[Vwdiesel] front brake rotors (fwd)

Wed May 9 23:22:21 PDT 2012

Oh, and to the point, sorry to ramble on so, but I just put the flat of the
air hammer punch against the little seized rotor bolt, and a bzzt, and it's
loose. Not so much as to flatten the screwdriver bit area, but enough to
loosen the threads, and it turns out by hand.  I had to find this out as
last time I did the front rotors on the 97 Passat, they were seized, and the
handheld impact screwdriver's guts turned to silver chunks on the first one.
-j

-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of James Hansen
Sent: May-09-12 11:44 PM
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] front brake rotors (fwd)

And just to add to the pile, I would highly recommend buying a cheapie air
chisel- if you have an air compressor that is...
When you get one,  if there is no punch that is the same diameter as the
chisel shafts (1/2 to 5/8" or so), immediately kill one of the mostly
useless attachments that come with it by cutting off the end, so you have a
blunt, broad faced punch.  In all my years of being a shop rat, there is
NOTHING as effective as the vibration of an air hammer to loosen stuff up.
Absolutely nothing.  An example- this spring I'm fixing the hopper trailer
chutes- and had to cut remove a sprocket that opens the chutes- this thing
has been in fertilizer, road salt, and is seized to the 1.25" shaft.
Sprocket has a nice step in it, I could grab it with a puller- and promptly
pulled the step off, didn't move the sprocket. Used heat, na da.  Touched it
with the air hammer, with the big flat punch end, and it skitters off like
it's machined to a slip fit, unscathed, I could reuse it even after touching
up the step thing I killed.
Frozen ball joints, tie rods, bolts, collars, bearings, you name it, it
never fails to buzz right off, even the threads on those stupid GM split tie
rod adjusters, the ones with the split in them so they retain maximum salt
and rust.

Oh, and a note on Dewalt tools. I have the same 18V impact as Val, and
drill, nut driver, etc... There are two distinct lines of batteries- Buy the
XRP ones if you can, and sometimes the tool is coming with an XRP (9096),
sometimes with the not XRP (XRR?) which has half the Ahr rating of the XRP.
If it doesn't say XRP on it, it's about half the capacity, and waay cheaper.
Pretty good tools in the XRP line, had mine for 5 years already, just had
one battery pack go south so far.
I got 5 XRP batteries this winter for 40 a pop on ebay, so look around. They
are 90 on sale at Depot here.
-james

-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of Val Christian
Sent: May-09-12 7:38 PM
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] front brake rotors (fwd)

Impact and heat are the way to go.

90% of the time, I just use a screwdriver bit with the "mouse" (hand held
3/8" impact tool (NOT air ratchet)).  If I have a really snarly one, I heat
it with a medium (for me, which means about 6 cu ft sized) oxy acetylene
flame, let the head get red and then let it cool.  Most of the time, I avoid
putting the screw back in, or I put it in with neversieze, which I am not
sure really helps.

Like Loren says, you can use the hammer type impact tool, and if you don't
have any impact tools, you should get one of those.  Usually they come with
3/8" hex bits for screws (slotted and phillips) and will drive 1/2" sockets.
In my poor starving student days, I wore out one of these, on the cam,
mostly working on my wife's Volvo.  Got rid of the Volvo and got better
tools.  The replacement still looks new.

BTW, I have one of the LiIon Dewalt impact tools, and did wheel lugs with it
the other night on a Jetta.  Wow.  Before you buy one, look at the torque
rating, as there are several different torque ranges, and what works well
driving lag bolts on a deck, might not be awesome enough to do wheel lugs.
I used a Snap On one several years ago, and these tools, when sized right
for 150 ft lbs or so, are really handy.  I imagine that rally crews use them
now, but don't know for sure.

Forwarded message:
> 
> Sometimes lining things up can sure be a pain in the butt, so it would 
> be w= orthwhile to attempt to remove the screw intact.=A0 I seat the 
> screwdriver = and then hit the handle of the screwdriver with a 
> hammer.=A0 I learned a tr= ick of giving it 200 sharp hits, at the 
> rate of approx 100 per minute.=A0 T= hat shock/vibration does a pretty 
> good job breaking up rust and corrosion t= hat will likely be 
> present.=A0 Spray it with PB Blaster before starting, ha= lfway 
> through, and at the end.=A0 =
> 
> 
> If the screw doesn't turn easily then, I will clamp locking pliers 
> onto the=  base of the handle of the screwdriver.=A0 This allows me to 
> lean on the sc= rewdriver with full pressure, and turn it at the same 
> time.=A0 At that poin= t, it should either turn easily, or snap 
> off.=A0 Either way you can change = your rotors.=A0 =
> 
> 
> =A0
> Dave Cook
> 
> 
> ________________________________
>  From: Travis Gottschalk <tgott at hotmail.com>
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com; db53248 at windstream.net =
> 
> Sent: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 4:34 PM
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] front brake rotors  =
> 
> 
> It is the largest one you will be able to find at a store. Sometimes 
> they a= re rusted on and you have no choice but to just break 
> off/drill out. Not ne= eded for install but it is nice when you put 
> your wheels on to keep everyth= ing aligned. =
> 
> Travis G
> > Message: 6
> > Date: Wed, 9 May 2012 05:40:32 -0500
> > From: "Pam & Doug Boes" <db53248 at windstream.net>
> > To: <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>, <vwpickups-request at neubayern.net>
> > Subject: [Vwdiesel] front brake rotors
> > Message-ID: <001201cd2dd0$295890d0$7c09b270$@windstream.net>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=3D"us-ascii"
> > =
> 
> > What is the size and pitch of the flathead Phillips screw that holds 
> > the front brake rotors in position on the early 80s Caddy's or 
> > Rabbits =
> 
> =A0=A0=A0 =A0=A0=A0  =A0=A0=A0 =A0  =A0=A0=A0 =A0=A0=A0 =A0 =
> 
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