[Old Busted Hotness]

It was time to replace the rotors on our '14 SXT, not due to wear but because of rust. Northeast Ohio winters are hell on the rotors, so with 20K miles and half the pads left, I went at it.

Rears first, as the friction surface was half rusted. Pro tip: adjust the parking brake before pulling the rotors. Had to heat & hammer to get the rotors free of the hubs. Put a liberal coating of anti-seize on the hubs before reassembly.

Now for the battle: The fronts were a damn nightmare. First, the big 21mm screws holding the caliper bracket to the upright just wouldn't unscrew. I know there's a little dollop of yellow threadlock, but I've never fought a bolt so hard. Gonna estimate them at 60 ft-lbs just to get them to turn AFTER initially breaking them free. In other words, 60 ft-lbs the whole way out. Had to use a 25-inch breaker bar and an air impact to get them free.
Close inspection of the threads revealed no problems. No galling, pulled threads or anything like that. No rust either, which was unexpected. I have no idea why they turned so hard. Anyone else have this? They went back in hard, too. I guess the good news is they won't back out.
Front rotors were rusted to the hubs, too. More heat, more bashing, more heat and finally a 36-inch pry bar to break them free. An even more liberal coating of anti-seize on reassembly.

Everything's good now, but I'm plumb wore out.

Anyone else have to fight the caliper-bracket screws like that? The rears weren't a problem, just the fronts.

 

[Dales 2016 Challenger]

I did a Mitsubishi eclipse like that once. The slide pins were frozen and the car lives in Oklahoma so no salt/sand 30 mins job turned in to two days mainly waiting for parts.

Mopar or No Car

 

[franzen3]

Just replaced the rotors and pads on my 15 R/T and the passenger side was similar to your's. Big breaker bar did the trick. 650 ft lb air gun wouldn't budge it. Drivers side came out just fine. Hoping these pads and rotors are better than the stock setup. But if not, i'm only $140 in. Time will tell.

 

[VNT]

My buddies are techs at loal CDJ store. He told me, smartest thing you can do is disassemble the brakes. I have an SRT and bought ceramic pads. I had the car in my garage for 2 or 3 weeks pulling it apart to rust proof and paint everything underneath.

I pulled the calipers, rotors( I painted the hats on all the rotors and the edges with high temp paint), and pulled the wheel bearing asemblies out of the knuckles and put some synthetic grease in the knuckles where the assembly seats so down the road if I ever need to replace the bearings, I can get them out. Ditto when I reassembled the brakes, I put some antisieaze on the face of the hub so the rotor wont stick.

I have scene my freinds use a special tools which bolts to the bearing hub where the wheel mates and has box tubing they pound with a sledge to get frozen wheel bearing out of the knuckles, a frigen joke when 6 yr old trucks and jeeps come in and the bearing assembly is frozen in the knuckles.

I have never had frozen caliper bolts, but have had the pins and rubber boots deteriorate on my PT Cruisers where you have to take them apart and lube em up with caliper grease and new pins and boots so the caliper will float. If not the pad on the outside wears and the car will tend to pull when you hit the brakes. Live in the snow belt and everything with brakes are PITA, but my SRT gets tucked away for winters.