Brake job gone bad - no help required, just venting

[Earl43P]

Not looking for any technical assistance, just venting....in the General Board on purpose (not Technical).

I'm hard on brakes, so I keep a close eye on pad wear, especially on my DD (93). With 3 bikes, a thin wallet and logging at least 40k miles/year, I've done a few brake jobs and tire changes.

Anticipating Inzane and a couple other weeks of riding I have planned for this summer, I threw a fresh set of HH pads on the Valk's fronts. Standard work for me is push the pistons out further, clean them up, put a drop of DOT4 near the seal and push them back in with the bleeder open. Sucked the Master dry, cleared out the spooge hole, cleaned and refilled and pushed clear fluid out of each bleeder. Close bleeder, push the pads into contact, final bleed and golden. As it should be.

Rear, not so much. I committed to doing this without removing the rear wheel, pivoting the caliper up, following the above standard work.

Not so fast Skippy....first the spring clip fell off. Didn't notice that until near the end, DOH! Those pads / pin went in way too easy!

Remove pads, insert greased clip, no biggee. Until the 14mm Shouldered mount bolt/pin....wouldn't thread in. Kept cocking and cross-threading. I recalled this problem from a previous pad-slap and threaded the greased up shoulder bolt in the opposite way to clear up the threads. 4 TIMES.  Kept getting a bunch of aluminum shavings in the grease, not a good sign.

Got it to thread in and THOUGHT it was NOT cross-threaded. Wrong answer. 1 mile test ride (1/2mi.  out, 1/2 back) = brake dragging, hot rotor, the works.  Disassembled again. Broke out my cheater glasses, then a jeweler's loupe. Caliper's bolt threads are GONE, would take a helicoil to fix, not happening.

Ordered a 29k mile used caliper with bracket off E-Bay from a breaker. Should be here Thursday. I'll go through it thoroughly, removing the pistons.

Ordered a rear Master Cylinder seal kit, because I've never cleared out the rear's spooge hole on this bike.

I did end up jacking it up (Shout out to MarkT for the lightweight permanently installed jack adapter  ), taking the rear axle partway out to remove the bracket after all, but I can tell you without reservation that I will slap pads on the rear without touching the rear axle in the future. If the job had gone like the front calipers went, it would have been about an hour tops to do the rear pads, including my standard work with the pistons pushing/ cleaning/ retracting/ flushing/ bleeding, saddlebag, etc. The caliper can stay pinned to the bracket, and rotates up for easy access to replace pads.

I should have known all was not well when I couldn't push the rear pistons back in (bleeder open) by hand. I actually had to use the C-clamp, and I rarely have to resort to that, with my GI Joe Kung Fu Grip and all.

I did learn that an old spark plug's wrench flats is just the right width to jam in the left exhaust/bracket to gain enough clearance to fully drop the swingarm. You're welcome!

My rant may continue next weekend......for now I'm Awaiting Parts.

In the meantime I will check/paste the drive splines after all, since I'm >< this close. It's only been ~11,000 miles since this car tire went on last year, I was going to let that slide until winter.

Happy wrenching!

[mike72903]

Don't you just love it when things work out smoothly?

[baldo]

Not looking for any technical assistance, just venting....in the General Board on purpose (not Technical).

I'm hard on brakes, so I keep a close eye on pad wear, especially on my DD (93). With 3 bikes, a thin wallet and logging at least 40k miles/year, I've done a few brake jobs and tire changes.

Anticipating Inzane and a couple other weeks of riding I have planned for this summer, I threw a fresh set of HH pads on the Valk's fronts. Standard work for me is push the pistons out further, clean them up, put a drop of DOT4 near the seal and push them back in with the bleeder open. Sucked the Master dry, cleared out the spooge hole, cleaned and refilled and pushed clear fluid out of each bleeder. Close bleeder, push the pads into contact, final bleed and golden. As it should be.

Rear, not so much. I committed to doing this without removing the rear wheel, pivoting the caliper up, following the above standard work.

Not so fast Skippy....first the spring clip fell off. Didn't notice that until near the end, DOH! Those pads / pin went in way too easy!

