There seems to be something at every turn. My rear brake problem has been corrected now the fronts are gone. For some reason it looks like the caliper hung and I am guessing the inboard side got hot. The rotor is almost all the way through to the fins so the rotor has to be replaced. I got the caliper off and the book say to remove the axle nut. No big deal. About a half day trying to figure out what size it is and locating a socket, now the issue is getting the nut off.

What is the trick? I hit it with air from my 1/2 impact and it didn't budge. I wedged a screwdriver in the slots to keep the rotor from turning and got out my 1/2 breaker bar with a 2 ft section of pipe and jumped up and down. The breaker bar snapped. Now what? I see that it torques down to 175ft/lbs, so I expect it to be tight. If this is going to be this much hassle, I can only imagine what the hub removal will be like. I might try renting a 3/4 impact gun or buying a 3/4 breaker bar, but hate to waste the effort if there is an easier way.

 

it takes a lot of brute force. if you can get a big enough breaker bar you can put on a longer pipe. another idea is to drive it to a tire shop and let them hit it with the big 3/4 or 1" gun, then put on a little oil and reinstall (not quite so tight) and drive home, where it should come off with normal force.

 

I don't have to remove the axle nut to take the rotors off on my Dana 60. What axle do you have?

 

^+1 on not having to remove the nut. I could swear that all I did was remove the caliper then the caliper bracket and smack it with a hammer and off she came. Maybe I am forgetting something here.

 

I don't know why you have to remove the nut to get the rotor off. That doesn't make sense.

Not sure how you stuck a screwdriver in but put the wheel back on, drop it, and crank on it. The wheel won't turn with the tire on the ground. Then you can put all you have behind it. If you snapped the breaker bar, I'd go up to a larger one and longer pipe or get a BIG impact wrench.

 

Dana 60. Mine is a 98. I think they changed the design in 2000 and put the rotor on the front of the hub instead of behind it, and uses a 2 piston caliper instead of my single. It really is a horrible design. Not only do I have to fight to get this nut lose, but after I get it lose then I will have to battle to pull the hub and risk splitting the bearings which will render the hub useless and add another $250 to the job. The more I look at it, I am thinking that the previous owner let it get metal to metal and chewed up the rotor and realized that it was just way too much work to fix it correctly and just pad slapped it.

 

Put the tire back on and set it down on the ground. The weight of the truck will keep the hub from spinning and you can use whatever means of leverage you need to get the axle nut off.

Just break it loose, then jack it back up to continue. Hope this helps.

 

I can keep the hub from spinning by putting a screw driver in the slot on the rotor it rests against the bracket. The problem is getting that castle nut to break lose. I think I am going to rent a 1in impact wrench today. Sunbelt rents them for $40.

 

8 posts and no one has said to use some penetrating fluid. get either CRC Knock'er loose, Cyclo Breakaway or AeroKroil (Kroil oil from Kano Labs). hose it down, tap on it and wait about 15 minutes then spray and tap again and it will come right off.
if you use pb or wd 40 then you can plan on about a week of spraying and tapping before it will break loose.

 

Is this true? I'm not so sure the design has changed at all.