• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

caliper troubles

  • Thread starter Thread starter jmacdbass
  • Start date Start date
J

jmacdbass

Guest
hello all,

I have been having brake problems, one front caliper in particular on my 1979 850g,

when i bought the bike it was having problems staying on (as in it didn't go off) so i brought it to a shop and they took it apart and put it back together getting rid of all the rust spots and making sure everying was free. the one thing it doesn't have is the little rubber boots that go over the pistons

after this i put them back on (i had both cleaned up) and bled the brakes, ok everythings great...

except the next time i went for a ride the same caliper locked up again and my brake lever would get hard at which point i pulled over, unscrewed the bleader cap and bled it a bit and it worked fine again, next time it got hot or sat in the sun it did it again

but its just the one caliper on the front so i have a feeling its a singuler problem and not part of my master cylinder (hopefully)

also my brake light gets stuck on and i am hoping the problems get solved together, any ideas? this happen to any one else?

brake lines all look good and it only happens on the one side

thanks for any words, you guys rock,

jamie
 
If the brake lever feels hard, it sounds like the bleeder port in the master cylinder is clogged. It is a really, really small hole that allows the fluid to flow back into the reservoir and relieve the pressure on the disks. I had mine plug up on me. Ended up using a one strand of a piece of stranded phone wire to unclog it. Only thing I could find that was small enough to fit. Re-building a master cylinder isn't hard, but you'll need to buy the special tool to remove the circlip that holds everything together. I found the parts I needed at Bike Bandit. And write down how everything fits together when you take it apart. I didn't, and it took several attempts to get it all back right again. One other thing. Keep everything really clean. When you see the size of that bleeder port and realize it's the only thing between you and a locked front wheel . . . Fortunately, when mine locked, I was in the driveway and only doing about 5 mph.
 
i am going to check into this but when i bleed the right caliper it goes normal again (just turning the valve a little bit on the wheel, and its only the one caliper that has built up preasure), if it was a clogged drain wouldn't it stay hard even if i opened up the bleeder valve?
 
I'm not familiar with the specifics of the 850 (I have a 78 750), but mine has a single brake line from the master cylinder that feeds both wheel cylinders through a t-fitting. The fact that the brake lever is hard tells me that pressure in the line feeding both cylinders is not being relieved. It it was, one cylinder would be released, one would be locked, and the lever would be soft with the blockage somewhere between the locked cylinder and the t-fitting.

If you want to do a test, try releasing the pressure in the wheel cylinder that isn't locked, next time it happens. I'm guessing that the same thing will happen. The locked cylinder will unlock once the pressure in the whole system is relieved.
 
tomm said:
I'm not familiar with the specifics of the 850 (I have a 78 750), but mine has a single brake line from the master cylinder that feeds both wheel cylinders through a t-fitting. The fact that the brake lever is hard tells me that pressure in the line feeding both cylinders is not being relieved. It it was, one cylinder would be released, one would be locked, and the lever would be soft with the blockage somewhere between the locked cylinder and the t-fitting.

If you want to do a test, try releasing the pressure in the wheel cylinder that isn't locked, next time it happens. I'm guessing that the same thing will happen. The locked cylinder will unlock once the pressure in the whole system is relieved.
Click to expand...
That is a good idea!:-D
 
Grab the caliper and see if you can wiggle it a little side to side. There's supposed to be a little play as the caliper body slides along the caliper axle bolts. How does it compare to the "good" caliper? If no play at just the one suspect caliper, then that's a sign that the piston has pressed against the pad but isn't retracting correctly into its bore when the pressure is released at the lever.
The most common cause of stuck pistons is the piston seal becomes swollen or damaged. If there's corrosion in there, a cleaning may help. Depends on how much corrosion.
 
master cylinder rebuild

master cylinder rebuild

So thanks for the feedback you were totally right, the clymer book says don't bother so I called my local vintage bike place that knows old suzuki's well and they quoted me 80$ for an hour of work and 30-40 for the rebuild kit, is that high?

still not sure how i feel about this particular place but they definately do alot of work and keep expanding

j
 
Caliper slides side to side as well, so make sure everything is lubed properly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top