NGC it finally happened age caught up with me

[Joliet Jim]

Due to a big change at work took a vacation day today. I decided it was time to change the front brakes in Cheryl's 07 PT Cruiser.  Now i'm not a mechanic by trade but I've done plenty of brake jobs and had already picked up the pads and new rotors. Well the first hint should have been the over-tightened lugs, followed by a tire/wheel that seemed welded to the axle. A lot of pb blaster later finally after significant banging it finally fell off. 2 caliper bolts and two more bolts on the pad housing should have made this a quick job.

yeah i don't think any of these had been turned since the car was built in 07. Probably the first time for the brakes at 90000. We've had it since about 72000. Well i finally did manage to get out a caliper bolt without stripping it and then removed the whole mount to remove the rotor. The rotor was evidently welded to the hub because nothing i did would get that rotor off and it should just fall off. (HA)

Well as the day goes on, I finally surrender and decide the rotor will stay where it's at (this was only the start). I put in the two brand new pads and put everything back together. At least new pads and the rotor wasn't too bad but i really didn't have a choice in the matter.

So on to tire two with the plan to again just do pads and try to return the rotors.  Again the lugs come off and the wheel stays on. Hours of banging, whacking, and rocking and finally the wheel comes off. Oooh the rotor is bad, way worst than the other wheel so now the plan is to change out the rotor for this wheel and then go back and try again on tire one. So much for the simple brake job i originally envisioned. Even better one of the caliper retention bolts is pretty rounded and nothing i use grips good enough, not even the six sided socket.

Finally the ultimate humiliation. Unlike Elway who won the Super Bowl and walked away the end of my garage mechanic career was ending in a much poorer way. A call to the local auto mechanic with the story seems much worst than what the bill will be. I've torn off top-ends, rebuilt carbs, but on this day i was thoroughly embarrassed by brakes and 20 years of rust. Now i'm sitting here in back pain, with a Vicodin and a bottle of Irish cream. Now i'm trying to decide which grandson gets which tools. I'm done with working on cars.

[Lannis]

We need to find that video where they guy faced with rusted-on wheel bolts just drips some candle wax on them with a lighter and they fall right off ....

Assuming that doesn't work, though, I feel the same way about old rusty calipers and wheels ... I'm close to done even though I have the jacks and air-wrenches and impact sockets.   A dirty, thankless job.

Lannis

[Penderic]

Broken rusty and dirty brake jobs! Hate 'em. 


Hate 'em. 

[Aaron D.]

I found alloy rims on cars do tend to stick on even fairly new vehicles.

Had a flat on a one year old car, dark and snowy, I was in a suit. The damned wheel would not coe off by normal means so I was about to sit on the snow (in suit) and brace my legs-when a nice man in a pickup stopped and did it for me.

[Phang]

I  changed mine recently, needs lots of lubricant and swears.



this is my Plan B (picture stolen from Internet)

[azguzzirep]

I hear ya!

I'm all for using the Master Card wrench from now on.😆

[Zoom Zoom]

Funny this comes up now, as I need to do the rears on my Subaru. I've kinda been waiting for a decent day so if necessary, I can take the bike to the parts store for something I may overlook. That plus doing it when I swap out the winter tires and wheels. May as well do it all at once. Hopefully, soon after returning from Cedar Vale. A few years ago I finally bought one of those little shop chairs with wheels for about 30 bucks. I should have done that a long time ago!

John Henry

[toukow]

Funny, I sort of went through this recently, but ended up using a different approach as a result. I bought a 76 Eldorado in Oct. and went through the brakes. Luckily, I didn’t have the rust issues, but the getting up and down 50 times was too much on my knees.

So, I researched and bought a two-post lift and installed it. I can't believe the price of these now days. I could have driven to Oregon and picked up a 9000 lb. rated lift for $1500!! Don't know how the Chinese can do a lift that weights 1400 Lbs. for $1500. I ended up spending more, but was still very happy with the price. The concrete work is another story!

Anyway, probably stupid doing this so late in life, BUT it was sort of on my bucket list so what the heck. My main regret is not doing it way, way earlier. Funny thing is all the labor I put into installing the lift by myself showed me that I was developing arthritis in my thumbs! To paraphrase Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now-' Oh, the irony!'.

I do find I’m making more mistakes though, and have to be more methodical with writing things down to be sure I don't forget. So maybe your approach is a better one after all. Good luck with the grandsons taking the tools, mine keep looking for the controller buttons on them!  Dean

[Sheepdog]

I found a really competent shop that charges less than the dealer and I take my cages to him. Between the motorbikes, the farm equipment, bicycles, and lawn-care machines, I have plenty to do...

[rodekyll]

I massage the offending rotor with an air hammer/flat tip after a liberal application of penetrating oil and maybe heat.  They can be a bear.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I quit doing brakes a long time ago. I don't need the aggravation..
Motorcycles.. airplanes.. sure. Delicate fairly clean stuff in comparison. Automotive? Yuck. It takes a cave man, and offends my delicate sensibilitys.

[acogoff]

    F150 rear disc frozen on. Had to resort to pulling the rear end apart so I could pull the axle. 10 lb sledge with the axle vertical on a wood cob still took about 6 good whacks to free it. Bulged out center of disc, but a few straightening whacks and it is now rolling down the road with no shake or vibration. Some skill with a large hammer must have rubbed off from my Grandpa, who was a blacksmith back in Norway and here in U. S. after they came here. No job is ever easy and the older a person gets, there is a point where a paid wrench sure looks inviting. Not there yet, but maybe soon.

[Mike Tashjian]

I have used the 4 1/2 inch grinder with a cutoff wheel to slice across the hub section when the rust is winning.  Cleaner than the torch which I threaten to use if the grinder doesn't do it.  I use some brake grease on the new rotors center hole when I do them and that seems to slow the rust down some.  I think six point impact sockets and a bar is always a good for the first attempt at the caliper bracket bolts.  Heating the bolt fast with a Oxy Acetylene  torch may help. If not, consider grinding the head off releasing the bracket. Then you should be able to vise grip out the remaining part of the bolt. Syracuse NY has the nickname the Salt City, so rust is something we have to deal with all the time.  Mike

[n3303j]

Still fix most of my own stuff because no one else does it quite right.
Bought 3 foot SnapOn breaker bar as one concession to age (71).
Bought a bicycle repair stand as another concession to age.