Hi all,

I've just finished putting new front rotors & bearings on my car. Haynes tells me to install the grease cap with a "soft faced hammer". OK - but should I really need to hit it dozens of times with all my might only to have it pop back off? These were really hard to remove in the first place, so I am suspecting more British understated humor.

My next option is the torch and the gloves to try to heat it up enough to slip onto the rotor. Of course, if I do that, I will never get it off again.

Help!

i hope some one replys as i have my car on blocks now ans will be getting to those front caps soon, how did you get them off? just pry wiht a screw driver?

I had to grease up the ring of the cap and then use the bfh, using the soft faced hammer caused the cap fly off and hit me in the nutz!

I hate it when that happens!

It has been a few months for me as I opened a can of worms (new tie-rods, new brake lines, might as well do the master cylinder while I am in here, etc.). I think I ended up using a pair of vise-grips and a big honking screwdriver and a lot of elbow grease.

Lot of luck.

I never really have problems with them. Just like anything round, pry a little with a screw driver, turn wheel a little, pry a little, turn a little, etc.. and eventually it pops out with getting damaged.

Same for install, hold it on and tap it so it sticks on there. Then tap it with a rubber mallet while turning the wheel until it fully seats. You always want to remove and install evenly so it doesn't bend out-of-round. Once it's bent, it will be a PITA to remove/install it for eternity.

Then I suspect that a previous owner trashed them. It took an incredible amount of force to make them come off. Having never done it with clean caps, I guess I got the lesson without knowing it. I'll check the roundness with my calipers next weekend and see if they are flattened - if so, perhaps I can make it better.

Thanks

Maybe there is so much grease that it seals up so that when you are bangin 'em on it builds up pressure...

I've got just a skim coat on the inside of the cap to try to help is slide on - literally as little as I could put on and tell it was there. If that keeps the cap from going on, then the tolerances on this part are amazing.

Good idea, though. Before I pull out the REALLY BIG HAMMER ™, I will clean the grease off entirely and try again.