What’s the trick to remove rear rotors.

[Stingah]

Fronts were piece of cake. Both rear aren’t budging an inch. Thought it was rust but searching online mentions e-brake and messing with the access port. I’m stumped. Experts please school me.

 

[CKeeler]

You sure the e-brake wasn't on? Sorry, if I didn't mention it someone else will. A lady on my community facebook page was asking if someone could help her remove the rear drums on her Tahoe. Turns out she still had the e-brake on.

 

[niko]

Sounds like e brakes on!!

 

[Manaz]

You'll need to release the e-brake/hand-brake for sure, as the shoes inside the rear rotors will be grabbing them quite firmly from inside the hat when the e-brake/hand-brake are engaged.

 

[Stingah]

Sounds like e brakes on!!

That's my first thought too, but the light isn't on in the dash. I have it in Park, is e-brake on in Park just not indicated?? I tried turning e-brake on then off and I hear it engage then disengage but no joy. Is there a manual release somewhere?

 

[NS_Stinger]

They're probably just stuck to the hub, do you have a rubber mallet or something that wont damage the rotor to give them a few hits to see if that knocks them loose?

 

[Stingah]

They're probably just stuck to the hub, do you have a rubber mallet or something that wont damage the rotor to give them a few hits to see if that knocks them loose?

Tried that as well on driver side, gave it a bunch of whacks front, back and hub. Score: rotor 1, me 0. No budge. There’s some rust on the hub but I can’t image I need to whack it so much on a new car.

Checked the passenger side to see if it’s easier and exact same deal, absolutely frozen.

Debating renting a rotor puller but I see people using those on 15 year old completely rusted rotors as last resort, and worried I’m missing something simple and might tear up the ebrake in the process.

 

[oddball]

The manual just says "remove screw. remove rotor".
The manual does say that the parking brake is automatically applied when turning off the car if auto hold is engaged. There's also a few other conditions where it'll just engage itself because it feels like it.
At this point I think it's most likely that the parking brake is engaged in one way or another. Using a rotor puller would break the parking brake assembly.
You must have the rear up on stands. Turn the ignition to IGN 2 without the engine running, make sure auto hold is off and push the EPB button down. I bet the rotors fall off then. Worst case might have to shift to neutral. Just barely touch the brake pedal, hopefully it won't shoot the rear pistons out of the calipers.

 

[robz32]

You really need to whack them hard on the back with the mallet, they are stuck on the hub GOOD. Same thing happened to me.

 

[Helo58]

I agree with @oddball here. The rear parking brake can engage in a number of scenarios that most drivers may not have considered or know about. It would be the simplest place to start and rule out before you resort to further "percussive engineering."

 

[Jays_stinger]

I had the same issues. Skip the rubber mallet and bang it with a hammer.

Please re install your calipers and pads in the rear and engage your e brake then disengage it.

That worked for me... Looks like you tried to activate the e brake without the calipers.... i did the same and it did nothing till i re installed the calipers and pads... hope this helps

 

[itguy61]

Does the e-brake have anything to do with the rotors coming off? So when you remove the rear rotors the drum comes off with them?

 

[CKeeler]

Does the e-brake have anything to do with the rotors coming off? So when you remove the rear rotors the drum comes off with them?

The e-brake drum is built in to the center of the rotor. Lots of manufacturers use this method instead building it into the caliper

 

[itguy61]

So the rotor can be removed separate from the drum or are they attached? Just confused, if the rotor can be removed separate from the does it matter if the e-brake is on?

 

[CKeeler]

The drum is part of the rotor. The e-brake drum is on the inside of the hub. They are one part

 

[oddball]

So the rotor can be removed separate from the drum or are they attached? Just confused, if the rotor can be removed separate from the does it matter if the e-brake is on?

THE ROTOR IS THE DRUM!

Seriously, it's a cool setup. There's a small backing plate with a tiny brake shoe nestled inside the hat of the rotor. So the rotor hat is the drum. It'll make sense when you pull the rotor.

Back to the OP, a last ditch effort would be to unplug and unbolt the actuators - they're sticking straight inboard from the backing plate. Hard to miss. Looks like (I haven't taken mine apart) the actuator pushes a pin outboard to engage the shoe. So unbolting it would relieve the pressure. Life might be terrible getting it back in place, and it might try to adjust itself if it's plugged in. Looks like the sucker has a pressure feedback to the BCM so it can apply partial brake loads.
Crazy stuff.

 

[SteveCo]

You'll know immediately if its the e-brake if you jack up the rear of the car, make sure the transmission is in neutral, and remove both wheels.

If you can then turn the rotor by hand, it's not the e-brake holding the rotor on, it's just a tight friction fit. Use a rubber mallet on the back, or a block of wood and a 5 lb sledge - you have a lot more control using light taps with a heavy hammer, than hard hits with a light one. Rotate the rotor as you tap it, and it will eventually come loose.

 

[Stingah]

Many thanks to all that replied. Combined everyone's suggestions and got it done this evening. While the front rotors practically fall off, the rears take a bit more finesse. To anyone struggling, here's some notes and what I ended up doing:

- Researched ebrake functionality, and confirmed the ebrake is indeed off if there is no indicator in the dash. Caution, sometimes it auto engages when in park, so double check no indicator light when in park.
- The ebrake shoes rest very close inside the hat, so close there is absolutely no play, at least in my case. Hitting the rotor does absolutely nothing except potential damage. Yanking, pulling, prying may not work at all.
- To compound the problem, the back side of the rotor is blocked by the heat shield except where the caliper lives, so you can only tap it with a mallet in the opening. And since there's no play in the rotor, hitting one end of the rotor just causes it to bit down more on the other end. And since rotor doesn't spin, so you're stuck hitting it in just one area. This method is futile.

- To nudge it out, I had to tap it loose by hitting opposite ends of the rotor back and forth repeatedly. Since rotor is blocked by the heat shield I stuck screw drivers into the center of the rotor, at 10 and 2 position, and hit them right above the rotor from the inside wheel well out. It's close quarters so take the time to be careful and not hit anything other than the screw drivers. I went back and forth, hitting each a couple times before moving to the other. You can check if there's movement by looking in the two little screw holes. If you see the gap widening you know you're doing it right.
After maybe 2-3 minutes the darn thing slipped off.

Here's what the setup looked like:


Appreciate all the input and knowledge sharing. Good luck to those attempting rears hopefully your situation is a lot less hassle.

 

[Freelancer]

So what pads are you swapping to?

 

[itguy61]

Gratz! Glad you figured it out. And I had no idea the rotor and drum were a single unit, learn something new every day!