Well....crap! Brakes frozen.

[John Schmidt]

Thought I was done ordering major parts for the project bike. Went to pull the front wheel and the calipers wouldn't come off, even bled them down and tried prying them apart. No dice. After a lot of work, I was able to get them off and only then realized the problem; the pistons are frozen solid. Tried the air hose...nada. When they're frozen that solid I've never had good luck trying to rebuild. Right now I have one on the bench soaking with some liquid wrench just to see if it will break loose. Don't really expect any success. I took them apart and put them in the vise to see if the pistons would compress. Nothing. The guy that had this bike did absolutely nothing to it so far as I can see.

Guess my parts buying isn't over just yet. I have new master cylinders for both clutch and brake coming this week and was hoping that was about it for parts.  Oh well!  At least it runs like a charm.

[OverdueBill]

Ya don't need brakes.  Just downshift and then drag your feet.    I am enjoying your re-furbish tale of this bike.  Keep the information coming and good luck.

[John Schmidt]

Ya don't need brakes.  Just downshift and then drag your feet.    I am enjoying your re-furbish tale of this bike.  Keep the information coming and good luck.

It really has been a fairly easy job, from the steering head back it looks great and runs beautifully. Just took a lot of cleaning, some sanding on the wheels before a bit of polishing, had to replace some stuff simply because I want it to be trouble free for the next owner. The two m/c in front are a good example, just didn't trust rebuilding them, had a good 1/4" of mud in the bottom of the reservoirs. I had picked up a lot of extra parts over the years and they came into play on this restore job.

[Jess from VA]

How about Pinwall?

[John Schmidt]

How about Pinwall?

Just picked up a working pair from a recycler here in Florida. Free shipping and only takes a day to get them here. I called and talked to them before buying, was assured they're in good working order.

[justooneez]

I've managed to rebuild those even when they were that frozen, if the ones you got coming don't work out give me a shout, I'm local and I'll pick them up and rebuild them for you, just cost the new piston rings, dust seals, some extremely fine sand paper


Justin, justooneez@gmail.com

[John Schmidt]

Justin, it's for my "project bike" and I want to get it done and on the road ASAP. I'll work on them as time allows, just didn't want to wait for more parts.

[Grumpy]

Some times redneck engineering can win out, when I restored the CM450A had the same with the front caliper, removed the bleeder fitting, screwed in a grease fitting, and used a grease gun, got one piston to break loose , clamped it so it did not come out all the way, after a few more pumps the second one came loose. Polished up the cups, and replaced the seals, good to go.

[John Schmidt]

Some times redneck engineering can win out, when I restored the CM450A had the same with the front caliper, removed the bleeder fitting, screwed in a grease fitting, and used a grease gun, got one piston to break loose , clamped it so it did not come out all the way, after a few more pumps the second one came loose. Polished up the cups, and replaced the seals, good to go.

Now there's an idea. Bill, after all these years of wrenching on everything from a Model T truck engine (no I'm not THAT old, my uncle gave it to me), to cars I ran on the strip, to the Valk.....it never dawned on me to try that. I've used an air hose in the hydraulic entry point and usually it would break loose, but never occurred to me to use a grease gun in the bleeder hole. Don't have a zerk so will go pick up a couple, but I do have a couple grease guns. One is the old fashioned hand pump type, the other runs off my air hose....it might just work.

I picked up a set of front calipers from Suncoast, up the road a ways from you. I'll clean them up and use them for now, looks like I need new pads as well. Was a good price too until I told them I knew Bill Gurney and the guy gave me a blank look and doubled the price.    Was $75 for the pair w/free shipping.

[Grumpy]

Some times redneck engineering can win out, when I restored the CM450A had the same with the front caliper, removed the bleeder fitting, screwed in a grease fitting, and used a grease gun, got one piston to break loose , clamped it so it did not come out all the way, after a few more pumps the second one came loose. Polished up the cups, and replaced the seals, good to go.

Now there's an idea. Bill, after all these years of wrenching on everything from a Model T truck engine (no I'm not THAT old, my uncle gave it to me), to cars I ran on the strip, to the Valk.....it never dawned on me to try that. I've used an air hose in the hydraulic entry point and usually it would break loose, but never occurred to me to use a grease gun in the bleeder hole. Don't have a zerk so will go pick up a couple, but I do have a couple grease guns. One is the old fashioned hand pump type, the other runs off my air hose....it might just work.

I picked up a set of front calipers from Suncoast, up the road a ways from you. I'll clean them up and use them for now, looks like I need new pads as well. Was a good price too until I told them I knew Bill Gurney and the guy gave me a blank look and doubled the price.    Was $75 for the pair w/free shipping.

Hmm, sounds like they do know me.    I have used the grease trick many times, started doing it on antique engines, used to get some hit & miss engines that had been sitting out side for many many years, that always worked to break the piston loose.