Rotors will not come off?

[jbillakdsm]

Well, my front rotors are shot along with my front axles. I figured since I'm going to be in there I might as well kill two birds with one stone. My axle nuts are barely recognizeable so I decided to start with the rotors and I'm running into problems. First off, the bolts that hold my caliper on will not come loose. I have tried everything from PB Blaster to heating them with a torch and they will not budge. There is also the problem of the bolts that hold the rotor to the hub. The bolt heads are so rusted that I can't even get a socket in there to try and get them out. Does anyone know of a little trick to get these out or am I screwed a this point?

I'm at the point where I don't care how I get these off, it just has to get done (without destroying the old axles, I need them for the core) in the next week before I go back to school. I checked the local junkyard and he has 3 DSMs sitting there, a 92 Laser 1.8, 91 Eclipse GS, and a 90 Eclipse, all FWD. I don't know if any of them have ABS, it was raining too hard for me to check. Will the front brake setup off of any of these cars work in replacement of mine, he only wants $30 for the whole setup. I have a 92 Talon Tsi AWD 5-speed with ABS. Should I just cut my losses with the original setup and cut it off with a plasma torch or should I actually try to get it off? I'm more fearful that I'm going to break every bolt off inside the housings and spend the next 3 days redrilling holes.

 

[MNGSX]

When your bro works for a equipment rental place you get to play with all the cool stuff....

Out of boredom I cut some 1" and 1 1/2" plate.... for fun... It can be cranked down to zip thru just sheet metal.... Me gots to buy one some day...But $ . Doing exhaust on somones car... bzzzzzzzs OE exhaust fits in garbage can....

 

[jbillakdsm]

Update:

The driver's side axle came out, but will not come out of the hub. I had to take it to Slowboy and they are going to use their 2-ton press to see if they can persuade it. I put the new axle in and all I have left to do is insert the hub and reinstall everything.

I thought I would get started on the passenger's side tonight, but one of the bolts that holds the brake pad assembly in has decided to round itself off and be a real PITA. I've lubed the thing with PB Blaster, but there is no guarantee at this point. Anyone know where I can get replacement bolts for this? It's the one with the long smooth shaft and the threads at the end. Also, does anyone know if the caliper assembly off of a 90-92 DSM that is not the 4G63 and a FWD will work on my AWD. The junkyard has one that looks to be in better shape than mine and I was wondering if it would be worth just pulling that one and replacing my entire caliper. It's just a thought at this point because nothing seems to be going right with mine.

I'm taking pics as I go and I swear to god if I don't win an award for actually writing a tech article for a replacement that has everything go wrong and how to fix it and I don't win something, well let's just says it's not going to be pretty.

 

[jbillakdsm]

Update:

After having to resort to the 10-ton press, my axles finally came out of their hubs. MAD PROPS to the guys at Slowboy for helping me out on such short notice. I now have both axles installed in the car, but I found out my passenger side caliper is bad so I have to go to the junkyard tomorrow and pull one, my tech article will now include this install as well.

 

[jbillakdsm]

I found the ultimate donor car in the junkyard today. 91 Eclipse GS 2.0, 98K miles and all the documentation of EVERYTHIG that was ever done to the car since 13K. If anyone needs exterior pieces (except the front brake stup, it's mine) for a 1ga, let me know, this thing is perfect. Problem is that it's a flood car so the interior is pretty much shot, but everything else is perfect.

Pulled the calipers off this along with most of the brake lines, since they came off with ease. Also got a Mitsu. wire cover, brand new dipstick (listed in the records), also got an extra set of axle nuts and washers (look brand new).

The car is back together now and it is such a difference to actually have both calipers working with new rotors and new pads. This was truly 4 days from hell, but now it kinda seems worth it.

 

[HiPoSped]

I just went throught the same thing trying to get the rotors off my car. They salt the roads there in MI, AND the car sat outside for about 3 years before I got it. I had to unbolt the entire rotor hub and spindle, place the rotor on 2 blocks of wood, and BEAT the hub out of it. That was after beating on the rotor for about 3 days with a sledge, trying heat, lubricants, everything I could think of. I feel sorry for you having to go through all that, I feel for ya.

 

[BoostInsideTSi]

ergghh... well was reading some threads to see who else was condemmed with stuck rotors, besides myself. Tried hitting with a hammer, and then I saw your post on using the bolts and nuts, so I drove out to the hardware store and tried that. I heard a little snapping, hoping that was the rotor trying to break free, when the nuts gave out on the bolts. I tried tightening it up again, they would get tight.. then break lose again.. I bought "grade 8" bolts which they said was the tuffest they had but its not doing the trick.. Looks like I'll be out there with the hammer again tommorow

 

[turbotoad]

I just replaced my front rotors a couple weeks ago and had the ol fused brake rotor syndrome also! A simple 30 minute job turned into 5 hours of frustration. Everything was going great until it came time to remove the rotor. At first I tried beating the living crap out of the rotor with no luck. Then I Sprayed all around the wheels studs, the center hub opening, and also behind the rotor where it mates to the hub flange with liberal amounts of PB-Blaster. Waited about 30 minutes and bashed the living crap out of the rotors again. Still no luck.

Then I decided to try the two bolts trick. However, I didn't have any bolts that where the right size and had to drive up to the hardware to buy some. Once back in the garage I proceeded to immediately snapped off one of the bolts inside of the rotor! More beating (out of frustration) insued.

I managed to drill out the remnants of the broken off bolt without destroying the threads inside of the rotor holes. And after another trip to the hardware for some new bolts I once again tried to force the rotor off. This time I turned the bolts SLOWLY while a buddy simultaniously pounded on the rotor. The rotor let out of few loud cracking, and popping sounds before finally releasing it's vise like grip on the hub.

Thankfully the lessons learned on that rotor were put to use when removing the other side and it took far less time and aggravation to remove.

 

[Defiant]

Cavemen. I think Defiant was one of the first hammer owners.

Yes, this is a picture of me wondering why the newbie who asked "Which oil is best?" doesn't "Ooog" anymore.