I'm working on an 84 TA 3.73 disc rear, and the rotors won't budge. The calipers are off, and there are no little washer retainers on the studs, yet the rotors will not come off. Any ideas other than penetrating oil and a BFH? Is there a trick to this?

 

All I know to do is to spray lots and lots of penetrating oil on there and beat the hell out of them with a rubber malet and the will come off. It might take a lot of beating but they will come.

 

Best thing to do is soak the hell out of them with penetrating oil, Kroil is REAL good stuff. Then wait a good long while to give the stuff time to work. Then find a 2x4 and a BFH and beat the hell out of it until it comes off. This usually works for me. When you put the rotors back on, use a bit of anti-sieze on the axle flange to keep this from happening again.

HTH...Ed

 

I've had a wheel stick to a (front) rotor. I kicked the hell out of it and it came off. The other way to free a wheel is to leave lugs just slightly loose and zig zag down the street. Not sure how to apply that to a rotor on an axle, but I highly suggest the violence method.

 

I used a little butane torch and heated up the metal to get it to expand, used a puller, and a big hammer. Came right off after that. Oh and penetrating oil, lots of it. You can get a puller at autozone, I think.

 

Yep, they're probably just rusted to the axleshafts. You might want to try seeing if there's some "wiggle room" around the lug studs. The holes in the rotor for the studs should be a bit larger than the studs themselves... like a drum. (Can't remember my 3.73/posi/disc rear) Anyway, spray some penetrant inside those stud holes. Put some lugnuts on. Tap the lugnuts with a hammer while you hold the rotor from turning. This -should- make the axleshaft spin a little bit "inside" the rotor.

It's hard to explain but hopefully you'll see what I mean when you look at it. When you get the axleshaft to budge a bit, tap the lugnuts the other way. I had a similar problem on the junkyard rear I put on my car after that damned '84 posi (Eaton locker) blew up; the drum was frozen to the axleshaft. (And Yes the shoes were backed off ALL THE WAY!) This helped to get the drum separate from the axleshaft.

And if all else fails... well, how much are new rear rotors? Mess with that lock pin on the diff to remove the axleshafts and you might snap the lock bolt, and then you'll really be up the creek.