Doin' the brakes (breaks)

[Anonymous]

Spent most of the day going through the brakes on my 81 GS750E. I'd noticed the pads were dragging a little, so I opted to pull the calipers and give them a good looking at. Well... let me tell you... I'm glad I did. I may have also solved my "Fuel Economy" question from last week too, but I digress.

Folks, If you haven't inspected the calipers on your bike in a while (or ever) -- you really ought to consider it -- especially those of you getting a bike that sat a while on the road again. There was considerable corrosion and rust and gummy old brake fluid in all of these parts. I'm just amazed the bike would actually stop with all the crud I removed from these parts. Brake pads need to be able to relax when the brake lever is released, and none of mine were. I'm sure, after close inspection, that most of this corrosion occured just from road spray from the outside (carrying dirt and such) and moisture in the brake fluid working from the inside out. At $200 bucks a pop for new calipers, I wasn't far from this potential. So, I took everything apart (front and rear) and even the rear master cylinder, which was really ugly. It's all better now, but I really didn't expect this much corrosion on a low milage bike that's never really been neglected. But apparently, it was.

Food for thought when you go to replace your pads next time. You can, as I did, just take all of these parts apart and (if still good) reuse the old seals and dust boots. I'll probably order some kits and do a winter rebuild with new parts, but surprisingly they were is really good shape when I cleaned them up in fresh brake fluid. It's amazing how much better it (rolls) now that I've done this. And stops.

Cheers,

Roger Moore

 

[Anonymous]

Thats the brakes!!!!

Thats the brakes!!!!

Rodger:
I had an encounter with brakes while restoring my current ride a 1150ES.
One of the first things I approached was why did'nt I have any front brakes,.....pull the lever & nothing as if no fluid.
I applied a vacuum bleeder with a tee & bled one disc at a time.
That did'nt help, then teed it four ways, nothing, no lever no piston movement , then I pulled the wheel/tire to inspect the pads plenty of material, by now I was cringing fully expecting to pop for a new master cylinder but as I returned a few days later I MAGICALLY had a lever & stoppage. I guess my dinking with the pads brokem loose & now works fine.By the way I did have to replace a fully rusted/corroded solid rear master cylinder.
Rick.......

 

[Anonymous]

Roger:

I had the same problem with my front brake sticking. After every hard stop my bike's front caliper would barely let go at first but would slowly release. This meant that when in traffic I would have to drive around with the front brake on which I'm sure is hard on the clutch. Yesterday I took off the front caliper and sanded down my pads which seems to have helped but I probably won't know for a few days as the problem only occured every couple of days to begin with.

I'll let you guys know if this turns out to be a good fix.

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Roger

Roger

THAT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE A BAD BRAKE LINE, TAKE THE LINES OFF AND RUN SOME COMPRESSED AIR THRU EM, IF IT WANTS TO BLOW BACK REALLY REALLY BAD YOU HAVE A BAD LINE.

 

[Anonymous]

Folks, this was clearly a situation of normal grime build-up for me. There was so much corrosion around the caliper pistons that they could barely move forward under pressure, much less retract under just the release of pressure. Granted, if you have a brake hose that the inner lining is seperating on, this would cause the brakes to drag also, as mentioned previously, but this kind of thing (that I encountered) is normal for a 20 something old bike. Chances are the brake fluid was original equipment as is many of yours too -- I'd bet. Brake fluid has a "NATURAL" tendancy to collect moisture, so 20 years of that and wal-la - scary brakes.

For one day's work, it might behoove some of you with funky brakes to (a) make sure kits are available if you need them and (b) dismantle and clean all the old brake parts and flush all the lines and replace all the fluid. Even if you don't think your brakes are bad, if the hydraulic portion hasn't been touched and you've had the bike for 25 years you may be shocked at what you'll find. I ended up getting by without spending a dime. And the peace of mind I have now is worth it... I know what I've got. The only down side is that now I'l have to run one fingered on the front brakes instead of two to keep me from doing a wheelie... forwards 8O

Later,

Roger