How to Remove a Front Brake Rotor in a 1991 Toyota Camry

Damage to the rotors on your 1991 Toyota Camry occurs over time, but can often be attributed to a bad brake-pad repair. Signs of damage to the rotors include a large amount of brake dust built up on your rim. The car may skip to a stop or the sound of metal grinding is heard when applying the brakes. The rotors, if inspected every 15,000 miles as Toyota recommends, should last through three sets of brake pads. Removing or replacing the front brake rotor on your Camry can be done right at home. With a few tools, it should take you 20 minutes or less to do.

Instructions

1

Apply the Camry's emergency brake, and firmly place a wheel block behind the rear tire diagonally from the front brake rotor you want to remove.

2

Loosen the tire's lug nuts slightly with a lug wrench, but don't remove them. Raise the car with your car-jack, so the bottom of the tire visually measure five inches from the ground. Slide a jack stand into position just left of the car-jack, raise the support to accommodate the car-jack's height, and then secure the support arm with its locking pin.

3

Remove all of the tire's lug nuts, and slide the tire off the wheel studs. Temporarily place two of the lug nuts back on, hand-tight, to hold the brake rotor in place.

4

Remove the two inner torque-plate bolts with a socket wrench. Do not remove the brake-caliper bolts connected to the plate; only remove the torque-plate bolts. When you are looking at the brake caliper, it appears as if it's mounted to a bracket; this is the torque plate.

5

Place a 5-gallon bucket right next to the brake caliper, within the wheel well. Slide the torque plate and brake caliper off the rotor using both hands. Set the assembly down on top of the bucket; you do not have to disconnect the brake line, but want to make sure it is not twisted.

6

Remove the two lug nuts that you temporarily installed, and pull the rotor off the hub in an outward motion. If the rotor does not pull straight off, you can use a rubber mallet to lightly tap around the rear of the rotor to free it. Installation is the reverse of the removal process, but requires a 3/8-inch-drive torque wrench. Tighten the torque plate bolts to 79 ft-lbs. and your tire's lug nuts to 137 ft-lbs.