Bound up brakes, what should I do?

[Anonymous]

Here is the story, I bought my '83 GS750ED just the other day from a wrecher around the corner. The Bike was a tow-away and is pretty good shape save missing the isntrument cluster (anyone have a spare?) Oddly enough the front brake was bound up closed. In order to walk the bike home I just loosed up the hydraulic connection on it, some fluid drained out and the wheel will turn now. The handle, when squeezed, squirted out some fluid from the open hose.
I figured that the pumping part of the front brake system is probably okay since it did squirt some, but I'm worried about the caliper and all that down on the wheel itself. Brakes being essential to the safe operation of the bike I don't want to mess around so I figure I'll pull the whole thing, and clean and rebuild the brakes. Is this a good idea? What might have caused the brake to bind up in the frist place. Where can I get a rebuild kit for the brakes? How much adjustment is needed? I'm sure many of these questions could be answered in the shop manual if only I could find one. There isn't any aftermarket manual for this bike, and the officaial Suzuki manual is $85 at my local place, but $62 online. Unless someone can photocopy me the whole manual for less than that I'll just have to bite the bullet and pay for it all, but I'd much rather the money go to rebuilding parts and the like. Once I have the manual and know the bike is running and in good mechanical condition I'm planning on tearing her all the way down to componets and doing a full custom job from the frame up. Anyone had good luck powder coating a frame?

Thanks for any help I can get, I'm thrilled there is a group like this about my bike.

David

P.S. If this posts twice, I'm sorry, I hit 'return' to drop down a line, and the site started to post, I hit 'stop' as soon as I could, but I'm not sure if it got through or not. Oops, won't happen again.

 

[Anonymous]

Haynes or Clymer don't have a manual for it? Bummer.

Check E-Bay for the factory manual. I bought mine from the dealer and have seen tons on E-Bay since then for much less money (a few greasy finger prints wouldn't have bothered me).

Don't have a answer as to why the brakes would been bound up. Sounds like they were sitting with pressure on them, if they freed up as soon you removed the line. I think they would be fine with a rebuild/cleaning/going through. Sounds like the mechanisms are working. But I'd really check out the piston in the caliper for any damage and that it operates freely.

 

[moto_dan]

Check on ebay for a manual. They had one the other day for an '83 GS750es with the GS700 supplement. Don't remember the price. You definitely need one and neither a Haynes nor Clymer has one for that year.. I would definitely tear down and clean the whole brake system. A brake kit may not be necessary. It has been my experience that if one is careful with the disassembly then the parts can be reused. Sounds like you have a project. Be sure and use the Search feature to find probably all you need to know about brakes. Good luck on your new bike.

 

[Jay B]

To me brakes are the most important part of the bike. I would rebuild/replace that caliper. The most likely cause of them binding up is dirt/rust. You said it was a tow a way which would tell me that it might have sit for a whille and was neglected.

 

[Anonymous]

Clean or rebuild the master cylinder.

Clean or rebuild the master cylinder.

The master cylinder does 2 things. It pumps the fluid out, and lets it return. It has a small hole at the bottom of the resivoir called a return valve. Rebuilding the callipers sounds like a good idea as well, but the return valve sounds like the main problem here. I would get new lines as well. You can get a small fluid pump that hooks up to the bleeders to suck the fluid into the new system. It looks like a coulking gun with a resivoir and costs about $25.00. Good luck. Chris.

 

[Anonymous]

I would go ahead and rebuild the calipers and master cylinder. Why take a chance, it's not that expensive.
Regarding manuals. You're correct neither Clymer nor Haynes make a manual for that specific bike. However if you can find a cheap one for the '80 thru '82 750 or 1100 you'll find much of the information and procedures to be the same, and I do know the brakes are the same. Another book that may help is called Motorcycle Basics Techbook by Haynes. It covers all the systems of a motorcycle, how they work and how to repair them. Those can be purchased at Whitehorse Press for about $27.00.
If your serious about buying a Xerox copy of the factory manual I'll look into the cost of having mine reproduced. I might be able to have magazine road test copied too if you want.
Axel