maxmachz

Need to remove my rear rotors to work on the parking brakes, bearings, etc; shop manual says to drill out the rivets to remove them.

There are no rivets, nor holes where rivets may have been; car has 50K miles on it, I doubt they've ever been off, the shocks are still clean with the Delco stickers on them.

I have the calipers off / hung above the rotor, but it will not come off.

I am missing something, or ???

Great site, thanks for any help up front!

Mike Ward

Some aftermarket rotors have no rivets, but all OEM rotors have them. The spindle and rotor were riveted together at the factory for final machining to eliminate runout.

Are there no holes for the e-brake adjustment?

maxmachz

The hole for the e brake adjuster is there. Must be replacements, they must be rusted / seized on.

Any hints on getting them off?

Thanks again

81pilot

The rivets are flush if dirty they may not be obvious.

mds3013

In this pic. you can see the holes for the rivets and the adjusting holes which are larger. Stud holes, plus rivet holes, plus adjusting holes equals twelve holes. Rotor in background is aftermarket. If you only have seven holes the rotors have been replaced and are no longer riveted to the spindle. Soak them with penetrating oil at the raised lip of the spindle overnight. Then give them a good whack with a rubber mallet then turn to strike a different side to jar them loose. mike...

Easy Mike

Back off the ebrake shoes. Two beer job; one for each side. It's piddly business.

Mike Ward

Great idea- the beer cans could then be used as shim stock for the new rotors to get rid of runout.

mds3013

Hello maxmachz. Will the rotors/spindles turn? Are the rotors stuck to the spindles? If you get no movement of the rotors from the spindles then the rotors are stuck to the spindles. If the rotors are loose from the spindles but then hang up, the parking brake shoes may well be the problem. Like Easy Mike posted back off the adjustment of the parking brake shoes to allow the rotors to come off. I had one of mine really stuck to the spindle. Be careful of using the caliper mount to pry against as you do not want to bend it. Use light blows from the rubber mallet to try to break the rotor away from the spindle. mike...

maxmachz

Not sure what you mean by turn... it was driven to storage after purchase, I knew I had work to do. I could hear noise on the r rear side, in a r hand turn; like scrape scrape on the sheild; a clank going from fwd to reverse in the same area...I figured the e brake parts were the issue; I can grab the wheel at the top, yank hard to the outside and it moves more than I like, and makes a noise when doing so; I pulled the wheel off, and caliper; the rotor will not come off, no rivet heads.

Looking behind the rotor at the half shafts / u joints, I see a broken u joint cap. Perhaps that is the noise and play I see and feel, I will replace all of them on the half shafts. The car only has 50K on it. The shocks still have the ac delco stickers on them!

Also want to drain / refill the diff, no drain plug? I see the fill plug in my shop manual, vac pump the lube out? Would be nice to drain it, flush it clean, inspect and refill but it looks like lots of dis assembly for that? Shop manual helps, but it's not very descriptive on some things. Got through the ecm mess, I want the driveline quiet and vibration free (she had a 45 mph shake, the u joint could not be helping) now, then on to exhaust, then wheel balance. The brake shoes are like new. P brake cable is snapped.

I got it for 6K as a project, it's all original...I have a good base to start with, most on this site have been a great help!

LannyL81

From your description it sounds like you will be replacing the rear wheel bearings...which actually means rebuilding of the trailing arms. I recommend VanSteel for this.
If you go this route, forget the rubber mallet and use a hammer to get them off. Box them up and ship'em off to VanSteel....get your credit card ready for a large hit though!!!

maxmachz

Thanks, but if that is the issue I'll take care of it in our shop. I have time to learn about this car, and I do every day I work on it. I got it for a project, and it has certainly not let me down in that respect!

We have everything we need in our shop, but we reapir yachts not Corvettes so it's only knowledge we lack. I'd rather learn than pay, I want to be educated on what I have and be able to help others on here perhaps after my experiences. So many others have helped me, I want be on the helping side.

mds3013

Great looking car max. I was wondering if the rotors rotate, then the parking brake shoes are not seized to the rotors. I had one rotor totally stuck to the spindle and it was tough to remove it the other came right off. Good luck with it. mike...

maxmachz

Thanks for your help, and your compliments!

We'll get 'er

wajulia

Max

Are you sure you want to do major surgery on the IRS before you fix that U-Joint. If it where me I would sort out the U-joint and if the symptoms went away, I would call it a day. Getting into the Trailing arms is not for the faint at heart
The U-joint replacement is pretty straight forward and might just get you another 50k miles on the car.

Mike Ward

If the car has 50K miles and the rear wheel bearings are untouched since new, they're (over)due. Money well spent IMHO.

maxmachz

Good points by all. The joints will be changed out first. One is visibly broken in the trunion, the cap as cracked open.

One thing I have learned, age is harder on equipment (even if just sitting) than miles.

The grease is 30 years old though...anyone ever use that tool for greasing the wheel bearings with no disassembly? they show it's use in the shop manual.

petdoc

I just got a frozen rear rotor off my '70 yesterday.... Mine still had the rivets on one side (since 1970!!!), but drilling them out left the rotor still stuck. I thought the ebrake was holding up the removal, because I could hear the shoes dragging as I rotated the wheel. With the caliper removed and out of the way, I sprayed a penetrating oil (In-Force) into the the e-brake assembly (saturated it) from the axle side of the hub..... Let it set for about 20 minutes and started pounding and pulling. It finally gave about 1/4" on one side and I was able to "walk it" off the lugs and damaged e-brake assembly. Wasn't easy....(2 beers). Found broken pieces of the upper brake shoe spring as they fell out of the assembly once the rotor came off. Once the spring broke and failed, the shoes had jammed up the works, and made the removal difficult. The penetrating oil spray made the difference for my project. Available at NAPA ...In-Force.... Good luck!

PS: Very NICE car, Man!!!!!

garygnu

good looking car,you got a good deal on it.I see a rebuild thread in your future.