[Luke49783]

I'm in the middle of replacing the pads and rotors on my ZJ and can't get the rear rotors off. Is there any trick to pulling them off? I've pounded and pounded with a rubber mallet and a hammer, sprayed WD40 on the studs, etc.

My parking break hasn't worked in the 2 years that I've had the Jeep, the cable doesn't have much tension in it. Is there a trick to releasing the parking break, besides cutting the cable?

[elmer_fud]

The rotors should just pull strait off after you remove the calipers. For the parking brake you can either loosen the cable above the rear driveshaft where it splits for left or right. Another option would be to loosen the wheels inside the parking brakes. The parking brakes are like small drum brakes.

if all else fails resort to

[moparrr07]

yup you need a bfh, or big ford hammer or big fat hammer

[Vestjam]

Agree with the BFH theory.... The parking brake will wear a small groove on the inside of the rotor which leaves a tiny lip that prevents the rotor from coming off. You will probably want to replace the E-brake shoes when you are done beating the crap out of the old rotor. Loosen the tension on the e-brake pads by dialing the 'star' shaped bolt down. There is a slot on the back side of the brake shield that will have a rubber grommet. Remove the grommet and move the star up to loosen (I think).
I've attached a picture ( a little blurry) to show you what you want to look for. The red circle shows the star adjuster, the yellow arrow points to the rubber grommet.