Brake Problem

[sAsLEX]

While away in the South Island over christmas I noticed that when I left my bike sitting for a while (few days ) the brakes would make it hard to move around by hand when I got back on it, but the prob would go away as soon as i started riding and the brakes would still work with one or two fingers.

Now I got to K14's house in NP cause i forgot the key to my folks place! and he was taking apart his callipers to clean them up so I decided I would do the same. One thing noticed in taking them apart is that the previous owner/whoever had not put the dust seals in and the pistons were a little dirty. Cleaned everything with CRC brake cleaner stuff, and then put them back together.

Problem now is that the right hand side calliper aint working proper. The left hand side piston/or larger piston seems to be pushing more than those one the right hand side of the calliper. I initially thought that the pads which were a little worn could be attributing to the problem so got some more of those, prob didn't go away. At this stage I had to go to Auckland so go up here using the front brakes about 4 or 5 times in total.

At the moment the right calliper exert uneven force on the disc, enough to move it to the right a little, and the wear on the disc indicates the right hand side pad is not contacting the disc square because of this.

Requesting any one who knows their brakes and has a decent collection of tools in the Auckland Region have a look in exchange for some amber refreshment.

P.s I have got honda on barrys point road to find me the price for new seals pistons etc

[sAsLEX]

piston A 51.70 ex japan
piston B 41.75 ex japan
seals 7.30 x4 in stock

so if the prob is just seals as suggested by someone on the UK vfr forum then it wont cost too much, but if they need new pistons its a bit more and will be a few week wait!

[FROSTY:Me]

did ya polish the pistons when ya had em out?
idid ya maybee crush the seal when pushing the pistons back in
or is it the gods of motorcycling frowning on you

[sAsLEX]

did ya polish the pistons when ya had em out?
idid ya maybee crush the seal when pushing the pistons back in
or is it the gods of motorcycling frowning on you

Cleaned them up with some emery paper to remove scale, but yeah maybe crushed the seal, will need to get dust seal anyway so might get a whole new set of seals

[vifferman]

seals 7.30 x4 in stock

In stock!
I'm flabbergasted (:flabbergasted emoticon).
You shouldn't use them - get them mounted on a plinth for posterity, as a very rare example of a Honda part actually being in stock!

Sounds like you needed to be a little more thorough with your brake "overhaul". If you're gonna do it, do it right, then just once'll do ya.

When you get your seals, take the pistons out and clean them and the calipers throughly, swabbing out any crud with cotton buds or a clean rag, and brake cleaner. Check the pistons over carefully, and if they're scratched or corroded at all, you should be able to get by with just sanding them very carefully with fine sandpaper, then polish them with Autosol or some other metal polish, then clean them thoroughly. If they're very corroded or damaged, then you'll need to replace them.

Put the new seals in, lube them with fresh brake fluid, and carefully put the pistons back.
Put some copperslip on the back of the pads (NOT the working surface!), and on the caliper pins, and reassemble/reinstall calipers.

Clean out your master cylinder, refill, bleed, bleed, bleed, and you should be good to go.

PS: Make sure you wear gloves (plastic) when handling the brake fluid - it fooks your skin, doesn't wash out, and takes DAYS for your skin to come right (it's hygroscopic, so when it soaks into your skin, it dries it out).

Oh yeah - and it's poisonous.

[V Twin Raver]

The seals are lathe cut and the inner surface that contacts the piston is cut on a slight angle. You haven't inadvertantly turned those inside out and now the piston is contacted the flat face of the seal. Give me a call if you like to discuss. I will PM you my work No.

[sAsLEX]

went and got seals, suprise suprise for the second time in a week the staff at a honda store tried to lead me astray. needed 16 x seals half for pistons the other half dust seals. That is 8 for each calliper and two for each piston. The guy kept saying I would only need 8, which I said was wrong, he replied he had a picture which he pulled out and rapidly shut up!

KK you will like this, the parts lady in NP Honda told me that my VFR400 was definatly NOT a NC30, and that NC30s are in fact CBRs!! When will the incompotent people of the world stop arguing with me!!!

p.s sorry to hitcher for the speelling mistooks made abuft

[gav]

So was one disc getting hotter than the other? On my CBR the caliper doesnt bolt direct to the fork leg and slides on to a bracket that then bolts to leg. Found one of my brackets to be bent, causing drama with brake caliper.
Honda parts staff what a fricken laugh......

[sAsLEX]

hmm no seals for a few weeks, well the dust seals are here just not the piston seals. So I am going to start cycling to work to keep off the bike, or if the xr is going???

Gav the prob is that the right hand calliper isnt squeezing evenly if you get my drift, the left pistons of that side push more than the right and lead to the disc being pushed rather than squeezed

[sAsLEX]

seals arrived today, my god that was quick i thought, still waiting for a friendly fellow KB person to let me borrow tools/garage as I am without a workshop of my own!!

[Milky]

seals arrived today, my god that was quick i thought, still waiting for a friendly fellow KB person to let me borrow tools/garage as I am without a workshop of my own!!

you are welcome to come round to my place if you want. It is in hillsborough so if you can get the bike/brakes here give me a PM.

[DEATH_INC.]

U can bring her over here,but be warned my gargre is pretty full.....

[gman]

check the slides on the caliper .its supposed to be able to slide so it puts pressure evenly on the disc these parts are always over looked.they just need to be lightly sanded and a small amount of graphite grease applied.

[sAsLEX]

check the slides on the caliper .its supposed to be able to slide so it puts pressure evenly on the disc these parts are always over looked.they just need to be lightly sanded and a small amount of graphite grease applied.

hmm slides???

would that be what i indicated in the pic??? Goes right through the top of calliper and through the holes in the top of the brake pads. This is what i thought was the problem initially and sanded and cleaned it up to no avail.

[sAsLEX]

well a big thanks to milkey who helped/did most of it, with the brakes today. Fitted the new seals and everything, made a power bleeder after struggling to bleed them with all the air in the system, and now they are working well.

One prob, the disc with the prob calliper is slightly bent/warped/cupped looks kinda like

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going to see if it straightens back up, and price a new to me one as well!