Reservoir holes (front brake)

[MikeS]

> "Clean the slides so the pads can move."

Would you please clarify what you mean by "slides"?

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Front brakes are back together with fresh fluid and lever is not locking up (as it was) because my "tiny hole" was plugged.

It's too soon to say really that it's completely back to normal . . . that'll take a few days of riding . . . but reading the forum helped tremendously in understanding the function and the importance of the "tiny hole."

I had trouble twice in this process of getting pressure back into the lines. I read the post regarding the person who had the same problem and read the responses. In both instances I got it fixed . . . the first time on my own, just accidently, and the second time by tie-wrapping the lever to the handgrip and just letting it set with a full reservoir of fluid for half an hour or so, letting gravity drain fresh fluid through the lines to dribble out the bleed nuts. I think I did something similar the first time it happened. I let the fluid run out the bleed valves and after a while just closed the bleed valves and pumped the lever a few times and it's now back to normal. I think.

Another thing I did, both times, was stick a rubber hose over the bleed valve and pump the Harbor Freight vaccuum pump a few times, on each side, to pull the fluid down from the reservoir. I've had that thing for about ten years and this is the first time I've ever used it for something. The little rubber adapters it comes with were rotten it's so old, but the main hose line still was okay. If bought on sale I think it's a handy little thing to have for pressurizing a line or for as in this case, creating a vaccuum in the line. They call it a "brake fluid pump kit" or something similar. It was cheap and I was surprised to find the diaphragm was still good.

I've never noticed any lack of braking power even though it appears one of my calipers (left side) hasn't been doing it's job. I'm hoping cleaning up the calipers & flushing everything with WD-40 (oops . . . meant to say "brake fluid" heh, heh . .) has loosened it up. The piston was a little dirty, but not bad. Maybe that's all it takes is a little crud to keep it from working properly.

As Steve said, I really should put new lines on to do the job right. I could tell in working with it over a couple days that a residual amount of old dirty brake fluid stays in the lines.

Somehow I got some brake fluid on the gas tank so now have an ugly discoloration there. That must be why it always says on the bottle of brake fluid to not get it on painted surfaces.

Mike




It's really great to have this forum as a resource. Thank you webmaster and contributors for keeping it going.

Mike

[MikeS]

Clean the slides so the pads can move

Hey Big T . . . would you please expand on that? What "slides" are you referring to.

Some brakes I know have one or two tracking or alignment bars (don't know just what to call them) that keep the caliper in alignment so that when pressure is applied to the pads, the rest of the caliper housing moves in unison or at least doesn't suffer any warping force.

These "alignment bars" (if that's what they might be called) are not presnt on my calipers, so clearly you are referring to something else and I can't figure it out. One of my old pads had some kind of thin metal contraption attached to it which I'm thinking "might" be what you're talking about. I can't find that piece. Brakes are back together and working but not as smooth as they once were . . . so maybe I need to order some "slides"? . I imagine they fit behind the pad? Obviously not on the face of the pad, so perhaps they go behind the pad and allow the pad to "move" as you state. I didn't know they needed to move within their brackets . . . but clearly there's a lot I don't know about lots of things. Please let me know what you mean by slides on these calipers. Again, it's a 1982 GS850G. I've got a '79 under a tarp in the back yard with a blown head gasket - so those little metal pieces that may go behind the pads are probably on the old bike. If they're important I'll take them off the old bike. Are they necessary?

[Big T]

Nope.I was referring to the "pad Guide" #7 on the front brake fiche.

This is the L shaped pieces that clip on the caliper holder, that the ears of the brake pad ride on.

Very necessary

And spend $13 and get new seals for your brake pistons. Yours are old and hard and are keeping your brakes from working properly.

I can't believe you are riding around with malfunctioning brakes

[alke46]

Steve, I know the factory stock brake lines should be replaced every two years. My question is, how often should the "new" braided type brake lines be replaced? I would think they'd last much longer. I never made my own lines, what type of hose do they use?

Norm, I believe the type of hose used is teflon with the steel braided outer line.

[QUOTE=MikeS;2502098]Seems excessive. I got by for many years with just a coaster brake on the rear wheel, so I'm not so sure a front brake is all that necessary anyway.
/QUOTE]

Are you serious????? That sounds like the kind of mentality a Harley rider uses. You need to practice, practice, and practice some more on the art of stopping with the front brakes. My ratio is probably 90% front brake to 10% rear brake.

[MikeS]

Nope.I was referring to the "pad Guide" #7 on the front brake fiche.

This is the L shaped pieces that clip on the caliper holder, that the ears of the brake pad ride on.

Very necessary

And spend $13 and get new seals for your brake pistons. Yours are old and hard and are keeping your brakes from working properly.

I can't believe you are riding around with malfunctioning brakes

Thanks for responding. I'll take a look at a blow-up of the caliper and see what you are talking about.

Re "malfunctioning brakes", there's different levels of malfunctioning. Obviously if the wheel won't turn freely something needs to be done. When sitting in the sun, pressure would build up in the system so badly that the front wheel was locked and lever wouldn't move. Releasing pressure through the bleed screws (8mm) was the way to fix that, temporarily. I figured it was water in my brake fluid, which was very old.

Bleeding thoroughly didn't fix it!

That's when I learned about the "tiny hole". If whatever is blocking it is close to the same color as the aluminum of the reservoir, it literally takes a magnifying glass to find it. Fortunately, I didn't need to buy a guitar string or use one of my wire spark plug gappers to clean it out. I used my Harbor Freight vaccuum brake bleeder thing to suck whatever it was out of the hole.

If I can't get my left caliper to start working, I'll take your advice on putting new seals. Thanks!

[steve murdoch]

Even if you can get the caliper working properly it would still be a good idea to rebuild your entire braking system.
Seals harden, pistons rust, lines start to disintegrate.
When it comes to brakes there are NO "degrees of malfunctioning".