Morning )

Well just finished my first ever strip down of the braking system on my 1000. New disks, new pads, pistons cleaned and smoothed, pins cleaned etc..... but have now came to the fun part of re-assembling everything. Got all the hardware back on the bike and am currently in the process of bleeding the air out of the system using 2 non-return valves attached to the bleed nipples, I had been pumping for about 45 minutes before it got too dark outside to carry on so will resume later today, on average tho how long does it take to get the fluid back into the system?

Many thanks,

Kev.

 

Try bleeding the main cylinder first and then the calipers one at a time. Don't open the air bleeds in calipers to much, they will suck air by the threads if opened more than just a little and probably even then. Its safer to open/close the bleed valves than using a one-way external valve due to the thread leaks. The one-way valve stops return air from the hoose but creates under-preassure on the bleeder threads.

 

Thanks for that tip, I'll try it tonight.

Hopefully that'll save me quite some time squeezing the lever, and give me more time to go out and bed them in ;o)

Cheers,

Kev.

 

Hi,
Just done mine as well. Let me know how easy it was to get the pistons in past the dust seal pls. Anyway, I had same issue bleeding, took "bleeding" ages!!:-) But if you do the old trick of leaving the lever in the full-on position, tying it to the grip using a tie-wrap or something, it should self bleed overnight. Mine went from "no" action, to "fully bled" literally in 12 hours. This is an old car trick, that worked for me......

Ara

 

Hiya Aracanth,

It was relatively easy to get the pistons back in past the dust seals, altho as I said I did replace all the seals with new ones, then lubed them up with brake fluid for the main seal, and grease on the dust seal. I found that a slight twisting action whilst applying downward pressure was the best way to get them back in. I tried pushing them straight in and they just wouldn't budge! A bit of grease on the piston sides helped them slide in properly too.

I've got the whole system bled now and am ready for a test ride tomorrow night once I get back home. R1000's advice was a big help as initially I had the bleed valves too far open and it was just sucking air back in through the threads. Can't wait to get back out there and break in the new pads and disks.

Has anybody else noticed the varying thicknesses between different brands of brake pads by the way? i.e. the last set that the bike shop fitted were cheap feroddo pads I think and they only had about 3mm of material on each pad when new, I bought EBC sintered pads this time for doing it myself and theres almost double the material on those. I think the bike shop used those pads because they didn't want to have to clean out the calipers, before I started cleaning them this time the pistons wouldn't retreat all the way into the caliper to allow thicker pads to be fitted! But I have heard some bad stories about that bike shop of late, hence doing the job myself this time.

Anyway best of luck with things ARA and i'm sure it'll go just fine.

Cheers,

Kev.

 

Ara,

I was reading about your brake nightmares in earlier posts on this forum, are you still having problems with the brakes seizing after a period of time? If so I was wondering if you'd totally cleaned out the guide pins on the calipers and re-greased them? Fitted new rubber boot covers? My line of thought being that one side of the pads is constantly rubbing against the brake disk causing friction as the sliders are dirty and not allowing the calipers to centre themselves over the disk? Could be talking absolute rubbish however as I'm not overly experienced with braking systems !

Cheers,

Kev.

 

Evening,
Cheers for the info. Yep still having a brake mare! Everything is definately better than before, but the left caliper is the seizing one. (Disc gets hot on that side after a short while) Under the dust seals on my calipers, the ally had deteriorated markedly, and I had to clear out the recesses before refitting new seals. I suspect that I didn't do a good enough job, as I could not fit the pistons back in without pressure from a G-Clapm, although the pistons did seem free enough once in their bores. Still, I have oredered up another set of dust seal, and will use a "dremel" small rotary brush to do it this time, will also use silicon greae, which I didnt have before, and I hope (fingers VERY crossed)this will be the last Caliper off and strip down!!!

Cheers...


Ara

 

I read a service article in Cycle World magazine about a similar problem. He said it was either the caliper or an aftermarket brake lever that wasn't letting the master piston back far enough.

 

one trick I've learned to bleed hydraulic systems is to have in idling engine nearby which produces vacuu,, find a good length of small hose, and attatch it to your bleeder screw (clear stuff is nice since you can see what's going on, then just crack the bleeder screw open a bit, the engine vacuum will do all the work for you

I just bought new EBC "hh" pads for my bike, but haven't installed them yet.. I still have some usable life left in my old ones, but wanted new ones "in stock" lol