Brake help Please

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Bigdogchop04

Member
I need some help with my rear brakes. It’s. 04 chopper and has PM calipers. It’s new to be bike and I bled (atleast I thought i did) brakes before taking it to have new rubber put on. Took her out for ride today and noticed rear wheel had a lot of brake dust on it. I couldn’t feel it pulling down or anything riding but apparently sticking or something. By the time I got home the rear brake lever had no resistance. I tried bleeding again but when I open bleed screw I get minimal fluid coming thru using mightyvac. I tried different turns on bleed screw to almost where it was going to come out. The wood you see in between pistons is between 1/2-5/8 thickness. Not sure how much farther open they can go. I sprayed them all with brake clean and cleaned them up.

My first question is do you think caliper needs rebuilt or is it a problem with fluid and bleeding?

next Question is I know big dog calls for dot5 but since this is a pm caliper do I use dot4?

And does the spring on the back of the brake pads have anything to do with much? One side of spring is mangled when I removed.

Final question: the shop that did the tires for me pointed out that there were a lot of flat washers (like 3-4 with each bolt) behind the caliper mounting bolts I’m guessing to get proper spacing for pads ?
 

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Jersey Big Mike

Jersey Big Mike

100K mile club
those pads are shot, the spring looks like it was installed wrong. hooked end goes DOWN not up.

Get new pads and new spring. Rebuilding the caliper is easy and worth it if you have any doubt,

The SHIMS (not washers) are there to center the caliper over the rotor. Never seen more than 2 used usually 1 or none.

No USE DOT5 in the brake -- NEVER mix different grade brake fluids.
 
Rottweiler

Rottweiler

Well-Known Member
Agree with everyone. Dot 5 is a must. Rebuild kit is probably needed cleaning and new rubber will help a lot. Bleed it until it has all new fluid. I also have a 04 chop and rebuilt both of mine.
 
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Bigdogchop04

Member
Jersey Big Mike said:
those pads are shot, the spring looks like it was installed wrong. hooked end goes DOWN not up.

Get new pads and new spring. Rebuilding the caliper is easy and worth it if you have any doubt,

The SHIMS (not washers) are there to center the caliper over the rotor. Never seen more than 2 used usually 1 or none.

No USE DOT5 in the brake -- NEVER mix different grade brake fluids.
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that’s what I’ll start with then. I tried to do a complete flush when I was putting dot 5 in before tire change bc fluid was clear/brown so wanted to make sure. It had the right stuff. I’ll check the shims when I get new pads and see if they are close to centered with one or none. Thanks again
 
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Bigdogchop04

Member
Probably a dumb question but what type of pads are you guys using? PM has sintered and organic options or should I use something else all together.
 
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Bigdogchop04

Member
OK I got the caliper rebuilt. One piston was really gummed up. Got it all back together and trying to bleed the brakes and I’m having no luck pulling any fluid from the master cylinder using the Mityvac. I am assuming this bleed screw is the correct one? I have no resistance at rear brake pedal so I cannot bleed it that way. What is my next step? I believe the speed bleeders through wild Works require an initial resistant pedal correct? Do I need to Rebuild the master cylinder? If so are there any step-by-step instructions anywhere for that
 
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Bigdogchop04

Member
Bigdogchop04 said:
OK I got the caliper rebuilt. One piston was really gummed up. Got it all back together and trying to bleed the brakes and I’m having no luck pulling any fluid from the master cylinder using the Mityvac. I am assuming this bleed screw is the correct one? I have no resistance at rear brake pedal so I cannot bleed it that way. What is my next step? I believe the speed bleeders through wild Works require an initial resistant pedal correct? Do I need to Rebuild the master cylinder? If so are there any step-by-step instructions anywhere for that
Click to expand...
I should add the 3 shims looks centered but really could use another small shim. Thoughts on that as well.
 

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Bigdogchop04

Member
Ok guys last update. I got her figured out. I didn’t have a rear brake pedal because the plunger or whatever you want to call it was stuck inside the master cylinder. Got it all pulled from the bike and went to rebuild the master and I could not get the plastic piece out of the master. I tried everything I could to pull on it, put a. Screw it in to pull on, etc and it would not budge. Had to resort to carefully drilling out the plastic piece with increasing drill bits until it was big enough to get to the o-ring then it pulled out in parts but still had to use a screw thru the piece closest to the spring. Here’s a few pics after rebuild, it was easy and straight forward. Use a 1/4” extension to compress spring and get the snap ring in. Bleed brakes and get back on the road.
 

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Thejanitor000

Thejanitor000

Member
Bigdogchop04 said:
Ok guys last update. I got her figured out. I didn’t have a rear brake pedal because the plunger or whatever you want to call it was stuck inside the master cylinder. Got it all pulled from the bike and went to rebuild the master and I could not get the plastic piece out of the master. I tried everything I could to pull on it, put a. Screw it in to pull on, etc and it would not budge. Had to resort to carefully drilling out the plastic piece with increasing drill bits until it was big enough to get to the o-ring then it pulled out in parts but still had to use a screw thru the piece closest to the spring. Here’s a few pics after rebuild, it was easy and straight forward. Use a 1/4” extension to compress spring and get the snap ring in. Bleed brakes and get back on the road.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this. Just had the same experience. Drilled in a long screw & pulled it out.
 

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