Help with rotor removal

Hey all. I have a 2012 TRD off-road Tacoma. I’m changing out the rotors and can’t figure them out! I’ve tried beating on it with a hammer , pb blaster. The interesting thing is when I try the bolt removal holes, the bolts will thread hand tight, then after a turn or two with the ratchet, they become lose again. Am I missing something here? Thanks for any input!

 

Which way are you hitting the rotors? I've always had better luck getting rotors off by hitting the outside surface instead of the back side. It may sound counter productive, but it works.

As for the bolts, my guess is you either have the wrong size bolts and / or the threads are stripped.

 

Thanks for the response. I’ve been hitting the back mostly. I’ll try the front. Also I’m using a 12mm bolt from my skid plate, as I researched these would work on the forums here. So the threads may be stripped. Which that blows. Lol.

 

I assume you've already removed the calipers....

 

Yes. Lol. In the short time since my last reply I’ve done the whole drivers side. Bolt holes worked perfectly. Passenger side ones have to be stripped. So I guess it’s time to go to pound town. Lol

 

Had to check since it's Friday and sometimes things get wild here on Fridays. lol

Time to break out the big fucking hammer!

 

The rotor is probably rust to the hub.
At this point you are right, you’ll probably have to resort to pounding it off.


The next time, turn the bolts until they have pressure on them evenly and on both side.
Don’t keep using the bolts to press the rotor off. Just get some pressure on them and then smack the rotor. Kind of like you do a ball joint. Think of the bolts as an aid to the hammer to help get rotor off.

I generally use a dead blow hammer. But it really doesn’t matter if you not going to reuse the rotor. The dead blow hammer isn’t better. It’s just more forgiving when you “miss”.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Up here in the rust belt, nobody uses dead blow hammers on rotors. No substitute for a BFH up here. All day long I hear the guys around me blasting them off that way. The problem is, sometimes you have to beat them so hard - because they're rusted on so badly - that wheel bearings take a beating.

 

I don’t think I’d know what to do if I lived up North. Lol
The South has me spoiled, we have it easy compared to you guys.

 

Yeah I’m just going to have to get a bigger hammer. I’ll most like ruse a large rubber mallet hopefully “easing the beating on the wheel bearings”. Lol. Thanks for the tip

 

Thanks for the help everyone. Going to seek out a large rubber mallet to help me finish the job. As I said above I got the drivers side done no problem. So we will get it!

 

The rubber mallet is just gonna be destroyed. Get yourself a 3lb sledge and start beating.

 

I don’t think a rubber mallet is going to help.
Just use a regular hammer.

 

Should I hit the rotor directly or should I hit a 2x4? I don’t care about salvaging the old rotor, just don’t want to mess anything else up.

 

Our guys just hit the rotor directly with a 3 lb. sledge. A 2x4 will absorb too much energy.

 

Cool. Thanks for the info.

 

3LB ford wrench!

Sometimes a50/50 mixture of acetone and ATF soaked into the area where the rotor and hub are fused together can help. A bit of heat from a MAPP cylinder after it soaks for 10 minutes can work wonders and you won't have to pound the snot out of the wheel bearings.

 

Will give this a try. Thanks.

 

Yep directly. And like you mean it

 

Keep turning it while you hit it too, don't just keep hitting in the same spot.