I spent an entertaining evening learning how to strip down, clean and rebuild the front brake calipers from my FZ6 and then getting a not very nice surprise...The first problem was that, on one caliper, the smaller of the pistons would come about half way out, then, no matter what I did to block the larger one, the small one simply wouldn't shift any more.Eventually I used a G Clamp to push it back in, kept the other one completely blocked, put something in the way of the smaller one, but so it would stop further out than it had gone before, then gave it as much pressure as I could from the bike pump I was using and, thankfully, it popped far enough out to get past whatever was making it stick.I then "walked" them out by putting thinner blocks in front of them until they'd both got past the inner seals and I could just wiggle them out with finger pressure. So I got everything cleaned up, new seals in place etc and started to reassemble it, but I couldn't get the pads to go back into place. I know they were stiff when they came out, but I figured that was because they hadn't been cleaned for ages (or at all!) and they were on the sides that originally came from, because I was very careful about that, but I couldn't get them to fit back in place as they kept getting stuck.Finally I looked up the code on the back of them and found the pads on a Russian website. It also had the details of the dimensions and some pictures of the bikes they were for. I looked at the pictures. FJR, R6, R1, a 125... FZ6 Fazer? Nope, no FZ6 Fazer...!So I tried looking up the dimensions for the FZ6's front brake pads...The sizes of the ones I have are 94.0 x 41.0 x 10.0mmThe FZ6 pads are 93.8 x 40.3 x 9.8mmSo whatever Foccer put the pads on the front brakes, put the wrong damn ones on!!! Ok, they are literally just about 0.2mm too big and they still work because I've been using them for years, but they wouldn't go back easily.I then spent ages carefully grinding down the ends with a Dremel, shaving a fraction of a mil off, checking the fit, taking another tiny bit off, re-checking, rinse and repeat until they fit properly into the caliper bracket.Unfortunately I think the place that put the wrong ones on isn't in business any more (they've been on there for a while), so there's no chance of going back and giving them a bollocking
Quote from: Dudeofrude on 04 June 2020, 03:20:33 pmGood....means I'm not riding like a dick then 😜😜Oh dear, you don't have to ride like a dick not to have chicken strips, seems you're somewhat touchy about that your get there in time, perhaps.
Good....means I'm not riding like a dick then 😜😜
Oh dear, you don't have to ride like a dick not to have chicken strips, seems you're somewhat touchy about that your get there in time, perhaps.
Quote from: Dudeofrude on 06 June 2020, 12:46:58 pmOh dear, you don't have to ride like a dick not to have chicken strips, seems you're somewhat touchy about that your get there in time, perhaps.Now what was it we used to say at a the track, oh yer "all the gear and no idea" Three words Raw, Nerve, Hit never mind. Some people on this site nowadays are just so touchy bring back the good old days!
So was mine different sense of humour, I guess.WTF Boris has to do with it, you've lost me there I haven't thought about him for days to be honest, clearly you have. He does have that effect on some people.
So was mine different sense of humour, I guess.WTF Boris has to do with it, you've lost me there I haven't thought about him for days to be honest
'for days' . About 10 minutes at best more like
Lot more common than you think, pads being the wrong size. Most are slightly too small which lead to them twisting in the body, after a while they start wearing away the caliper body and then jam, some just jam and the pad wears to a taper.
I hope you got all I mean all the crap out of the seal rebates.
There were some bits of crud on the outer edges of the pistons which, despite lots of brake cleaner and scraping with a plastic biro cap, wouldn't shift, but that's outside the bores anyway, so fortunately wouldn't affect anything.
You can get this off with a piece of wet and dry. All 8 of mine had a pretty thick line around the rim but managed to get them all back to almost new. I used a bit of 1500 wet & dry then polished them up after with some metal polish and a soft cloth to make sure they were nice a smoothTedious work but worth it
Quote from: Dudeofrude on 07 June 2020, 08:19:04 amYou can get this off with a piece of wet and dry. All 8 of mine had a pretty thick line around the rim but managed to get them all back to almost new. I used a bit of 1500 wet & dry then polished them up after with some metal polish and a soft cloth to make sure they were nice a smoothTedious work but worth it The pistons are nickle cadmium coated, where there's pitting/corrosion the coating has been damaged, the corrosion will spread no matter what you do. Any pitting/corrosion lower than 6/7mm from the edge will render the piston unserviceable, any pitting/corrosion that sits below the dust seal when the piston is retracted will start recorroding and cut the seal/s. This can happen within weeks of you servicing them and they'll be sticking eventually seizing. This is another factor you should consider when using non OE pistons. The coating is microns thick, AM pistons are cheaper because the coating is thinner and softer, I've seen these AM pistons corrode just sitting in air! If you use the bike daily and ride in rain or the odd salt covered road, AM pistons will seize in quick time unless you keep them coated, even that will not stop them corroding. This is why car brake pistons have rubber boots that cover all but the top few mm.
Quote from: Grahamm on 07 June 2020, 12:12:04 amThere were some bits of crud on the outer edges of the pistons which, despite lots of brake cleaner and scraping with a plastic biro cap, wouldn't shift, but that's outside the bores anyway, so fortunately wouldn't affect anything.You can get this off with a piece of wet and dry.
Next time you, clean off the baked on dust as you call it, put the piston under a strong magnifying lens. What you'll find is a tiny pit in the cadmium, the dust is clinging to corrosion, as the coating is damaged.
Nice morning for a 195 mile whizz around the south east's B roads. Plenty of old bill in the Bury Hill area and on the A272. The Chalet is almost back to normal, serving takeout hot food and drinks, and is the only place I've come across, so far, that has opened up the toilets/washrooms. I reckon they'll get plenty of extra trade now that Whiteways has become a mini-mart.