Brake overhaul

[Lee337]

Was going to spend the day out & about, but thought I'd give my Girly a once over yesterday. Just as well I did, one of the seals had gone in the left brake caliper.

Oddly as I've only had the bike a couple of months, I had a set of seals hanging around amongst the spares the PO had given me, so off came the caliper. Not sure how long it had been leaking but all the orange paint on the back of the brake pad had melted off & the pads were glazed. I suspect not too long though as I checked the fluid levels a couple of weeks ago when I serviced it.

Pistons were easy to get out, just used the brake fluid pressure, so were the seals. All cleaned up nicely but the new dust seals were a real pain in the a$$ to put in.

Still done now, new pads ordered together with new bleed nipples (both were rounded off I found when I stripped down the other caliper) both calipers now ready to go back on the bike. Sadly, as I'm away for a short while, it's gonna be almost 2 weeks before \i can ride again, but at least I'll be satisfied that everything works as it should.

[Tiger-G]

Hi mate 

Just shows......it's worth having a quick check round the bike every now and again   :icon_wink:

I always have a nightmare bleeding the brakes on my Tiger. I don't know why, as I'm quite mechanically minded and can do most things on the bike. The brakes just don't seem to want to bleed, and getting all the air out of the system is a struggle. I always get there in the end, but it's ever as easy as some people on here make it sound 

Just a quick tip, unless you're aware of it already ?? I always put copperslip round the exposed parts of the pistons to stop the British road salt and weather destroying their surface. Has worked well for me over the years. However, when discussed in a thread a while back, copperslip is not the best thing to use, as it affects the rubber seals. I'm sure there'll be something out there a bit more suitable, like brake grease ??

Good luck   

[JayDub]

(Red) rubber grease