what did you do with your fazer today ?

[Dudeofrude]

I finished painting the rear foot peg hangers, just got to lacquer them tomorrow.


Then I had fun stripping and refurbishing the rear brake caliper.


I figured that it would be better to do the rear first, since there's only one pot and, if I screwed it up, it would be less critical than buggering up a front one  :eek

First problem was that I needed to remove the piston, but needed "low pressure compressed air" to do it, according to Hayes.


I tried with an airbed foot pump, but couldn't get a good seal, so I looked at it a bit more and realised that the bleed valve is almost the same size as a Presta valve on a bicycle tyre.


I found a 10mm bolt to block the hole that the banjo bolt goes into and tried to push the piston out. I got a good seal, but it wasn't moving, so I got a G Clamp and put some padding on each side, then used that to squeeze the piston back into the caliper a little way.

Then, when I tried the bike pump, I got the piston to slide out nicely :thumbup

I found the best way to get the seals out of the caliper was with the pointed "clip" section on the end of a biro cap and then it was just a matter of cleaning everything up and reassembling it.

So tomorrow I do the front calipers and then just wait for the vacuum brake bleeding kit I ordered from eBay to turn up so I can refill the system and check that it all works... (fingers crossed!)

Although your foot pump method worked for the rear, you may find it a tad more difficult with the front as once you get 1 piston out you the  cant removed the rest so it makes it a tad slow and tedious doing 1 at a time ?  I'd highly recommend buying some 'piston pliers'
Paid around £12 for mine about 8 years ago and they have been invaluable for brake servicing ?
Having rebuilt my front brake last week I can tell you it takes all of 30 seconds to get all 4 pistons out of a caliper without any damage etc.
Great bit of kit