1978 XS 750 E Rear Brake Siezed

[D. P. Larmee]

Hi All,

I have a weird one for you folks. I have a 1978 XS750E that has been sitting for a while that I am trying to resurrect. I went to move her out from the corner of the garage and the rear brake was locked up. I tried cracking the bleeder screw thinking that pressure had built up in the line and was not being released. That freed up the rear wheel, but the problem seems to go deeper than that. The brake pedal, itself, is siezed. There is absolutely no up and down travel whatsoever. At this point, I have removed the rear MC and undone the return spring. I’ve also loosened all of the adjustment screws. The lever still does not budge. I’ve got a Clymer’s for the 750, and the 11, which seems to have a pretty similar design, but neither goes into much detail as to further disassembly. It really looks like there is nothing left to hold the pedal in place, but still, there is still no budging it. Is there a clip or something that I’m missing on this thing? If any of you have run into this problem or know how to get this brake arm out, please let me know.

Thanks a million,

Dan

[randy]

Dan,

The 750 brake pedal is exactly like the 1100. Sounds like someone neglected to grease the pivot. Remove the pinch bolt on the pedal and the pedal should pull straight off. From there, penetrating oil and heat may free things up. The pivot shaft gets removed from the inboard side of the frame.

Good luck getting the spring back in. It's a bitch.

After everything is free and cleaned up, grease it when you put it back!

[D. P. Larmee]

Hey randy, Thanks. I've got the pedal off the pivot shaft. It is the pivot shaft that does not want to move. What holds it to the frame?

[randy]

Nothing holds it to the frame, it just the shaft in the hole. Sounds like it's rusted solid!

[D. P. Larmee]

That's what it looked like. I've had it bathing in penetrating oil and given it a few good whacks with increasingly larger hammers and it hasn't moved a bit, aside from getting a bit flattened. I guess I'll try the old blue wrench (torch) when I get home from work. Thanks for the input.

[Jerry]

Had a similar problem on the XJ when I first got it. Don't know if my XJ is the same, but here is what I did.

First of all, shaft does not come out on the pedal side. I un-hooked a little clevis-looking device that hold a short rod in place. This rod goes up to the rear master cylinder and activates it when you press down on the pedal. A small cotter pin is the key to removing the short dowl pin that hold the rod to the shaft.

Once the cotter pin, dowl pin, and rod are removed, make sure the little clamp bolt - on the inside of the frame - is removed completely.

Tap on the shaft from the pedal side. It - should - come out of the bore it is in and fall to the ground just ahead of the rear wheel.

Mine was not quite as stuck, I could push the pedal down but it would not come back up. I took an old brake cylinder hone and cleaned up the inside of the bore, then cleaned off the shaft with a Dremmel tool equipped with a sanding drum. I put everything back togetherwith a liberal coating of white lithium grease, and have not had a problem since.

You should also check to adjustment of the actuator rod to make sure the brake is not dragging when the pedal is in the full up position; the actuator rod has an adjustment nut on it for this purpose.

Good luck.

[D. P. Larmee]

I'm at home now and I just looked at it again. I have it to the point where the MC actuator rod is off, I have removed the bolt that sets the pedal hieght, and have the spring off of the frame so that it is still on the shaft but there is no tension on it. Still nothing is budging. I have tried using a two arm puller from the outside of the frame to push the rod through. This just resulted in a big divot in the end of the rod, but it still does not move. If there really isn't anything else holding it there, I will give the old 30# sledge a try. I just want to make sure that there is not something obvious that I am missing before I resort to really wailing on it.

"make sure the little clamp bolt - on the inside of the frame - is removed completely"

Jerry, are you talking about the bolt that sets the pedal hieght? If not, this might be my problem. I do not remember removing any clamp bolt, nor do I remember seeing anything like this. would you please go into a bit more detail on this.

Thanks

[D. P. Larmee]

I finally got it out. Torch, penetratring oil and then a few good solid hits with a sledge and it eventually budged. It was just rust and grime holding it in place.

[Jerry]

Glad you got it out. I make it a point of pulling mine once a year now and re-greasing it. That way I know it does not cause the brake to drag and the brakes work easier, better "feel" on the pedal.

Somewhere on the linkage is a small spring that trips the brake light switch, should also be adjusted when you re-assemble the pedal mechanism. Generally it is a good idea to have the brake light come on just before brake pressure is applied.

[randy]

BTW, guys, on the XS, there is a grease fitting. Remove the black cap in the center of the shaft, no need to pull the shaft out. Don't know about the XJ, though.

[D. P. Larmee]

My G has the grease fitting, but a friends SG does not. The 750 also did not. I'm not sure why, but it seems that some had them and others didn't

[Jerry]

have never noticed one on the XJ, now will have to check again...

[randy]

Just checked the fiche, seems the E, F and G models have the grease fitting. The H model and the Specials and the XJ don't have it.

[AlanB]

Hi Guys,

Standards seem to have a grease fitting; Specials don't.

AlanB