removing front discs

[Neil72]

I would go easy with the hammer in case you knacker the bearings.

In the past I've found that a chisel near the centre of the disc does the job if you give it a good whack with a hammer. It also helps to spin the disc round so you're hitting it at different spots, rather than just bashing the one area.

[r055]

Water - pffff

Bloody big 'Poadger' - brute force and ignorance.

Still, try your nancy water method if you must...

the boiling water worked a treat!
put that on it and it loosened it enought to batter it gently in the centre with the hammer whilst spinning the disc!!

[mac]

Mac - pretty sure that advice was offered for removing alloy wheels though

[fd]

Use a soft faced mallet (so that you don't damage the disk (in case you cannot remove it) thus leaving the car drivable) . . . hit it at a suitable spot on th edge of the disk where you can get a good swing without hitting anything else, one hard hit, rotate 1/8th of a turn and repeat for a few revs of the disk . . . at the end of the day if it still won't budge you need to move to a larger weapon with more mass and hit it harder . . . I would think it more likely that you'll bend the hub flange long before you damage the bearings but disks don't tend to seize on badly on elises compared to some other cars . . . The old soft faced mallet/hammer is a useful tool to have, they don't shatter things or damage things but still let you exert a nice shock load . . . also get one with a dead blow as they work better . . .

http://www.stanleytools.com/default.asp ... CE+HAMMERS

Fd

[mckeann]

i recommend the 6 ft scaffolding pole as a good starter tool

[campbell]

quality advice (well, last 2 posts maybe...)

if you don't have access to a soft mallet, a bit of wood between chosen heavy implement and disc works too

one of my old discs was pretty seized recently, and although I didn't plan on reusing it, I just steadily worked round it with the soft mallet without damaging it and gave it a wiggle periodically to test progress...patience is your friend!

PS - Campbell in "working on own car in mechanical dept without assistance and didn't feck it up" shocker...

[nxy]

If you can get use of a bearing puller, this will stop any damage to the bearings. Its basically three arms which hook onto the disc then a threaded bolt in the middle tightens onto the hub, slowly pulling the disc off. No stress from hammering!!

[fd]

If you can get use of a bearing puller, this will stop any damage to the bearings. Its basically three arms which hook onto the disc then a threaded bolt in the middle tightens onto the hub, slowly pulling the disc off. No stress from hammering!!

Would have to be a hell of a big puller . . . anyway the bearing damage thing is a red herring . . . don't worry about it . . . really . . . honest . . . I've taken off more sets of disks than I've had hot dinners and never had subsequent bearing problems . . .

Fd

[fd]

i recommend the 6 ft scaffolding pole as a good starter tool

Could have used your skills when we tried to remove the rear hub bolts on my elise dude . . . we broke 2 1/2 inch drive sockets and breaker bars then moved to 3/4 inch stuff and I bent the extension pipe Lawrence had by jumping on it . . . and yes eventually a piece of scaffolding pole was used . . . we were putting so much torque on them that the car was moving whilst in gear with the (good) handbrake on very tight . . . and turning the wheel against the footbrake . . .

Fd

[campbell]

i recommend the 6 ft scaffolding pole as a good starter tool

Could have used your skills when we tried to remove the rear hub bolts on my elise dude . . . we broke 2 1/2 inch drive sockets and breaker bars then moved to 3/4 inch stuff and I bent the extension pipe Lawrence had by jumping on it . . . and yes eventually a piece of scaffolding pole was used . . . we were putting so much torque on them that the car was moving whilst in gear with the (good) handbrake on very tight . . . and turning the wheel against the footbrake . . .

Fd

it's all that heat you've put through them on Alpine passes in the summer

[thinfourth]

If you can get use of a bearing puller, this will stop any damage to the bearings. Its basically three arms which hook onto the disc then a threaded bolt in the middle tightens onto the hub, slowly pulling the disc off. No stress from hammering!!

Would have to be a hell of a big puller . . . anyway the bearing damage thing is a red herring . . . don't worry about it . . . really . . . honest . . . I've taken off more sets of disks than I've had hot dinners and never had subsequent bearing problems . . .

Fd

Personally i'd drill two holes through the disc 180degrees apart and then use a nice big strong back and two big feck off studs and then pull it off.

As to bearing damage you won't get it instantly but you will shorten the life of it substantially. Fitting damage leads to lots early failures (currently working for bearing company)

[Dominic]

Get Dominic round with his grinder.

did someone mention Grinder

[Shug]

i recommend the 6 ft scaffolding pole as a good starter tool

Could have used your skills when we tried to remove the rear hub bolts on my elise dude . . . we broke 2 1/2 inch drive sockets and breaker bars then moved to 3/4 inch stuff and I bent the extension pipe Lawrence had by jumping on it . . . and yes eventually a piece of scaffolding pole was used . . . we were putting so much torque on them that the car was moving whilst in gear with the (good) handbrake on very tight . . . and turning the wheel against the footbrake . . .

Fd

Yup Hambo & I gave up after trying all that, with extra heat (from gas torch). Ended up with drill & chisel to split the f**ker. Fun night...