Rotor Puller advice

[betsy]

Big hammer, hit it like it belongs to someone else !

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[Bandit’s Lair]

Very good advice. I swapped my rotors to aftermarket ages ago. The zinc coating is so good I never have any issue anymore. But one or oem similar are terrible.

Which ones did you go with?

 

[WILDHOBO]

Which ones did you go with?

Powerstop Z36. I’ve had them on a bunch of vehicles. Zero regrets.

 

[Delhux]

So, I ended up using the rotor puller (which I have now nicknamed “my purse”) to get all four rotors off. After popping them off, it was easy to confirm no amount of hammering/heat/penetrating oil would have ever gotten them off.

I did the rear-passenger last and that one was really bad—the caliper slide pins had frozen with rust. I can’t say how long they had been frozen, but the pads on that wheel looked brand new. Also, the parking brake assembly had become rusted into the rotor, which made removal on that wheel more challenging even after “hitting it with my purse”. I ended up having to pop the rear wheels (lifted off the ground) into gear to jerk the partially removed rotor loose, and then I had to clean up and re-position the park brake assembly before putting in the new rotors.

I had to get new slide pins, but was able to recover the caliper bracket with very thorough cleaning. I had to use a 20” breaker bar just to get the caliper pins to begin to spin before I could slide them out.

Everything is now working fine with the PowerStop Z36 brake pads and rotors—along with a treatment of anti-seize between the rotors and hub (and rotors and wheel mating surface for good measure).

 

[WILDHOBO]

So, I ended up using the rotor puller (which I have now nicknamed “my purse”) to get all four rotors off. After popping them off, it was easy to confirm no amount of hammering/heat/penetrating oil would have ever gotten them off.

I did the rear-passenger last and that one was really bad—the caliper slide pins had frozen with rust. I can’t say how long they had been frozen, but the pads on that wheel looked brand new. Also, the parking brake assembly had become rusted into the rotor, which made removal on that wheel more challenging even after “hitting it with my purse”. I ended up having to pop the rear wheels (lifted off the ground) into gear to jerk the partially removed rotor loose, and then I had to clean up and re-position the park brake assembly before putting in the new rotors.

I had to get new slide pins, but was able to recover the caliper bracket with very thorough cleaning. I had to use a 20” breaker bar just to get the caliper pins to begin to spin before I could slide them out.

Everything is now working fine with the PowerStop Z36 brake pads and rotors—along with a treatment of anti-seize between the rotors and hub (and rotors and wheel mating surface for good measure).

That’s the worst one I’ve heard of yet. I’ve had the slide pin problem on the rears as well though. I replaced the brackets. Got any pictures? I bet it was gnarly.

 

[Delhux]

That’s the worst one I’ve heard of yet. I’ve had the slide pin problem on the rears as well though. I replaced the brackets. Got any pictures? I bet it was gnarly.

I wasn’t doing much with my phone while working, but I did snap this of one of the slide pins (not 100% sure how much torch/wire brushing I did at this point):

 

[WILDHOBO]

I wasn’t doing much with my phone while working, but I did snap this of one of the slide pins (not 100% sure how much torch/wire brushing I did at this point):

Holy crap. Did it accidentally get submerged in salt water?

 

[Delhux]

I’m pretty confident it was never submerged, but living on the coast means a gutter puddle could be sea water—hard to say. For all I know, it went through a salt puddle and sat unused for extended periods during Covid and hasn’t worked since—who knows?

 

[WILDHOBO]

I’m pretty confident it was never submerged, but living on the coast means a gutter puddle could be sea water—hard to say. For all I know, it went through a salt puddle and sat unused for extended periods during Covid and hasn’t worked since—who knows?

Sounds likely. I lived in Florida on the water for 19 years. I never saw anything like that on my vehicles.

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

That makes me want to go out and give mine a once over. I haven’t noticed any issues with mine to date but I’d rather catch it before it gets to that point.

 

[WILDHOBO]

That makes me want to go out and give mine a once over. I haven’t noticed any issues with mine to date but I’d rather catch it before it gets to that point.

So cal is pretty dry though. I’m sure you’re fine.

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