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GS450 front brake rubs when forks turned to the right?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Broncoman75
  • Start date Start date
B

Broncoman75

Guest
Hey all,
I have been trying to get my wife's 81 GS450L up to snuff so she can start riding to work. The dilemma of the day is this: I have noticed when pushing it around and backing it out of the garage the front brake rubs anytime the forks are turned to the right, making it hard to push. I can do it, but she might have a hard time. It does not happen when turned to the left, or straight ahead. Can't notice it when riding, but is probably happening there too.
What is the likely culprit here? I suspect that something is flexing and allowing it to rub the caliper into the rotor, but its hard to tell.

As background got this bike last fall as a basket case and have been slowly refurbing it.. I have had the wheel off to put a new tire on and had the fender off to polish the forks and it did this brake thing both before and after that. I haven't done anything else to the front end yet besides bleed the brake.
 
put it on the centerstand and while somebody holds down the rear end of the bike try it.

I really don't know what could be happening except 'maybe' the brake hose is getting pinched someplace????
 
the brake hose must be getting trapped or tugged to hard. check it is routed correctly and not getting caught up on any thing on full lock
 
Broncoman75 said:
... the front brake rubs anytime the forks are turned to the right, making it hard to push.
Click to expand...

When i bought my bike i had a similar problem where there was rubbing and squeaking.

The axle runs through a hole in the right fork tube, then the wheel, then through a bracket on the left fork tube. that bracket clamps the axle tight down to the base of the left fork tube. On my bike, that clamp was loose. I tightened the bolts down with some anti-seize and the problem has subsided.
 
Agemax said:
the brake hose must be getting trapped or tugged to hard. check it is routed correctly and not getting caught up on any thing on full lock
Click to expand...

Thats the first thing I thought of, but I looked at it and the bars triple tree forks fender it all turns together and it doesn't look like it gets pinched or squished anywhere..
 
MOC said:
When i bought my bike i had a similar problem where there was rubbing and squeaking.

The axle runs through a hole in the right fork tube, then the wheel, then through a bracket on the left fork tube. that bracket clamps the axle tight down to the base of the left fork tube. On my bike, that clamp was loose. I tightened the bolts down with some anti-seize and the problem has subsided.
Click to expand...

I guess I'll have to look up the microfishe, it sounds like I might be missing something. what mine has right now is the axle goes in from the left thru the LH fork thru the speedo deal, thru the wheel, through the spacer on the right side, thru the RH fork and then the nut is on the right side. I don't think I have a bracket on the left fork tube so maybe my axle is in backwards, or there is something missing on the left fork tube? The front brake on this thing does squeak too, but I thought maybe the rotor just needed to be surfaced or the pads were dirty or something. Thanks for the ideas, now I've got an idea what to look for tonight.
 
Last edited:
That sequence sounds right for an L model.

My first suspicion would be wheel bearings need to be replaced?
 
well I put it on the centerstand and got the front off the ground and confirmed it doesn't do it with the front wheel off the ground which seems to rule out the brake line.
I then tightened the axle nut up a little bit more and that seemed to help the situation as far as dragging when turning right. It could probably benefit from new pads/rotor cleanup and or wheel bearings, as there is still a little squeal when braking while driving, but I think the other issue is mostly resolved. Thanks for the ideas everyone.. now if I could just figure out the blasted hanging idle issue, but that is a post for a different subforum.
 
Broncoman75 said:
I guess I'll have to look up the microfishe, it sounds like I might be missing something. what mine has right now is the axle goes in from the left thru the LH fork thru the speedo deal, thru the wheel, through the spacer on the right side, thru the RH fork and then the nut is on the right side. I don't think I have a bracket on the left fork tube so maybe my axle is in backwards, or there is something missing on the left fork tube? The front brake on this thing does squeak too, but I thought maybe the rotor just needed to be surfaced or the pads were dirty or something. Thanks for the ideas, now I've got an idea what to look for tonight.
Click to expand...

yeah, went and looked at my bike, the axle definitely goes in from the left side. sorry about that. there are definitely 2 bolts in the bottom of the left fork tube though. that's what i cinched down, and that's what solved my problem.
 
MOC said:
yeah, went and looked at my bike, the axle definitely goes in from the left side. sorry about that. there are definitely 2 bolts in the bottom of the left fork tube though. that's what i cinched down, and that's what solved my problem.
Click to expand...

Ok yeah I did see those two bolts that looked like a journal cap on the bottom of the left fork. I tried to tighten them, but they were already pretty tight. Thank you for the idea though, I think it helped just making sure everything down there was tightened up. I might actually take those out and clean everything good and put it back together and make sure its all tight.
 
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