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How to Remove Rear Brake Rotors


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I am attempting to replace the rear rotors on my 2008 Edge Limited. They are not coming off easily..I suspect the parking brake is the problem. Is there a trick to remove these rotors? What is the hole for in the rotor "hat" - this hole is plugged with a rubber plug.

 

Any assistance will be appreciated

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I think Marty has got it. I am going to try this tomorrow. Remove the rubber plug, turn the rotor till you see the adjustment wheel, put a screw driver in and turn up or down till you tighten the shoes for the parking brake and the rotor should fall off. I seen this plug but it falled to register what it is for. If you look at your new rotors you see this hole which is not threaded which means to me that it is a plug that goes in there, thus the rubber plug for the adjustment access for the brake shoes. So I think it goes like this. Remove tire, caliper, loosen parking brake adjusting bolt, remove plug, turn wheel till adjuster is lined up ,tighten brake shoes, pull off rotor. I think we might have a winner. This is what I am going to do tomorrow.

 

Lets keep in touch guys till we get it.

 

Have a good night

 

Bill

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Well I just did mine and it was a bit of work but I got them off.

 

1 The rubber plug does nothing to help get these off.

 

2 There is no adjustment on the parking brake shoes other than the cable 2008/edge/limited

 

3 Slack off the parking brake cable.

 

4 Remove caliper and shoes

 

5 Pull /push/pry/BFH/ for about an hour and you will get them off.There is a lot of rust build up in where the parking brake shoes are which case a ridge the makes it difficult to pull them off. But I found it you pull/push and turn the wheel they will come off. Be careful when get close to getting them off the shoes may be bound in the rotor and the is a spring the holds the shoes to the backing plate that you don't want to break or off you go to the dealer for a new one. CAUTION when you put the shoes back on after cleaning be sure to connect the spring on properly and BE SURE to pull the shoes down a bit so they sit flush against the backing plate and they are not sitting on the small tab that the spring catches on. You can tell that the shoes are not sitting correct if the are at an angle. Look at them from the back to ensure they are correct. You can't tell if they are setting properly when you put the new rotor on. But you sure will when you drive the vehicle.

 

Not a tough job just a little pushing and pulling and some swearing.

 

Hope this helps

 

Bill

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Well I just did mine and it was a bit of work but I got them off.

 

1 The rubber plug does nothing to help get these off.

 

2 There is no adjustment on the parking brake shoes other than the cable 2008/edge/limited

 

3 Slack off the parking brake cable.

 

4 Remove caliper and shoes

 

5 Pull /push/pry/BFH/ for about an hour and you will get them off.There is a lot of rust build up in where the parking brake shoes are which case a ridge the makes it difficult to pull them off. But I found it you pull/push and turn the wheel they will come off. Be careful when get close to getting them off the shoes may be bound in the rotor and the is a spring the holds the shoes to the backing plate that you don't want to break or off you go to the dealer for a new one. CAUTION when you put the shoes back on after cleaning be sure to connect the spring on properly and BE SURE to pull the shoes down a bit so they sit flush against the backing plate and they are not sitting on the small tab that the spring catches on. You can tell that the shoes are not sitting correct if the are at an angle. Look at them from the back to ensure they are correct. You can't tell if they are setting properly when you put the new rotor on. But you sure will when you drive the vehicle.

 

Not a tough job just a little pushing and pulling and some swearing.

 

Hope this helps

 

Bill

 

 

You left out the most important tool for brake rotor/drum removal when seemingly rusted in place--- The "HOT WRENCH"--- heating the rotor up with a torch(even a small propane torch) will make it easy to remove.

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  • 6 months later...

Thanks for the info,

 

I was having the same issues as well,

the rubber plug does do something, you have on the top the brake adjuster

still with the adjust back tight you cannot get the rotor off.

 

First one took a little over an hour, second one took 10 minutes to get off.

 

I have never seen an emergency brake pad like this before? I don't know if I like it or not.

 

I did the same thing as loosen the brake tension first ,then collapsed the adjuster in the drum.

What I did was put all the lugs back on and had a bar that used to spin the rotor around as I was pulling out

this way it was knocking off the rust that got built up on the lip. once I know I had enough play I was able to pull on each side

of the rotor. small trick is to put the opening where the rubber plug was on the bottom and I used a wooden dowel to push out the

shoe. just make sure the keep an eye on that spring.

 

 

Steve

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  • 4 months later...

