XJ Rear "Spooge" holes???

[trbig]

Hi.
I read the artical on cleaning the spooge holes, but my rear resevoir doesn't look the same. I have 2 small holes in the bottom of my res. Does one of these contain the spooge hole? My front left brake kept building presure, so I wanted to try this.


Thanks

[DiverRay]

I would rebuild the rear master, and REPLACE the rubber hoses with the stainless braid. You should be able to get a kit for the hoses, or do it yourself with "plumbing by Earl" parts. The brake hoses are well over 20 years old, and the rubber on the INSIDE is probably a large part of the problem.
Ray

[trbig]

Well... my wife is well over THIRTY years old.... wonder if I should replace her too?? lmao. I saw an old post in here. Was it you, Ray, that had the SS hoses for sale? I don't know what you meant by a "Kit", but I would prefer something that I can just bolt on, not have to cut and fabricate myself. If it is you that has them... what kind of cost for SS hoses are we talking?
I also would still like if someone could give me an answer on the spooge hole question. The front brakes work fine, so I was just wanting to try to clean the rear one the first go around, since they are the same age as the front. See if that works first.

Tod

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Tod,

First you said your front left caliper was getting stuck, then you say that your front brakes were working fine, but the back one wasn't? Are you aware of the linked brakes for the rear and the left front caliper on the XJ?! That big extra collection of metal that the hoses are attached to on the outside of the rear MC is the metering valves which sends the various amount of pressure/fluid to the front and rear calipers. SO...you may have spooge caught up in there which may be clogging things and keeping the return flow for the front left caliper from working properly?

As for the Ss lines, it was Randy=electrical guru, but due to problems with his supplier, he is no longer making the custom sets! There are many places to get them from. You don't have to worry about having to actually put the hoses on the clamps and such. They come premounted to fittings, but you have the option of putting different styled, angled, finish=black/chrome/ss; and such on sets you can order thru DK IIRC. You can also walk into your local H-D shop, and with the measurements of how long of hoses you need, and the type of angles....15 degree, etc., you can mix and match the 10mm sized hoses and fittings yourself, and buy them right there!
T.C.

[trbig]

Hi TC.
I meant that the front right brake was working fine. I realize the back and left front are connected, and the front left is the one that keeps building pressure.
If I put something on my bike from the HD shop.... wouldn't it make my bike go slower, louder, vibrate??!!
I would like to just clean this thing out, but don't know what holes I am looking at or what I'm doing. It looks completely different to the XS model Master Cylinders. Just trying to get something done while I am still waiting on valve/head/cam adjuster gaskets and the cam chain. I guess all the holiday mail is slowing things up.

Tod

[prometheus578]

"plumbing by Earl" parts. The brake hoses are well over 20 years old

Well... my wife is well over THIRTY years old.... wonder if I should replace her too??

That's a judgement call. How's her plumbing?
Ex was like a bike that wont start. Everytime I wanted a ride, it was just 'CRANKY', 'CRANKY', 'CRANKY'.
"Thank you very much... I'll be here all week."

[trbig]

Hmmmmm...

Talking about a wife's "Plumbing" and "Spooge holes" in the same post... *Biting tongue!! LMAO.. Trying to be really family friendly here...

Wife had some problems with the "Plumbing" a few years back and had to have it all removed. She doesn't have all the equipment God sent her here with, but we still like to play with the box it came in.

Now... lol... is there anybody in here familiar with the XJ master cylinder???

Tod

[Jerry]

Refer to Ken Talbot's excellent Tech Tip (with picutes) here:

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14

Scroll down to Ken's rebuilding procedure for the rear MC. The rear MC is the same on the XJ; the XJ's proportioning valve is added externally but innards of the mc are the same.

[trbig]

Well... that was just the deal. Mine isn't the same, and the innards aren't the same. Only 2 similarities are that it has 2 holes... but mine are the same size. I will get some wire tonight and just poke around in them. I had just read another post on here where someone else had asked the same question... stated that the top hole seemed to go nowhere.. or that it was clogged... and they didn't get an answer.. so I was just asking.
I was just wanting to get it straight so I wasn't just poking around blind not knowing what I was doing. I had already read Ken's post and saw that mine wasn't the same.

Tod

[DiverRay]

Tod;
You may want to try and take the valve apart BEFORE just "poking around" with a wire. The problem is probably in the valve, as the front brake sticks, and the read does not. You should be able to unbolt the valve, remove the insides and CLEAN the metal parts with brakeclean. I would then use brake fluid on the rest of it, looking for any black residue from the rubber parts. Once everything is clean, lube with brake fluid and reassemble. Then flush brake fluid through the system, probably about 1 cup, to clean out any remaining crud.
That should solve the problem.
You may also want to do a search on front brakes, as there are other things that may cause sticking.
Ray

[trbig]

Thanks Ray.
I have removed and cleaned the front calipers (Both) and everything seemed clean and honky-dory. That's why it kept stumping me why just one side kept hanging. It really floored me the first time... on a long ride... when I finally just opened the bleeder and pryed the pad out and squirted a lot of fluid out...closed the bleeder, thinking of just using the back brakes for the rest of the trip... only to discover immediately after taking off, that I had absolutely NO back brake either. Kind of a shock class on figuring out the brakes on this thing.
Thanks for the info.

Tod

[John]

Maybe you could convert it to an XS set up, and eliminate the hassel of the linked brakes. Parts are more accessable for the XS than they are for the XJ also. The XJ rear master has a larger bore than the XS has, and the front master on an XJ is a smaller bore than the XS.

[trbig]

I won't do it right now, but I have honestly wondered about getting new lines, "Y"ing the front ones and making dual fronts, and cap the back MC to the front and having the back go JUST to the back. Don't know the ins and outs of this.. like if the front MC has the capacity to run 2 calipers. Maybe something to throw out there in the forum.
I don't want to replace anything yet if it works. Unlike the engineers I work with that.. "If it aint broke... jack with it enough till it is!" ..... I will keep it stock until it doesn't work. Then consider all my options... find out how to do it the right way.... then go ahead and just do it the cheapest I can!!

Tod

[John]

Read this

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3397&perpage=15&pagenumber=2

It deals with your situation with the XJ brakes.

[trbig]

Thanks John. That answers my question about the front MC running both front brakes. Call me a control freak... but I just don't favor some 20+ year old mechanical valve deciding how much pressure to apply to my front brake when I am really just wanting the back!