I have just been helping my friend replace the rear discs on his 156 2.0 JTS and so far we have not been having much success.
We have been unable to remove the lower caliper bolt, as it is impossible to get a spanner or socket on it due to the rear suspension arm being in the way.
It looks like it should be possible to remove the bolt which attaches the two suspension arms to the lower part of the hub, and then push the bolt back just far enough so that the front arm could be swung upwards. However the bolt in the hub is seized solid.
Has anyone got any other ways of doing this? As what should be a simple job has turned into a nightmare.
Slightly less cultured. Take the top caliper carrier bracket bolt out and then knock bracket with a suitable persuading tool. With any luck it should move enough to get disc off. If nothing else it might move enough to assist with access to the lower bolt.
I think the disc can be removed and replaced without the need for dismantling the caliper. It's been a while but I'm fairly sure with the pads out the disc will slot in diagonally to sit correctly on the hub.
The problem I have is that I also need to remove the disc heat shield. The bolt for the caliper passes through it.
The abs sensor has sheared off and I need to remove the disc and remove the heatshield to straighten it out, as the hole in the heatshield for the ABS sensor isn't where it should be.
The nut comes off of the (long) suspension bolt, but the bolt itself is stuck solid. If I try and force it then something will break.
All of this would have been much more pleasant if my mate actually bothered to clean his car once in a while as everything was encrusted in mud.
What was the original job you had to do? Just new pads & discs?
As for stripping those rear suspension bolts (hub to shock), if they are stuck badly I usually crack them off with a 3ft breaker bar and another pole over the top of that to get enough leverage. Then just using the 3ft breaker bar, work the bolt looser and tighter for a while. Then at some point its loose enough that my 750lbft impact gun will get it spinning and then it can be dragged out using an open-ended spanner while the impact gun keeps it spinning.
For the lower caliper bolt I was able to get a ring spanner on it no problem, but it is a tight fit. You might have to thin the spanner down with a grinder to get it in there.
Also there are 2 different rear disc sizes on 156's so things could be different from one to other.
If its just changing the discs you don't need to remove the caliper carrier, just the caliper itself. The disc wiggles out between the hub and caliper carrier.
The rear disc shield is not removable without removing the wheel bearing. If you're not going to be changing the wheel bearing then cutting off the shield might be the only option.
I would say 99.9999999 (recurring as many times as you like) that the inner bearing race will stay on the stub axle .. so get a new rear hub and nut before you try ..
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