should i rebuild the brake calipers?

[mason79]

3 times a charm

Originally posted by Ken Talbot
If you're going to keep up with regular maintenance and tender loving care for your XS, you could probably get by without the dut cover. The amount of stuff you see inside of there is usually many years worth of accumulation and neglect. Put it together without and get riding, and go ahead and order the part to put in at the end of the season.

BTW - dod you have to do any filing on your brake pads to ensure hey moved freely on the gliders we talked about a note or two ago? As often as not, the corresponding slot on a new set of pads will be a hair too small to move freely. A quick touch with a file will ensure you don't get any binding there.

The avatar, now that's a different matter. Once you've seen one in real life it is prettry obvious. I could just tell you but that would be no fun. Consider this to be a good excuse to practice with the search tool available at the top of the page and you'll discover ecactly what it is.

old pads are meaty although very very metallic, i don;t know if thats good for the discs; they fell in their respective hole rather easily, no filing but appear to have wiggle room..

pep boys didn't have it, kragen didn't have it, sears came through with a long needle nose and off the clip came, on sale for 5 bucks and did it in the car no less, didn't look at it yet but it's not purdy so far...

the thing looks mechanical and darth vaderish hmmm....

[CUBuffs]

OK, I got it.

"His avatar is the clutch hub of the rear wheel. It is the piece that engages the splines of the final drive."

And that's a quote from John.

[mason79]

i saw something like that greasing the rear drive, profound, it exemplifies the reason to go xsive, no chain!!

[mason79]

okay everything, cleaned, c l r' d, painted, tighten and bled and test rode, stops well, one question though, the pad are lockhart and very metalic, do they stop less well than other compounds?

will they chew up my discs?

any suggestions, or do i need to burn these in, cause the previous sustem never even got them warm, the discs were cold after rides, now they are warm and not hot... sugestions?

thanks!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Mason,

IF those pads are SINTERED, then they do have metal mixed in with the material, designed more for racing applications and they actually don't work as well as OEM style pads, cause they need to be heated up a bit more before they start to grab as well, and yes, they are harder material than the OEMS, and could contribute to faster wear of your rotors!

SO...would be best to get standard style pads, not sintered!
T.C.

[mason79]

Originally posted by TopCatGr58
Hey Mason,

IF those pads are SINTERED, then they do have metal mixed in with the material, designed more for racing applications and they actually don't work as well as OEM style pads, cause they need to be heated up a bit more before they start to grab as well, and yes, they are harder material than the OEMS, and could contribute to faster wear of your rotors!

SO...would be best to get standard style pads, not sintered!
T.C.

thanks t c, i did notice the back brakes had a better feel...

thanks again, any perticular brand? i don't really want to spend a whole lot that's why i buy, the cheapest 20-50 w oil and dot 3 brake fluid they are consumables and i look at the brakes the same...

[TopCatGr58]

Don't really recommend any particular brand, just that they are OEM equivalent, from EBC, etc, from several sources, PNM, BikeBandit, etc.!
T.C.

[mason79]

xsive amount of xsposures

hey what can i say; no life?

here some pictures for you xsholicxs...

it's my job and i'm proud of it and thanks to all how help me on this thread!

[mason79]

bleed to ride, ride not to bleed...

if i look real hard it may be here but i'm taking the esay way out, heres my problem...

my front brakes work great, if i squeeze the lever twice or 3 times, believe me i can stop this way, i really rounds out the riding experience!

i brought it home and bled it, and one big air bubble on the left caliper and fizz on the right, now it is better.

still need one pump of the lever to get it where i like it to stop, my question is ( i will bleed again)

1/does it really take more than one bleed session to get it all out?

2/ can it be that my m/c's bore is pitted and the initial push blows by the rubber capped piston?

any theories??

[TopCatGr58]

Mason,

That junction where it goes from 1 to 2 lines is a common place for air bubbles to get caught, that's why folks recommend taking the calipers OFF the wheels and raise them closer to the height of the MC, to help the air bubbles rise up into the calipers to get expelled, instead of just going down the lines to the calipers while on the wheels, and then bubbling back up the lines instead of down and out!

Also, you need some slack in the position of the caliper pistons to keep them from dragging too much, so they retract into the housing a bit, and fluid goes back into the MC thru the spooge hole, and so you have to give them 1 pump to push the volume of fluid to squeeze the pistons closer to the rotor, and then the second pump provides the extra fluid volume needed to apply the desired squeeze pressure for the desired braking pressure!

However, it might not hurt to try to bleed them again to see if you can get anymore air out of the lines. WIth that large 16mm piston, it should provide enough volume to actuate the pistons with only 1 pump, but the lever might be closer to the handle than you might want!?
T.C.

[mason79]

main squeeze...

Also, you need some slack in the position of the caliper pistons to keep them from dragging too much, so they retract into the housing a bit, and fluid goes back into the MC thru the spooge hole, and so you have to give them 1 pump to push the volume of fluid to squeeze the pistons closer to the rotor, and then the second pump provides the extra fluid volume needed to apply the desired squeeze pressure for the desired braking pressure!

lemme see...hmmm,

there is slack and the calipers does retract, and the they do wiggle on their mounts,

so what you are saying t c, is it is "normal" to first bring the brake pads inward via pistons, with initial squeeze and the subsequent squeeze rubs off speed, correct?

there is a spongy feel on the initial squeeze, i think air is the culprit, ( i'll address that) it's purdy close to good, though 7.5 outa 10,

after the bleed, i will see if i need to ask how do i shorten the pistion travel, or is it the inherent floating design that will never be overcome?

[GNEPIG]

"ooh ooh ooh, i have one, can i help too?"

.. remove one caliper
remove the lid from the mastercylinder[after putting it in a position where it is level]
with the brake pads still installed, put a large flat blade screw driver behind the brake pad closest to the piston, watch the fluid in the mastercylinder and twist the blade
alternate from one side to the other so you dont bind the piston in the bore
this will force the fluid up [air likes to go up], you will have to remove some fluid from the M/C or it will over flow, you may even get fluid squirting up from the M/C, depending on how hard/fast you twist
.. if you do this i bet you see air bubbles come out of the M/C
make sure you cover your paint!
hope this helps

[Ken Talbot]

Re: "ooh ooh ooh, i have one, can i help too?"

Interesting way of approaching this. Not one I have tried yet, but one I might try next time.

A word of caution, though, this part needs to be emphasized "make sure you cover your paint! "

Originally posted by GNEPIG
.. remove one caliper ....
this will force the fluid up [air likes to go up], you will have to remove some fluid from the M/C or it will over flow, you may even get fluid squirting up from the M/C, depending on how hard/fast you twist
.. if you do this i bet you see air bubbles come out of the M/C
make sure you cover your paint!
hope this helps

[John]

You can achieve the same result by using either a C clamp or a pair of channel locks to compress the piston into the caliper, and that will chase any air back up to the M/C and on out through the reservior. I use that method on my bike, when I dont use my reverse bleeder, and at work when replacing an M/C on a piece of equipment. Think about it...when changing an M/C, where is the air bubble? At the joint of the brake line and the port on the M/C. You could leave the line cracked loose at the M/C, or just remove the fluid in the reservior, and force the air back into the reservior, by compressing the piston back into it's bore. Of course, you would put the cover back on the M/C, and protect the bike from the brake fluid.