3 clean carbs huh, BRAKES are worse..

[ChadXJ821100]

I have progressed to the brakes on my project bike and let me tell you the Carbs were a walk in the park compared to doing a complete brake system cleaning. I have few choice words for this job! It "XXXXX"!. Its boring and messy.

I have just spent 3 hours on one front caliper and Iam not sure what I can save. I am not excited about the rest of the job considering I have two more calipers and two master cylinders to overhaul. I have priced some of the kits and this is going to be expensive!!!!!

Any shortcuts or is it just going to be another day or two of scrubing? I had to use the grease gun method and it was very messy. I would really like a easy answer at this point but I kinda know what to expect. I have tryed 120 PSI and that didn't work. Although any shortcut would be great! The caliper piston was in pretty good shape but the crud inside was very very bad!

Are you guys putting anything for lube inside on o-rings prior to finishing up? I did buy some $6.00 syn grease for the (slide posts).

If you have an older bike and the brakes work good I would suggest good maintenance since this is not what I wanted when I am getting ready to ride.

I have actually tryed not to buy anything other than what is neccessary until I know it is road worthy. I have ran through the gears and it seems to fuction. I am only hoping that the guts are good and it will be a good bike. I still have some concern about the #1 cylinder since it runs cooler than others. I hoping it is stuck rings and poor compression since I don't have a compression tester. I am currently trying to find a lifter tool so I can work on valves. If you have one you would like to get rid of please holler. Again, the bike sat for 10 years prior acquiring.

Chad

[Ken Talbot]

Re: 3 clean carbs huh, BRAKES are worse..

Originally posted by ChadXJ821100
Are you guys putting anything for lube inside on o-rings prior to finishing up? I did buy some $6.00 syn grease for the (slide posts).

I use a light wipe of fresh brake fluid for the caliper seal, and silicone disk brake grease for the slide posts.

[79XS11F]

Brakes are expensive to fix but a lot more expensive not to fix. As pointed out lube the internial parts with fresh break fluid only during the assembly. Make sure the pins move FREELY in the calipers. Don't just grease them and assume they are good to go. Just like on auto calipers the calipers should move freely on the mounting pins.
Rob

[TADracer]

After you get your brakes sorted out some yearly maintenance will go a long way.

Brake fluid will attract moisture that can corrode things up inside. I change my fluid each spring and it only takes about ten minutes to do both front and rear brakes.

These machines are made for DOT3 fluid so stick with that.

[newc4]

These machines are made for DOT3

Serendipitously that a brake thread appear after my son and I spent Sunday working on the brakes on my SF.

As noted during XSEast, the rear MC was leaking. I took it off, opened the bore and polished it up a bit. I noted that the seals appeared a little worn, but as I have none on- hand. I elected to see if it holds fluid.

The front right rotor has a layer of grime on it indicating that the pads weren’t effective. Pumping out the piston, I noted there was no pitting or corrosion, but what the heck, a quick break down was in order. Pumped out the piston getting brake fluid all over the deck. The piston, caliper and O-ring has a litte grime but otherwise cleand up easily. We the remounted the caliper and began to bleed the brake. Now the PO mounted what appears to be a 750 MC, SS brakelines that split right out of the MC and has its own bleeder. He also put DOT 5 in the front MC so I continued to use it – it doesn’t remove paint! For two hours of we made no headway bleeding the system. Air bubble kept coming out. I tried the method of sucking fluid up the bleeder hose, yuck. Finally I told my son to grab some dinner. He came back a bit later. Said he looked up our problem on the internet and it said pulling the brake handle to the stops allowed air to collect and remain in the MC bore. Sure enough I could hear some popping there. Bled the MC being sure not the use full throw on the handle. Cleared air out of the MC and the system finally responded. The handle felt a little soft but the pads grabbed the front rotors. Took a quick turn around the block and both rotors were warm. Success at last.

The DOT 5 hasn’t caused any problems with the system and I know it has been in there for quite some time. And like I said it doesn't remove paint.

Darrell

[fredintoon]

" I had to use the grease gun method and it was very messy. "

Hi Chad,
sure it's messy but did it work? At least it didn't fire the piston across the room like high pressure air, right? Yes, fixing brakes takes time and costs money but do the job right and it's done. Not like those effin' carbs where there's no visible difference between before and after and still the bike don't run right so tear the bastards down one more time.
While your brakes are apart is the time to spend more money where it don't show but may save your life and upgrade to stainless steel braided brake hoses. And (don't one thing just lead to another?) be sure your front fork seals aren't leaking fork oil onto your front brake pads. Mr Stupid didn't notice that until my pads were irretrievably contaminated.

[fredintoon]

DOT 5

Hi Darrell,
DOT 5 has negative connotations because Harleys use it. It's proponents claim that unlike DOT 3 & DOT 4 fluids it don't absorb water and it don't damage paint. True enough. What they don't say is that DOT 5 is inherently "spongier" and the water it don't absorb hangs around in the bottom parts of the brake system and rusts things out. Like with DOT 3 & DOT 4 all you gotta do is change out the fluid once a year and you'll never see a problem and DOT 5's alleged "sponginess" takes a real expert to notice. The REAL problem is swapping over between DOT 5 and the others. The two styles if fluid don't mix well at all so you can't just bleed out the one and dump in the other. A total cleanout between fluids is the only way.

[ChadXJ821100]

The battle continues...

I am still working on the brakes but I am making slow progress. Yes the grease gun method did work very well and the mess was worth it. If I didn't read about it I would have never got them out.

I have the rear caliper and master left to deal with. The front master had what looked like "BROWN COTTAGE CHEESE" with very little liquid brake fluid left inside. I need to get new brake lines since most suggest them and I would never get it clean enough to trust.

I will give you a update when the rear system is done.

Thanks,

Chad