heck of a time removing rear rotor? Am I alone?

[jakedrew]

(did I DO something wrong? or miss something here)

63K MILES on my explorer and it was time for brakes. It still stopped, but when you see the rear rotors and only half the pad is hitting the rotor, IT IS time to replace.

But man I had a heck of time removing the rear rotors. The parking brake was hanging up. I was prying and prying ,but I finally got it. Parking brake shoes looked good on the right side .

Left side= upon prying and prying, the shoes just came off. Opps.

I havent used the parking brake in 63k miles, So no big deal. I know you should have everything operable and if I park on a hill it would be nice to have.

How hard is the parking brake shoes to replace?


Everyone else have a hard time removing the rear rotors?

thanks
jake

 

[gmanpaint]

Loosening the E-brakes using the adjuster wheel before removing the rotors is always a good idea. There is a little hole (has a rubber plug) on the bottom behind the rotor that you turn to adjust them. Once they are loosened the rotor comes off easier. Some get stuck on and besides beating them to death with a BFH, a 3 jaw puller pops them off with ease.

 

[jakedrew]

i didnt see no rubber plug, but then again I didnt look that hard but I looked.

Anyone got a picture of where the adjuster plug is?

 

[gmanpaint]

I am assuming the 3rd gens are the same as the 1st & 2nd gens. I wouldn't think they would change the way they are adjusted, but you never know. I could have sworn I seen the adjuster hole when I did a friends brakes on his '03. If they are different, I apologize. There should still be an adjuster for the E-brakes somewhere.

 

[waskly]

the spring acts like the lock on the adjuster on the gen 3/4 explorers, its a pain to spin it.

before you put the new rotors on put some anti seize on the hubs. make them come off a 2nd time easier.

also a good practice is actually set the ebrake atleast once a week. makes those rotors so much easier to come off.

also putting on new e brake shoes is fun, little room to put the clips on to hold them the backing plate they make a tool for it to make life easier.

 

[snickstx]

Check this out. My new rotors were stuck on again after about 1k miles and this trick worked great even the second time around. I never needed to touch the ebrake after everything was said and done.

 

[Equnoxe]

there is a trick to getting them off, take palm and hit left/right/left/right to gain some wiggle room, if you are replacing the rotor just use a hammer. also should use some anti-seize on the front and rear of the rotor on the flat spot with the stud holes.

 

[gmanpaint]

Check this out. My new rotors were stuck on again after about 1k miles and this trick worked great even the second time around. I never needed to touch the ebrake after everything was said and done.

Very good find there snickstx

So, there is a hole for the adjuster, it is a knockout punch hole.

The drill bit trick in the pedal to make slack in the line is in the repair manual I guess.

Who woulda thunk to look there? :

 

[jakedrew]

ya I was doing the hammer thing, then a pry bar. On the right side it worked where i used the small pry bar againest the end of the axle threads, put the pry bar in the middle of the rotor and worked my way around.

so then you pop out that plug and you have to find a rubber one that fits back in? or the metal plug pushs back in?

 

[stuartr]

My front rotors seized up. I like to never got the pass. side off. I beat and beat to finally shake it loose. I am going here in a minute to find a new rotor for the drivers side. It is warped and giving my brakes a bad thump thump.

STU