^ I take it Prof was successful in removing the rotor today?
Yes. And I was so worn out afterward that I didn't even have the energy for a post-game wrap up.
Here is the MUCH shortened version:
1) After your advice Saturday night I was pretty sure the parking brake was at the root of the problem. I got a ride to the auto parts store and picked up new pads and hardware for both sides. I originally wanted to do them anyway, so this was fine with me.
2) Went out yesterday and gave the stubborn rotor a few more love taps. Thanks to the diagram LibertyTC posted of the parking brake stuff inside I had a good idea what was causing the rotor to want to spring back before it could break free. No more luck than I had had the day before...but...
3) Having the parts on hand to re-do EVERYTHING gave me the luxury of bashing away, since I didn't have to worry about trying to reuse the old parking brake stuff. And bash I did. I laid into that thing like a madman. It finally broke free and with its dying breath managed to land on my ankle. I have a nice bruise now, but I was happy to have the thing finally off of there.
4) When the rotor came off, all of the parking brake parts fell out in a heap on the ground. Something in there was caught on the back of the rotor, just as a few of you had guessed.
5) I am now an expert on Liberty parking brake replacement. I know about 150 ways you CAN'T put new ones in, and at least two ways that WILL work.
6) The actual brake and rotor installation was an anti-******. Much easier than the front end. I drove carefully around the parking lot at slow speed and made quite a few gentle stops. Things worked well enough that after ten minutes of this I did a five mile jaunt around town. Max speed was 35mph and I let the Jeep slow to well below that before applying the brakes. No noise
*, no pulling, no problem.
7) Today I went to the gym and was a little bolder. I still didn't exceed 35mph, but stopped in a more "normal" way. (Which is to say that I didn't start coasting to a stop two blocks before the stop sign, etc.)
Two things remain:
1) The parking brakes need to be adjusted. There is lots of info here on doing that so I think I can get it taken care of when I have time.
2)
*There is a soft whirring noise coming from the rear brakes. Not really a scraping, definitely not a banging or rattling, just a mild shoop-shoop I can only hear at slow speed with all four windows down. I'm assuming this is normal until the new parts seat themselves. There is no disfiguration of the rotors at all that I can see, and like I mentioned before, no pulling or other problems.
Is this normal? If so, how soon can I expect it to go away?
Aren't you glad I didn't post the LONG version? :gr_grin:
Anyway, thanks so much for all of the good advice. Despite the problems with the stuck rotor, things pretty much went by the plan. I really appreciate all of your help! :favorites13: