I need to change the brake rotors on my 1990 manuel trans/manuel hub. How do I separate the rotors from the hubs? Can I do this without taking the hub off the axles? Thanks for the help. Ted

 

The rotors and hubs are held together by the lug nuts, you hammer those out and the hub and rotor can come apart. You cannot do this without taking the hubs off the axles.

To remove the rotors you need to remove the locking hubs, then with a special tool (you can get it at any auto parts) loosen and remove the spindle nuts. Then the hub assembly can slide off the spindle, but be careful because the bearings come with and will fall out. Finally you can hammer out the lug nuts and separate the rotor and hub, install is the reverse of removal and be sure to get the spindle nuts torqued right. Also now would be a good time to check out your wheel bearings and ball joints since your over half way there already.

Edit: Almost forgot, the calipers will have to be removed before the hub assembly will slide off the spindle.

 

Thanks for the reply. I had hoped to avoid taking the hubs off but while I'm there I'll look at the other stuff. All in all, it shouldn't be too much work to do in a sat. morning. Thanks again. Ted

 

This is a bit more complicated than first glanced, especially if you haven't done this before. Take the calipers off and support them from the radius arms. They should just lay right over the radius arms with ease, but make sure they stay in place and don't dangle by the hoses. If you have a haynes manual, they have an excellent detailed diagram of the hub removal procedure. This will require the use of a special tool that will have to be bought. Take the manual hubs apart and place all the parts on a shop towel in an order that makes it easier for you to remember how they go back together. Once you get the outer bearing retaining collar and rings out this is where you'll have to be particular with the details. One of the two spacer washers will have a tab on it. It should be the first one you remove. This tab will elp to line the spacers back up for installation making it easier to find the right spot for the screw that will have to be removed from these before removal, and during re-installation. Once these two spacers are removed, you'll have access to the outer bearing, and be able to slid the rotor hub assembly off the truck. once the rotor/hub assembly is off the truck, support the rotor on something and place the lug nuts back on the wheel studs (make sure you've pulled the inner bearing out of the hub assembly before doing this) backwards and smack the wheel studs with a hammer, driving them out of the hub. These studs and nuts should be replaced when you install the new rotor hub assembly back on the vehicle. The knurls that keep the studs from fitting loose will likely be damaged or fit improperly, so expect to replace those along with the lug nuts. To install the hub back onto the rotor is the opposite, just be careful when installing the new wheel studs. Torque everything down to manufacturers spec (found in the haynes manual).
Good luck
p.s. The ball joints and axle u joints should be inspected while you have this all apart. The ball joints are a real pain in the neck to do. It's typically a six hour job in a shop, with compressors and air tools. This is not going to be an easy job. I've been a mechanic for ten years, specializing in steering and suspension work. The ball joints and u-joints took me five days in my driveway, mostly due to weather restrictions and lack of proper tools (u-joint/ball joint press) and lack of an alignment machine. The vehicle will need aligning if you take on this job.

 

Please don't for get that ring clamp that is a buger to get off that is on the inside wall of the hub. If you don't remove this none of the locking hub guts will come out. It takes skill and some good beer to get that sucker out. the way I do it is find the gap, slid it to the bottom with a small screw driver. Use needle nose at the top and hold the ring in place while digging at the gap end lifting the ring edge up. It helps to sharpen your little screw driver to get it out.

 

i have found that something like a dental pick works great, i think that you can get em at army surplus stores, at least you can at the one back home.....trust me its frustraiting as hell, have done it on a 90 f150, and my 83 bronco, pisses me off my dad can get it out and back in like nothing i spent a good afternoon trying to get that sucker out. with the right tools anything is possible. i had a screwdriver that was in a hook shape that i used, dunno if its special or not but it worked.

 

Well my front left wheel was making an awful squealing noise, so i decided to pull it apart and see what I could do. Hoped it was the brakes. Nope. so I had to take off the auto hubs and all the rest (only have the hub off now; it's raining) That damn ring was giving me fits. In the end, I took a large (bluefish) fishing hook, bent it up in a vise to the right shape and it got right behind the ring and I got it out. After the hook implement, it took 2 minutes. Now I am looking at a very very greasy auto hub. The hub and rotor assy turns, but it feels like it's binding a bit. I think someone overtightened the retaining nut. Gotta replace the rotors too since there is a pronounced vibration at braking and they are warped.