Does anyone have personal knowledge on how to remove the front brake rotors on a 97 4X4? My Chilton book is saying to whack the rotor and pull it off the hub. A local auto repair shop told me the hub comes off with the rotor. Has anyone pulled the rotors at home? Help!

 

The rotors do come off without the hub!

It's not always easy they tend too seize/rust on.
I had the dealer due my brakes once and they wanted to cut the rotors off with a torch but I wanted no part of that, so I applied some penetrant over the next week and knocked them off with a deadblow mallet. I intended to replace them anyway.
Good luck and keep the local auto repair shop away from your truck.

 

Thanks, I will try again this weekend to remove them. So all I need to do is remove the wheel, and the rotor comes off the hub? It is rusted on the mating surfaces and I already sprayed some penetrator oil around the area. Then the Chilton book is right....spray and use a rubber or plastic hammer. OK! How do you like the Air Force FIPK? Notice any performance improvement?


97 150 Ex Cab Lariat 4X4
Off Road package
4.6 / 3.55
Dual exhaust from both lead pipes
Flowmasters

 

I thikn you will have to remove (unbolt) the caliper before the rotor will come off.

 

i just replaced my rotors yesterday. yes you have to remove the entire caliper asembly. luckly i had a few brake jobs under warrenty so there was plenty of anti seize on the backs of the old rotors and i was sure to put lots more on my new rotors!

the rotors on the 4x4's are just "doughnuts" they are only held on by the lug nuts so no hub/bearing removal is needed.

don't just use a regular penatrent (not a word!) they have special rust killing stuff at auto zone that changes the molecular structure of the rust.

again make sure you put a lot of anti seize on the hub before you re-install the rotors

a good tip for pad removal is to compress each piston (2 per side) before you remove the caliper.

good luck.

 

I replaced mine on the 97 and i had to use a 20lb. sledge hammer and break them off, yes break them off. I hit them until they cracked and they fell right off the truck, of coarse i removed the caliper and bracket first.. It was a bitch

 

When I first did the brakes on my '99, I couldn't get the rotors off with a mallet either. I took it to a friend who had done many of them and he told me "You might want to look the other way for a minute." He removed the caliper (yes, I did look) and took a 5 lb sledge to the rotor. Two good whacks and it was off. He certainly didn't show it any mercy. By the way, he hit it from the outside in instead of trying inside out as I had. It didn't make sense, but it sure worked.

To prevent this type of problem with my '02, I drove it home from the dealer and removed all 4 rotors. I then applied High Temperature Never Sieze to the hubs and back of the rotors before re-installing them. This ought to save me some trouble down the road.