Brake Problem

[silvtr1000]

When freewheeling or on throttle, my Surf pulls a little to the left. Pressures are 30psi all round, so maybe tracking? But, when I do brake, the car pulls to the right.

Might the left caliper be sticking? I noticed this behaviour the day I bought the car, and set about cleaning the left caliper based on this assumption, but found that because the brake pipe to the caliper is fixed, with no flex to move the caliper to work on cleaning the pistons.

There is quite a bit of dark dusty stuff on both front wheels, which I assume to be brake dust.

In time I intend to replace both front pads & rear shoes, and bleed the whole system, maybe replacing any flexi hoses with braided steel lines, and maybe painting the calipers and drums (yeah, I know - bling bling) but that's a while away.

Is there any way I can fix this problem now, short of taking off the caliper, cleaning & refitting it, and bleeding that line?


Mark

[Koi]

When freewheeling or on throttle, my Surf pulls a little to the left. Pressures are 30psi all round, so maybe tracking? But, when I do brake, the car pulls to the right.

Might the left caliper be sticking? I noticed this behaviour the day I bought the car, and set about cleaning the left caliper based on this assumption, but found that because the brake pipe to the caliper is fixed, with no flex to move the caliper to work on cleaning the pistons.

There is quite a bit of dark dusty stuff on both front wheels, which I assume to be brake dust.

In time I intend to replace both front pads & rear shoes, and bleed the whole system, maybe replacing any flexi hoses with braided steel lines, and maybe painting the calipers and drums (yeah, I know - bling bling) but that's a while away.

Is there any way I can fix this problem now, short of taking off the caliper, cleaning & refitting it, and bleeding that line?


Mark

Had this on mine when I first bought it, found that one of the two pistons had seized on the passenger side, so I suppose in effect although it was still working and creating dust on the wheel it was working to full capacity. Released piston and all has been fine since.

[Guest]

When freewheeling or on throttle, my Surf pulls a little to the left. Pressures are 30psi all round, so maybe tracking? But, when I do brake, the car pulls to the right.

Might the left caliper be sticking? I noticed this behaviour the day I bought the car, and set about cleaning the left caliper based on this assumption, but found that because the brake pipe to the caliper is fixed, with no flex to move the caliper to work on cleaning the pistons.

There is quite a bit of dark dusty stuff on both front wheels, which I assume to be brake dust.

In time I intend to replace both front pads & rear shoes, and bleed the whole system, maybe replacing any flexi hoses with braided steel lines, and maybe painting the calipers and drums (yeah, I know - bling bling) but that's a while away.

Is there any way I can fix this problem now, short of taking off the caliper, cleaning & refitting it, and bleeding that line?


Mark

I reckon it may be your steering idler making it drift to the left - new bushes from Milners and about an hour of your time will fix that. Pulling to the right under braking most likely is a pad or piston sticking on the right side. Alternatively you may find that the disk is a bit rough. You may want to change both front disks as that would even it all up and the disks aren't very expensive or difficult to change.

Cheers

[TonyN]

Have to do this the the Bullet every now and then, one of the pistons is rusty and sticks.

Remove the pad (do one side of each caliper at a time), then put a bit of packing in the gap (about 15mm is fine, just to stop the piston popping out.)

Then press the brake pedal to push the pistons out, you'll see the sticky one, it wont want to come out, one you've pushed it out, plenty of WD40 and push it in, then pump it out and repeat till it comes out freely.

If you notice the chrome has come of the piston, it will happen again, you need new pistons and the bores honing, but it may be just dirt in the bore jamming things up, but it usually rubs the chrome off anyway.

old brake fluid doesn't help, it absorbs moisture, and makes things rusty in the brake system.

[stara]

quick brake stuck check, feel the wheels after a run, if one is hotter than the other, then it's prob sticking

[silvtr1000]

WD40?! I've stripped & cleaned plenty of motorbike calipers, but I'd never have let even WD40 mist anywhere near any brake components. I have a can of brake system cleaner - can I use that instead?

