I've had a heck of a time finding a replacement rotor for my 1996 B3500 5.2l. It has a 4000lb front axle and rear-only ABS. Complicating things (at least in terms of knowing what's "right") is that a previous replacement used an ABS rotor. It makes sense to me to switch back to non-ABS even if the sides will not be the same (for now).

This is very much complicated by the fact that I'm traveling (it's a camper van) and the stores around here don't stock these parts and have to order. It's been three days and four rotors -- order a rotor, wait a day, pull the old one off yet again, then find it won't work.

So the only non-ABS rotors I can find that include the hub assembly are for the 3600lb axle. However, I just read in this post that it is possible to replace the rotor only by knocking the wheel studs out. There are several examples on Kragen's website that are rotor-only, for a 4000lb axle. Doing it this way would save me much grief and money -- the last possible option of rotor+hub from Napa is $250, assuming it even fits.

I thought it would be worth asking before I go "experiment" with that -- can anyone confirm that it's possible to only replace the rotor? Would this be standard enough that even the assembly that's on there now will accept a new rotor for the hub? Or d they really need to be of the exact same type?

If you happened to have an example of a replacement from a store like Napa or Kragen at hand, that would be spectacular.

Thanks!

 

NAPA and AutoZone have the parts in my area.

I had the same problem too. My B2500 is the HD suspension that the B3500 uses with the 8-lug wheels.

It has the front axle dics and rear-only ABS drums too.

Get new bearings too since it's a big pain getting them out of the old dics!

Anyhow, see my thread here to find more info...

https://dodgeforum.com/m_987442/tm.htm

 

Thanks Stev. It's not really clear to me if you were able to replace just the rotor, or went with the whole rotor/hub assembly.

Again, the only options I've seen are either rotor+hub for a 3600lb axle, or rotor only for 4000lb. Napa -might- have a rotor+hub for a 4000lb axle, but it's $250, and I'm not even sure if it will fit!

If I can find the rotor-only that would actually fit on my current hub assembly, that would be great. But right now the only way there seems to be of doing this is trial and error. Or heaven forbid, take it to a mechanic.

 

I got the rotor only at AutoZone and the front bearings are NAPA.

Check out my thread link mentioned beofre for reference.

 

Thanks. I had read your comments in the other thread, it just wasn't clear to me what you ended up doing.

I picked up a rotor-only at the local Kragen and found it very easy to knock out the wheel studs -- the old rotor came right off the hub with no fuss at all. The only trouble I had was getting the new rotor to mate evenly with the hub. There was a slight gap because the wheel studs have to press into both the rotor and hub. I solved this by putting the wheel on the van, lowering just enough to have the tire contact the pavement, then torquing all the wheel nuts down to about 80 ft-lbs in a careful, even, criss-cross pattern. Pulled the wheel off and sure enough the rotor had even contact all around. I believe technically it's now supposed to be turned to "true" the rotor, but if it's off at all it's by such a tiny amount I don't think it matters.

All-in-all, once I knew I could do this, the job was very easy. So a big thanks, 'cause if I hadn't read it on this forum I would never have known I could get just a rotor! That also saved me about $200!