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Rear Brake Rotors |
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The first step
is to take off the rear wheels and spray some penetrating oil onto the
screw that holds the rotor on. Next remove the brake pads and unscrew the
two bolts on the back of the caliper which hold it on. Before sliding the
caliper off unclip the brakeline from the frame to give some slack. Then
place a box or something behind the hub to hold the caliper, it wont rest
on the ground. Now that the caliper is removed here comes the tricky part. The handbrake pads need to be backed off to remove the rotor. Make sure that the handbrake is not engaged, rotate the hub so that one of the large holes is at the bottom. Unscrew the retaining screw from the rotor. These screws can get stuck easily because of their large surface contact with the rotor. One of my screws was stuck and I had to drill the sides away from it. Try to pull the rotor off, it should not be able to. This is because the handbrake pads are in the way. To back off the pads insert a flathead screwdriver into the bottom hole as pictured in the bottom right. Push on the teeth of the fulcrum screw to shorten it. This part is tricky because you can not see what you are doing. It takes some time to retract it enough, check to see that the rotor can still spin. If it is getting more difficult to rotate then the screw is being turned the wrong direction. |
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| Once the pads
have been backed off enough remove the rotor. The new rotor can be put on
now. Consider sealing the exterior drum section of the rotor, it will rust
within a few weeks. Reattach the retaining screw and again line up one of
the large holes on the bottom. Again using a screwdriver expand the
handbrake pads until they begin to make contact with the inner side of the
rotor and inhibit rotation. Then back them off just enough so that the
rotor can spin freely. Do a quick check by pulling on the handbrake to
make sure the pads lock. Now reinstall the caliper, pads and reattach the
brakelines. After both sides have been completed it is a good idea to test
the parking brake on a hill to make sure it has enough grip. Cost: $90 for both Time: 40 min each Difficulty: Moderate |
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| The crossdrilled rotors look good, but any exposed metal will rust within a few weeks. The thick part of the rotor looks pretty bad after a while, but it’s pretty easy to prevent. Using black caliper paint I masked off part of the rotor with plastic and put on a few coats. Then the caliper was cleaned and the surrounding parts were masked off. I put on two coats and that was it. |
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