I've owned my my 2011 Durango Crew since January 2013. It has 129K miles and the brakes have never been serviced until now. The pads are still within tolerance (barely) but the calipers are now sticking when cold and squeaks loudly until the vehicle had been driven a few blocks. So I decided to order Rotors, Calipers and pads to replace the original ones. The parts arrived Saturday and I started this project this morning. I decided to start with the right rear brakes. I removed the wheel and inspected the brake situation. Quite a bit of rust for 9.5 years old. The wheel hub nut is heavily rusted to the drive shaft threads. Fortunately I don't have to remove the wheel hub from the drive shaft.

Next I removed the caliper. This was not too bad at all. Caliper bolts came right out. Now I am having a problem separating the rotor from the wheel hub. On my 2005 Mazda 6 there was a threaded hole in the flat side of the rotor that was used for removing the rotor. I could insert a bolt into the threaded hole and tighten it. When the bolt came out the other side of the rotor it would push the rotor off the wheel hub. This was a very easy way to do it.

As for my 2011 Durango, on the back side of the rotor there is a protective cover that surrounds the entire rotor except for where the caliper is mounted. In this area where the caliper is normally mounted I am placing a block of wood on the back side of the rotor and hitting it will a hammer. So far no luck.

Is there a better way to do this?

 

The hammer will work if you keep at it, but a big old gear puller has been my go to for stubborn rotors recently, once you get it off remember to put anti-sieze on the hub where the rotor touches so this doesnt happen next time.


I have something like this https://smile.amazon.com/ABN-3-Jaw-G...959030&sr=8-11

youd have to measure the rotor diameter to make sure you get a big enough puller

here ya go, designed just for this problem https://smile.amazon.com/OTC-6980-He...959030&sr=8-16

 

Something I've done in EXTREME cases was using a jack, lift the vehicle slightly with the jack pad on the edge of the rotor. You don't have to lift much, just get some of the vehicle weight to help you. If you have a small torch, heat around the flat area where the studs come through. Now whack the rotor with a DBH. (Darn Big Hammer). The rotor may pop loose and shift slightly. Lower the jack down and remove the rotor. Do NOT remove the jack stands. You only need to lift the rotor a 1/2 inch or so to put lateral strain on it and for it to pop loose.

 

Thanks for the advice. I ended up having to buy a big brake drum/rotor puller (OTC 6980). After removing the o-ring in front of the rotor, I placed the puller on the rear right rotor and used my impact wrench on the puller nut. My impact wrench was working hard. Finally it came off with kind of a loud pop. This rotor was on tight. After pulling off the rotor I inspected the wheel hub. To my surprise the rotor that came off was also like a brake drum because the wheel hub had what appeared to be brake shoes on it. The brake shoes were also pressing out onto the drum part of the rotor. I wasn't sure what this was at first. Then it occurred to me it was either the emergency brake or it is part of the ABS. Also, if it was part of the emergency brake, then having the emergency brake set while trying to remove the rotor was not a good idea.

Anyway I got the rotor off, cleaned up the hub area, replaced the rotor, installed the new caliper and pads and bled the brake. Then I moved to the rear left side. Before starting I made sure the emergency brake was off. The rear left rotor came off a little easier than the right side. Since I had the rotor puller I used it instead of attempting to bang on the rotor with a hammer and wood block. However, I cranked on the rotor puller nut with my impact wrench and the rotor would not come off. So I decided to remove the puller and tap/bang on it with a hammer and wood block. After a couple of hard bangs it popped off. YEAH I finished up the rear left side and took it out on the road to perform the brake pad bedding process.

I'm starting on the front brakes tomorrow.

 

Parking brakes often are inside the rear rotors. They are mainly to hold you and slow you down in an emergency. I'm not fond of them myself, but I', old and set in my ways.

 

parking brakes are commonly inside the hat on the rear rotor, sometimes referred to as 'dummlettes'. They do this on 4 wheel disc brake cars for one simple reason, drum brakes apply more brake torque per lb of application force than disc brakes, this is because of their design, they have whats referred to as a 'self servoing' effect, this means that as the wheel tries to turn the drum shoes push HARDER into the drum and apply more friction, making them safer/more effective than a disc brake type system for parking brakes.

this self servo effect is also why power brakes are installed on every car with disc brakes, but were not necessary on older cars with drums.