Brian,
You don't need to separate the hub from the rotor unless you plan to
replace the rotor. If you are replacing the rotor, remove the hub with
rotor by removing the dust cap first. If installed correctly, the cap
should have a threaded rod pointing out from the midline of the car. Run a
nut onto it, put a vice-grip on the nut, and tug. The cap may have been
installed backwards, in which case you'll be looking at a disc sitting on
top of the cap (it's the backside of the pressed threaded rod). Both of my
caps were intsalled backwards and both came out by using a vise grip on the
disc, which is about a sixteenth of an inch thick. It helps to make sure
that the cap and pliers are free of grease, etc.
Use needle nose pliers to straighten the legs of the cotter pin that runs
through the castellated nut on the axle. Rotate the hub until the access
hole in the hub is over the cotter pin head. Grasp the legs of the pin with
the needle nose pliers and push the pin into the access hole. Once the pin
is out, use a socket on extension to remove the castellated nut (I forget
the size). Pull the tabbed washer off the axle. Pull the hub off, either
with a hub puller, or by smacking around the back of the rotor with a
hammer (if you plan to replace it), or by remounting the wheel and tire and
tugging on the tire (the latter has never worked for me).
To get the bolts off that hold the hub to the rotor, mount the rotor in a
vise. Apply plenty of liquid wrench. One of my rotors came right off using
an open end 9/16 wrench on the bolts. The other required heat from a
propane torch (the blue wrench). Even still, 2 of the bolts would not
release using the open end. As you point out, there is not enough room
between the hub wall and bolt head to get a box end onto the bolt. So, I
got a cheap 9/16 box end and ground off a little of the outer edge. It
doesn't take much to allow it to fit onto the bolt head. This worked so
well that I'm not sure I needed the blue wrench at all.
Hope this helps,
Jeff
>Can anyone please give me with a hint as how they get the 4 bolts holding
>the splined hub loose from the front brake rotor? The bolts are very close
>to the hub itself and I can't get a large ratchet or wrench on to get a good
>amount of leverage? Also can't get the impact in close enough?
>
>I'm also assuming that these 4 bolts come off first before I can remove the
>center nut to service the bearings?
>
>Thanks
>Brian
Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
Editor-in-Chief, Molecular Vision
http://www.emory.edu/molvis
"Seeing the Future in a Very Tiny Way"
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