Thanks for the info,

 

I was having the same issues as well,

the rubber plug does do something, you have on the top the brake adjuster

still with the adjust back tight you cannot get the rotor off.

 

First one took a little over an hour, second one took 10 minutes to get off.

 

I have never seen an emergency brake pad like this before? I don't know if I like it or not.

 

I did the same thing as loosen the brake tension first ,then collapsed the adjuster in the drum.

What I did was put all the lugs back on and had a bar that used to spin the rotor around as I was pulling out

this way it was knocking off the rust that got built up on the lip. once I know I had enough play I was able to pull on each side

of the rotor. small trick is to put the opening where the rubber plug was on the bottom and I used a wooden dowel to push out the

shoe. just make sure the keep an eye on that spring.

 

 

Steve

Shanker has it right; the rubber plug gives access to the parking brake adjustment and it needs to be loosened to allow the rotor to release. The plug needs to be aligned to approx. 11 o'clock to see the adjuster. Once I figured it out, the rotors came off relatively easy. Wish I had researched here before my first attempt at this job. Would have been much simpler. I have not seen brakes like this before and they are the most difficult brakes I have ever removed.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm going to bump this thread before I break out the BFH.

 

I've removed the caliper, and this is what is behind it:

IMG_6203.jpg

 

Behind the spindle itself:

IMG_6204.jpg

 

Removing the sensor thingy with a torx bit 30:

IMG_6214.jpg

 

Side shot:

IMG_6215.jpg

 

Top View:

IMG_6216.jpg

 

So I'm pretty lost as to what else I have to loosen to remove the rear rotor. Do I just pry like hell on the rear of the rotor (rubber type material towards the inside of the vehicle)? Are there other bolts to remove first?

 

Thanks in advance....

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Ok, it was getting late last night and I was nearing the end of my growler :headspin:

 

The little rubber plug is shown in the pic above, and the adjustment wheel is a little hard to see at first (dark and covered in dirt.) I'm going to hit it with some liquid wrench and see if I can't adjust it (didn't want to budge initially.)

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  • 2 years later...

Ok, it was getting late last night and I was nearing the end of my growler http://www.fordedgeforum.com/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/headspin.gif

 

The little rubber plug is shown in the pic above, and the adjustment wheel is a little hard to see at first (dark and covered in dirt.) I'm going to hit it with some liquid wrench and see if I can't adjust it (didn't want to budge initially.)

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Chingon I'm sure by now you got the job done. But on my 2010 SEL the adjustment wheel was at the 12 o'clock position. By simply adjust the wheel up with a screw driver the rotor almost fell right off. After 3 hours of fussing over it I finally figured it out. The adjustment wheel is hard to find on particular models because they are not all the same position.

Thanks to everyone who wrote on this forum. Got me out from under my car sooner than expected

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  • 1 year later...

We have a 2012 Edge LTD, Just did brakes and rotors all around. Just a couple of quick notes.

 

For the rear, remove dampener by opening plastic cap and use a 30 Torx. Remove caliper and bracket. Remove Torx screw holding on rotor using # 40 bit. If you have the typical rust you can rotate the brake disc until the end of the screw is visible through the hub on the back side, use heat, big or small, spray PB blaster on both ends of the screw. Nobody's can be worse than ours, it came right off. Rotor may need a hammer on the back side and some heat on the face, ours didn't require much of either.

 

The fronts are much worse. The rotor rusts onto the front hub. Be prepared with big heat and big hammer. Heating the face of the rotor between the studs and pounding the crap out of it from behind is required. I also used an air chisel trying to brake if free, don't think it made much difference. Once you commit your screwed!

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I'm going to bump this thread before I break out the BFH.

 

I've removed the caliper, and this is what is behind it:

IMG_6203.jpg

 

Behind the spindle itself:

IMG_6204.jpg

 

Removing the sensor thingy with a torx bit 30:

IMG_6214.jpg

 

Side shot:

IMG_6215.jpg

 

Top View:

IMG_6216.jpg

 

So I'm pretty lost as to what else I have to loosen to remove the rear rotor. Do I just pry like hell on the rear of the rotor (rubber type material towards the inside of the vehicle)? Are there other bolts to remove first?

 

Thanks in advance....

 

Bro....can you get your pictures back up? Thanks....getting ready to replace the rear rotors ASAP (once the rain stops!)

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  • 3 months later...

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