03 baja rear discs - how to remove?

[f15xxx]

friend got in over his head and i told him i would go to the oracle for an answer. he's got an 03 baja and it has a shimmy from the rear upon brake application. he got the caliper out of the way and also removed the cv axle bolt but then got flustered and quit. question is: how is rotor removed from this point? he said there were some threaded holes where i guessed that some bolts could be inserted to push the rotor out. of course, he doesn't have metric bolts of proper length etc. i wonder is this setup like some hondas where the entire control arm has to be removed due to inside-mounted disc mount bolts? i'm not too sure about that though as i assume that there is an e-brake assembly behind there. it's not really my problem but i volunteered to attempt an inquiry. any quick answers guys?

[stevecd]

if you aren't going to use the rotor again hit it with a hammer about 50 times or til it pops off on my car the front took maybe 30 hits before it would come off (1lb hammer). but my rears had the nice bolt hole, which i used with the bolt that i took off to get the caliper up, so i would assume that would be the same for your case.

good luck

[SubaruLegacy2003]

All you need to remove is the caliper and the caliper bracket. Then the rotor will come right off...make sure the parking brake is released!

[kleinkid]

Those two threaded holes are there to be used to jack the rotor off of the hub. Don't hammer the rotors off. That is completely unneccessary. I can't tell you what the thread size is offhand, but you thread a bolt into each hole evenly and they will push the rotor away from the hub until the rotor is free. Use two bolts. Piece of cake. You don't need to be a hammer mechanic.

[dxrflyboy]

The holes are standard 8mm. You may even be able to thread the caliper bolts in there (I keep a couple 8mm bolts in my box so I've never tried the caliper bolts). I'm pretty sure the thread pitch is 1.25 (designation is 8x1.25). 1-inch bolts are more than long enough.

[D-Cal]

Hate to resurrect an old thread, but I found this one while doing my own brake job and thought I would add some info.

 

I used a $15 steering wheel puller I already had to remove the disc. The bolts on my 97 Legacy GT sedan were 8mm x 1.25. The puller made it super easy to pull the disc off. Just thread the bolts in a couple turns by hand, brace the "pusher" bolt against the end of the axle and tighten until the disc pops off.

[porcupine73]

If there's an ebrake behind that disc, obviously make sure the ebrake is released or you can't get the disc off. I've had excellent results driving those 8mm bolts into those little holes. I also hear that using an air hammer and pounding a little between each of the wheel studs works wonders. You can get a puller with all manner sized bolts and stuff, and a cheap air hammer, from Harbor Freight for about $6 each on sale.

 

I don't know about Subaru's, but on some cars when you take off a rear disc that has the ebrake inside there, the ebrake pads just crumble apart. I had a Ford Explorer for a while with warped front rotors and the garage was taking baseball bat type swings at them with a sledge hammer to get them off.

 

Also, I'm a little curious, you say he removed the axle nut? Are you sure that has to removed to get the disc off? Was there weight on that wheel when the axle nut was removed?

[D-Cal]

Interestingly, the front discs had the same bolt holes. One disc came off easy (looked like someone had done work recently) but the other was rusted on. I tapped it with a rubber mallet a couple times, no deal. Hooked the puller onto the holes and it came right off. Unfortunately the new replacement front discs didn't have the holes, but then again they got anti-seize on the back side before they went on.