I'm wondering how you other techs out there remove seized anchor pins when doing a brake job. Obviously, an anchor pin press is one way, but what if the press can't be lined up straight due to a hub being in the way? Big hammer and a torch? Air hammer and a torch? Share how you do it.

Personally, I'll use a press when able. If that doesn't work I'll try the air hammer/torch route. Should that fail, I'll blow them out with the torch. As for the bushings, I grind a groove lengthwise with a carbide bit in a die grinder until it just cuts through. They pop right out after that. To clean out the holes in the spider, I have a homemade flap wheel that I use with the die grinder.

Sounds like you have most every move down pretty well pat. The only thing one might add is to avoid hitting the pin directly with a hammer - use a brass drift with the hammer instead, to avoid swelling the pin.

As far as cleaning out the bushing holes, I used a long 3/16 cotter pin chucked up in a drill and a length of emery cloth rolled onto the cotter pin with the abrasive side out. The end of the emery cloth can be inserted in between the halves of cotter pin (the drill chuck will tighten it down) then the emery cloth rolled onto the cotter pin. This also works well for other holes of various diameters as you can simply adjust the length of the emery cloth to the hole diameter.

A little anti seize on the new pin or inside the bushing will help to prevent the pin from seizing up in the future. One should always use anti seize on anything that has the tendency to freeze up, ie tie rod ends, adjustable draglink ends, u-bolt nuts, lug studs, etc.

pull the hub off and use the press. i dont like using heat on brake or steering parts. i have seen the brake spiders bent from hammering and heating them. wheel seal is cheaper then a brake spider.

Jerry, I use almost the same thing to clean out the bushing bores. I take a long 1/4" bolt, cut the head off, slit the bolt with a hack saw and chuck it in the die grinder with emery cloth stuck in the slit. I also anti-seize a lot of things. The next person taking it apart will certainly appreciate it. Also, I never thought about the pin swelling so that's a good thing to know.

Pop, you have a very good point regarding the heating and hammering of brake and steering parts. I'll keep that in mind.

Typically I remove the hub, heat the anchor pin and then use a press to remove the pin. I then use a bushing driver attachment on my air hammer to remove the old bushing. Cleaning up the hole I use a same hole diameter wire brush and some brake clean. Installation is like most others listed here on this post would do. Apply anti-seeze, this will prevent future anchore pin seizure.

If I do not remove the hub, I heat and use an air hammer or a large punch and hammer.

I see most people do not like to use heat for fear of bending the spider. I use it because I've never seen that happen with applying heat and using a press. I have seen people bend the spider due to using a sledge to remove anchor pins and applying no heat which was interesting to hear him having to explain that mess to the customer.

whats wrong with just leaving the old anchor pins on there?