Frozen Rear Rotor - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

gbovino · 11-20-2006, 09:49 AM

I need help changing the brakes on a 97 Camry V6. The front Rotors/pads were a snap, took no more than 45 minutes total to get all the frozen bolts, etc. Lubed the guide pins, and replaced everything with anti-seize on the bolts so it's easier to remove the next time.

However, when I got to the rear brakes, I noticed that Toyota designed them to be a rear rotor/drum. Very interesting. I'm a VW person, and have never seen this design (please don't flame me... hehe).

So here's the issue. There was a rubber cover over one of the holes on the rotor/drum. I aligned it so that I could turn the emergency brake wheel within. This seems to loosen the shoes so it doesn't interfer with the rotor/drum (it spun freely). Then I removed the caliper completely (frozen bolts, ugh!).

However, after this, I thought the rotor/drum should just pop off. I literally beat the crap out of it, tried prying it off, tried soaking it with PB Blast. Nothing worked.

Am I missing something here??? I just read somewhere that there are two threaded holes where screws can be place to push the rotor/drum off of the hub. However, everything is badly rusted. I don't even see any threads, and I heard that the threads usually just shear off if they are very rusty.

Well, after a while, I gave up since it was getting dark and my fiance needs her car for work. I lubed everything with PB Blast, tightened everything back up, and am hoping that it will loosen everything so I can try again in a few days.

So in the meantime, is there a special trick to get them off? Am I missing a step? Or is the next step to pull out a torch and heat the rusted contact area?

gbovino · 11-20-2006, 05:56 PM

No replies?

I'm getting a feeling this forum isn't used quite often.

kyle@tirerack · 11-20-2006, 07:55 PM

I don't believe there should be anything else(other than rust) holding the rotor on. It sounds as if you have backed off the adjusters for the emergency brake shoes and I think that should have been all that is needed. I've never had much luck with threading in bolts as suggested. I've been in similar situations with pullers and it can become frustrating quickly. I wish I had a trick or some better advice, but it sounds af if you've tried everything that I'm aware of. Hopefully the PB Blaster will soak in over the next few days and loosen things up.

gbovino · 11-21-2006, 10:56 AM

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I'm gonna take it over to my parent's place on Friday and blast it with a torch. It's just that it was so tightly frozen, I wanted to make sure I didn't miss a step and rip out the entire bearing or something else.

Have a great thanksgiving guys!

Gabe