Brake caliper sliding pin bushing delete?

[urbnbrzln]

Hey guys,

I'm rebuilding the front calipers on my 82 gs1100 and have noticed that the sliding pins with the bushings are proving very difficult to move back and forth. I can't seem to find any reference to these in any of the manuals I've encountered, I'm assuming that they should slide back and forth with little effort, otherwise the brakes may drag. I believe brake clean may have caused the rubber to swell as it did with the dust boots. Wondering if it's a good idea to simply remove the bushings and run it with some good moly grease, or if that will cause issues down the line. Anyone have experience with this?Thanks for taking the time to read and for any input!

 

[Nessism]

I can't remember all the details but I want to say that there was a service letter or something to that effect regarding binding caused by the plastic swelling. Maybe caused by the wrong type of grease? Anyway, I'd replace the bushings. They seem to be available separately.

 

[GSXR7ED]

Wow!

A "hardly-poster"...reminds me of the term, "never-tr**per".

(19 posts since 2015) (No offense...I'm just thinking out loud)

Go with the other Ed's recommendation.

I have the entire front end of a GS1100 dual caliper that one day I will swap for my single disc "T".

Ed

 

[Grimly]

I had some partial success with replacing them with a split piece of tubing, but it was ages ago and pretty random.
I'm fairly sure, as Nessism says, the original problem is caused by not using proper rubber grease on them.
They're definitely needed, because without them there's too much chance of the calipers being knocked backwards and creating a dangerous amount of lost motion on the brake lever when you really need the damn brakes to work.

 

[bwringer]

Yep, replace. They're not that expensive from Suzuki (brakes are sort of important...), although if you have easy access to a selection of used calipers you could probably find some in better shape.

There's one popular brake lubricant (the purple "Ceramic Extreme" stuff from Permatex, IIRC) that is known to cause unpleasant effects on many rubber bits, so it's best avoided in vintage machinery. Their green stuff "Ultra Disc Brake Caliper Lube" is OK, available everywhere, and a little cheaper anyway. There are many other good brands out there too, of course.

 

[Gorminrider]

I'm rebuilding the front calipers on my 82 gs1100 and have noticed that the sliding pins with the bushings are proving very difficult to move back and forth. I can't seem to find any reference to these in any of the manuals I've encountered, I'm assuming that they should slide back and forth with little effort, otherwise the brakes may drag. I believe brake clean may have caused the rubber to swell as it did with the dust boots. Wondering if it's a good idea to simply remove the bushings and run it with some good moly grease, or if that will cause issues down the line. Anyone have experience with this?Thanks for taking the time to read and for any input!

Thanks for reminding me.I've had the same issue ..so, I looked it up on the interweb search

Brake caliper sliding pin bushing

Didn't take long..for instance, from HERE:https://www.carlsonqualitybrakeparts.com/2019/03/caliper-pin-stuck/
To lubricate slide pins, two types of brake grease are proven to work ? silicone and PAG (Polyalkylene Glycol). That?s according to Gary Weber of Dow Corning......

Silicone and PAG are synthetic greases ? ..... What Weber is saying, and a number of mechanics agree, is that some brake greases don?t work well on pins. That includes petroleum-based greases and several types of synthetic grease.

One issue is how grease impacts rubber seals. A caliper slide pin has a rubber boot that seals out dirt, and often has a rubber bushing for movement and support. If you?re not using silicone or PAG, these rubber parts can swell.