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Front Brake Rotor Stuck?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by thebanks2003, Mar 7, 2009.

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  1. thebanks2003

    thebanks2003 New Member

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    I have the factory rotors in on a 2006 prius and am unable to remove the rotor from the hub assembly. It appears that the nut that holds the hub assembly to the drive axels is also holding the stock rotors in place. Has anyone seen this before? Every other car I have owned has not had the rotor held on with anything other then the caliper bracket. The new rotors I bought as a replacement will not be held on by the hub assembly nut. Please help!! Thanks

    Mike
     
    #1 thebanks2003, Mar 7, 2009
  2. thebanks2003

    thebanks2003 New Member

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    I also forgot to add that if the hub assembly nut needs to be removed, the lug that it is attached to has a slot cut into the side and the nut is crushed into that position so I am unable to remove the nut with a 1 3/16" nut and a 3ft breaker bar. It shouldn't be this tough. THanks
     
    #2 thebanks2003, Mar 7, 2009
  3. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Hi Mike,

    I've attached three pages from the repair manual regarding front brake disassembly. It is not necessary to remove the hub nut.

    If the rotor is rusted to the hub, then you might have to insert a couple of 6 mm bolts into the threaded holes to force the rotor off the hub.
     

    Attached Files:

    #3 Patrick Wong, Mar 7, 2009
  4. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    I'm unsure why the rotor is stuck. There should be a couple of threaded holes near the hub that you can use eg like a jackscrew to pop the rotor off the hub

    For reference, this is an exploded view of the hub assembly

    http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu256/jayman_photo/Prius Stuff/Priusfronthubrotorassb.gif

    This is how the caliper mounts to the assembly

    http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu256/jayman_photo/Prius Stuff/Priuscalipermount.gif

    This is an exploded view of the rotor and caliper

    http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu256/jayman_photo/Prius Stuff/Priusfrontdiskbrake.gif

    Note: you should be aware that you CANNOT BLEED the Prius brakes without the dealership scantool. It is IMPOSSIBLE to do just by opening bleed screws.

    Please read the factory manual warning and procedure about bleeding Prius brakes

    http://priuschat.com/forums/attachm...n-bleeding-prius-brake-bleeding-procedure.pdf

    And please learn from another forum member, who with good intentions learned this the hard way

    http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-t...em-rear-brakes-no-pressure-when-bleeding.html
     
    #4 jayman, Mar 7, 2009
  5. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    I swear that Patrick follows me around PriusChat just to beat my posting, by mere moments!
     
    #5 jayman, Mar 7, 2009
  6. thebanks2003

    thebanks2003 New Member

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    Thank-you for your help, I was afraid that the rotor had really rusted itself onto the hub. I will use the 6mm bolts and my friendly hammer to remove them now. Thanks again. - Mike


     
    #6 thebanks2003, Mar 8, 2009
  7. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Hi Mike,

    How many miles on the odometer, and are you replacing the rotors due to rust, warping, or being thinner than minimum spec?
     
    #7 Patrick Wong, Mar 8, 2009
  8. donee

    donee New Member

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    Hi Banks,

    Hub nuts are torqued extremely tightly. I have used a 4 foot pipe on the breaker bar, and usually bend the breaker bar rod before some come free. I have not done this on a Prius. As Patrick says, you do not need to take it off. But, they are always tight. The specs are up around 110 foot pounds, and with road usage, they get tighter. Its better to do this type of stuff on a hot day, as that reduces the preload as the axle will be just a little longer.

    The rotor being stuck on really tight by rust is common with all cars. I remember squirting WD-40 in the back of rotors. Letting it sit for a half hour, then taping around the outside of the rotor in a radial direction with a mechanics mallet, and finally more WD-40 and getting the rust joint to crack, and allow the rotor to come off. This is probably the main reason these lead-pellet filled mechanics mallets have such good sales. Besure to clean up all the WD-40 with brake-cleaning solvent. Do not want that to get flung off onto the rotor surface and new pads the first time you run down the road. If you are reusing the pads, put them in a plastic bag to avoid any incidental polution of the surface with oily stuff.


