no where!

Had the truck on the ground this time. Drivers side only jacked up.

First as mentioned I cut slices into the face of the rotor with my wizz wheel. It was hard to tell how deep to cut them but when you got down around the hub the sound would change. So I would move onto another cut somewhere else. With lots of beating and PB blaster I got no where.

Time for the hot wrench! Got the Oxy/Acc out and heated the face of the rotor pretty darn hot <love that smoke from the PB blaster!> and went back at it via the sledge. Nope not an inch did it budge. More heating and hammering and I got no where. In fact I broke the best BFH's I own handle! This is a nifty little sledge I use to drive king pins on HD 3500s. So its no wimpy mallet.

More heat and I broke out the mother of all sledges. This SOB should be used to drive railway stakes! How hard was I hitting the rotor you ask? hard enough that I nearly knocked the truck off the jack/stand!

Yet all I got was a pile of rust on the floor for my efforts.

Pretty funny huh? Sad thing is I have to drive this thing home after "tenderizing" the rotor like I did! Talk about a brake pedal pulsation!

Anyways I think Im out of options. Next time out Ill have it back on a 2 post lift. Most likely Ill end up cutting off the rotor from the hub. Just just in case.. whats a 7700 4x4 front hub run? 3-500$?? Knowing my luck Im going to end up ruining the hubs. Heck I might just unbolt the hub from the spindle and beat the rotor ill the hub pops off!!!

Grrrrrrrr

Tommy D

 

I think they're about $200+. I got one from NAPA for $150, but I used my acct. from work. Man, I've never heard of one that bad. I feel for ya!! Keep us updated.

 

Looks build date makes a $100 difference in price.

 

Oh here are a few really poor photos. BUT if nothing else you can see this is all true and not some made up story.

Take note of the rust on the back of the rotor where it meets the hub!!

Also take nore of my busted sledge!!

Grrrrrr

Tommy D

Drat Busted hammer!!



Rotor meet hub.... for ever and ever!!



Slice and dice baby!!

 

Absolutely unbelievable. You forgot to take off the center nut! Just kidding. Man, what a mess!

 

With a rust problem that severe I would definetely install plenty of anti-sieze when reassembling.

 

You have me scared to even try it myself, now Tommy.

If you've spent as much effort in the heating/beating process as I've understood... you need to buy a whole new hub/bearing and rotor assembly... the grease must be broken down and those bearings/races have got to be messed up by now. I'd be worried about the spindles as well.

I'm thinking back to your comment about build date and pricing - why the extra $100? There may be something in that. To me that would indicate a design change. Let me go out on a limb and suggest that these rotors and hubs are not a two piece design like we're thinking. If I'm understanding correctly, the hub and rotor combo price would run you $250 a side?

As much time as you've spent you could have had a new assembly and found out what the real deal was with out all the headache.

-Kerry

 

I had the same problem on my 1997 F250 4x4. I ended up using a sawsall the cut the rotors from the disc to the hat. Then I took a die grinder and cut the hat. Took a chisel and wedged it in the cut area. Hit with a big hammer and the rotor came right off.

 

Hey Guys

Another week has gone by. Im still limping my truck back and forth to work <3 miles> each day. Just cant get excited about working on it. This past weekend I had a choice between the F-250 and doing a set of floor pans and seat risers on a 1965 Mustang. The pans turned out quite nice!

The approach 33 took most likely is the one I will use next time out. Somehow I cant seem to make it equate to me that my BFH will not knock these rotors off the hub. Guess Im as stubborn as the rotors are stuck!

Kerry

I have no issues at all driving the truck now, up to any speed. There is no noise coming from the hub bearing at all. Having heated lesser hubs <Chrysler/Jeep> I have little fear I did any damage to them. As for damaging the Spindles, highly unlikely as well. Heck I might have cut short the life of my ball joints or my right shoulder but not the spindle!

The cost of a <each> hub bearing is between 150 and 250$. Im not about to hand over that kind of green unless I absolutely have to. Furthermore Im not sure how pulling the hub with the rotor still attached would be any faster. In fact if the face of the rotor is rusted this badly to the face of the hub, imagine the rust between the spindle and the hub.

I will admit to wondering IF the wheel studs press into the hub AND the rotor. However the FTE expert Racerguy and one local Ford mechanic both said they are full floating. Ill take them at there word.

Tommy D

 

Tommy, the method I described was given to me by a friend who works at Ford. Ford built the distance between the inside of the rotor hat and the hub so close that any rust will cause the problem. The dealership where my friend works does not mess with them anymore. They just cut them off. It really does not take long. Spreading with the chisel breaks the surface tension. Hope this helps. Tom Davis

 

I was thinking that removing them as a unit and pressing the hub from the rotor would save you the swings of the mallet and heating of the assembly anymore than you already have.

I think Tom's method is the easier of the two... Can you just cut both sides with a bimetal blade equipped sawsall? Do you have to use a cutoff wheel on a grinder? How deep do you have to go?

-Kerry