Remove pads, insert greased clip, no biggee. Until the 14mm Shouldered mount bolt/pin....wouldn't thread in. Kept cocking and cross-threading. I recalled this problem from a previous pad-slap and threaded the greased up shoulder bolt in the opposite way to clear up the threads. 4 TIMES.  Kept getting a bunch of aluminum shavings in the grease, not a good sign.

Got it to thread in and THOUGHT it was NOT cross-threaded. Wrong answer. 1 mile test ride (1/2mi.  out, 1/2 back) = brake dragging, hot rotor, the works.  Disassembled again. Broke out my cheater glasses, then a jeweler's loupe. Caliper's bolt threads are GONE, would take a helicoil to fix, not happening.

Ordered a 29k mile used caliper with bracket off E-Bay from a breaker. Should be here Thursday. I'll go through it thoroughly, removing the pistons.

Ordered a rear Master Cylinder seal kit, because I've never cleared out the rear's spooge hole on this bike.

I did end up jacking it up (Shout out to MarkT for the lightweight permanently installed jack adapter  ), taking the rear axle partway out to remove the bracket after all, but I can tell you without reservation that I will slap pads on the rear without touching the rear axle in the future. If the job had gone like the front calipers went, it would have been about an hour tops to do the rear pads, including my standard work with the pistons pushing/ cleaning/ retracting/ flushing/ bleeding, saddlebag, etc. The caliper can stay pinned to the bracket, and rotates up for easy access to replace pads.

I should have known all was not well when I couldn't push the rear pistons back in (bleeder open) by hand. I actually had to use the C-clamp, and I rarely have to resort to that, with my GI Joe Kung Fu Grip and all.

I did learn that an old spark plug's wrench flats is just the right width to jam in the left exhaust/bracket to gain enough clearance to fully drop the swingarm. You're welcome!

My rant may continue next weekend......for now I'm Awaiting Parts.

In the meantime I will check/paste the drive splines after all, since I'm >< this close. It's only been ~11,000 miles since this car tire went on last year, I was going to let that slide until winter.

Happy wrenching!

Well written, I could actually feel your pain......

I've got mine to do next week....

[Rams]

While I have done this replacement once before, I'm due for a new Austone Taxi Tire and you just convinced me to replace the rear pads then, whether they are more than half worn or not while I have the bike apart.     At this point in my life, I have enough challenges, don't need any more.

[Earl43P]

While I have done this replacement once before, I'm due for a new Austone Taxi Tire and you just convinced me to replace the rear pads then, whether they are more than half worn or not while I have the bike apart.     At this point in my life, I have enough challenges, don't need any more.

Curious to know how many miles you got from your ATT on the Valkyrie? I'm right at 32,000 miles on mine on the DD 93 Wing. I'll be doing its brakes too when I pull it down for maintenance.

Here's a kicker: The 93 also has a rear Pilot Activ on the front, @ same mileage. That tire has FAR MORE tread left on it and I may not even replace it at the same time as I do the ATT/brakes. I'm seriously considering putting an Activ on the rear since the front one is wearing so well. The ATT is at the center tread bars at 32k (45 psi).

I did institute a new riding policy last year. I rarely/never downshift and use engine braking to decel. I believe doing that contributes to rear tire longevity. Clutch in and still downshift to a stop, but don't let the clutch out in each gear unless the light turns green. I also strive to rpm match before I do let it out. Fewer rear tire downshift "skids" has to make it last longer.

[Rams]

While I have done this replacement once before, I'm due for a new Austone Taxi Tire and you just convinced me to replace the rear pads then, whether they are more than half worn or not while I have the bike apart.     At this point in my life, I have enough challenges, don't need any more.

Curious to know how many miles you got from your ATT on the Valkyrie? I'm right at 32,000 miles on mine on the DD 93 Wing. I'll be doing its brakes too when I pull it down for maintenance.

Earl,
My ATT is not being replaced due to normal wear or mileage or age.   Putting it simply, I came out from getting a few things at Kroger and discovered that I had two small holes in the sidewall.   Honestly, I have no idea how they got there and I refuse to believe that someone intentionally put them there.   Both are small pin holes about an inch up the side wall from the tread.   

Who knows............   Just means I won't do as much riding in the wind this summer.