    My experience is that VW rotors tend to fall off when you undo the single screw - they paint the hub portion of the rotor. But my Ford Tempo was similar to this. Its nice they provided the threaded holes in the rotor. Should make it allot easier. I would use Grade 8 bolts to avoid deforming the tip of the bolt, and then bunging up the internal thread in the rotor when you retract the bolts.
     
    #8 donee, Mar 8, 2009
  9. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    As far as rotors rusted on, I've had that happen with cars more than 6 years old. But just for 3-4 years old? Maybe

    I do know that when I tried to remove the rear wheels on my then brand new FJ, a light coating of rust had already made them stick to the rear drum-in-hat mating surface. I can only imagine if they had stayed on 4 years .... sledgehammer time
     
    #9 jayman, Mar 8, 2009
  10. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    Mine just fall off after the caliper is taken away. But I do try
    to get in there every year and clean things out, fore and aft.
    .
    _H*
     
    #10 hobbit, Mar 9, 2009
  11. thebanks2003

    thebanks2003 New Member

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    Visible rust on the edge of the rotor and slight warpage are the reasons I was replacing them. The vehicle has 71k miles with original brakes and rotors. Usually when I change the pads I just change the rotors as well since I am in there and it isn't that much more expensive then having them turned. I will see what I can do tonight, I picked up a couple 6mm bolts and an extra can of liquid wrench, we will see what happens. Thanks again for your help.


     
    #11 thebanks2003, Mar 9, 2009
  12. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    71K miles and the pads have to be replaced and the rotors are warped? This is not typical. Have you been riding the brakes on long downgrades instead of using "B", or made some severe panic stops?
     
    #12 richard schumacher, Mar 9, 2009
  13. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
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    Agreed, at 111k miles, I still have subtantial brake life remaining, though I suspect my rotors are warped too due to some pulsing sensation as I come to a stop (not in the pedal, just pulsing brake force). Haven't cared enough about it though to pull the rotors to check.
     
    #13 HTMLSpinnr, Mar 9, 2009
  14. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    I've never had a "pulsing" in any vehicle I personally have worked on. I'm pretty careful about properly torqueing lugnuts in the correct pattern
     
    #14 jayman, Mar 9, 2009
  15. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    I'd recommend trying the bolts first, supplemented with a couple of moderate whacks on the inner face of the disk if needed (don't want to damage the hub). If you decide to use lubricant, please clean off the hub using brake parts cleaner after the disk has been removed so that you don't have lube spinning up on all of the new brake parts.
     
    #15 Patrick Wong, Mar 9, 2009
  16. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    What else could cause that? An ABS fault?
     
    #16 richard schumacher, Mar 10, 2009
  17. thebanks2003

    thebanks2003 New Member

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    So you could say that on a long trip I guess my knee hit the shift knob and changed from D to B. That only lasted about 1,000 miles though. Man was I ticked off when I realized that. The pads still had life on them, but I am getting ready for a cross county trip at the end of the month and just wanted to be precautious.

    I did end up getting the rotors off lastnight with some kind encouragement from the 8lb sledge. The hubs looked good after a little wire brush to remove the visible rust. Sunny south here we come.

     
    #17 thebanks2003, Mar 10, 2009
  18. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    Just driving in "B" harmed nothing except MPGs :_> Have fun!
     
    #18 richard schumacher, Mar 10, 2009
  19. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Congratulations, glad to hear that the rotors came off. A small sledge hammer is an excellent tool to have available.

    New front pads have 11 mm depth while the minimum allowable is 1 mm. What's the thickness of the old front pads from your car?
     
    #19 Patrick Wong, Mar 10, 2009
  20. thebanks2003

    thebanks2003 New Member

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    The old ones were about 4mm. I was getting an occassional squeak from the front left brake when coming to a slow stop so I just figured change everything out since I was in there. It amazed me that I had so much left on the rotors and pads. Every other car I have had before this I have had to change out brakes around 50k. Maybe with the prius, the more relaxed driving style, equipment can last a long time.

    Amazing how shooting for mpgs and having the graph in your face affects your driving habits. Now we just wait for warm weather and increased gas mileage.

    .
     
    #20 thebanks2003, Mar 11, 2009
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