My main problem is working on the caliper in situ - the line to it is fixed and allows no movement of the caliper. I don't want to leave it dangling on the fixed hose.

Good call with the packing & pumping method - wood should do the job?

Mark

[TonyN]

WD40?! I've stripped & cleaned plenty of motorbike calipers, but I'd never have let even WD40 mist anywhere near any brake components. I have a can of brake system cleaner - can I use that instead?

Mark

Yeah, but it WD40 works better is the chrome has worn off and the pistons are getting rusty/dirty.

WD40 isn't great for the seals, but it will get things working again, plus you'll be replacing them in the end anyway.

Fussy git!

[andrewcrofts]

free and clean it as per linda said with wd40, go to local quid shop and buy tin of 151 brake cleaner (costs a quid!) clean all parts including pistons and pads, nip to halfrauds and get some calliper greese (made just for brakes) and thinly coat pistons and slide bars (bit which pad's move along) and re assemble.
wd40 is fine to free stuff off, but contains many solvents and detergants which could, in extreme circustances, seperate the pad from the backing plate, giving shag all brakes to that caliper. also as already mentioned it's to harsh for the rubber seals and cause them to break down. try good old fashioned parrafin, its freeing qualitys are second to none and it dont eat seals for breakfast!!

[stara]

killer whales do though.

[TonyN]

Bwahahaha! hehe@stara.

PS, that was me not Linda! she just a gurl, knows nothing about trucks.......

:waiting for slap: (we're staying at her mums tonight, so should be safe, she won't read this till we get back from Norfolk and it will be gone down the page.)

And I did say remove the pads before applying WDfarty.

[silvtr1000]

Nearly ashamed to bring this thread back up - I still haven't done anything about it. But after my excitement last night, it's crystal clear that I have to. Coming up to a small roundabout, no brakes . That's NO brakes. Pedal to the floor with NO effect. After 3 or 4 frantic pumps of the pedal and a simultaneous drop to 2nd gear, I slowed in time to make the roundabout. But the brakes were definitely not going to stop the Surf.

I pulled in and felt both front wheels - right nice and cool, left hot . Not too hot to touch, but hot rather than warm. After a few minutes, I carried on (3 miles from home) and tried the brakes a few times - some effect with pumping the pedal.

I reckon that the left caliper is binding and with the pads dragging on the disc, the fluid is boiling. A similar thing happened with a GSX750ET I had, but that caliper couldn't even be touched...

I also saw a car pass a T junction once with a glowing red front disc. I remember thing "what sort of @ssh0le doesn't know his disc is red hot?"


I don't think my missus can refuse me a few bob to spend on brakes, so I'm going to address this very soon.

If she'll let me, I'd like to replace the discs and pads. If I buy these from Milner, it'll come to about €125. I'll give the calipers/pistons a good scrub too. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do all this myself, but if anyone has done it before, I'd apreciate tips or advice.

I'm going to get a caliper spreader tool too - about €20.

Here's one specific question...

Is it better to work on the caliper in situ, despite crap access and reduced effective cleaning, or to take the caliper(s) off and work on it/them on my workbench in my shed, and then go through the bleeding rigmarole when I refit it/them?

Thanks all,

Mark

[laser_jock@work]

[QUOTE=TonyN]
Then press the brake pedal to push the pistons out, you'll see the sticky one, it wont want to come out, one you've pushed it out, plenty of WD40 and push it in, then pump it out and repeat till it comes out freely.[QUOTE]

NEVER use WD or similar petroleum based products to clean brake components- you will wreck the seals. DOT 4 fluid as used in the Surf is glycol based and mineral oils are NOT compatible with the seal materials used. Use only clean brake fluid or approved cleaning solvents.

More wisdom on brake fluids here:

http://www.xs11.com/tips/maintenance/maint1.shtml

Nevillef

[Linda]

Bwahahaha! hehe@stara.

PS, that was me not Linda! she just a gurl, knows nothing about trucks.......

:waiting for slap: (we're staying at her mums tonight, so should be safe, she won't read this till we get back from Norfolk and it will be gone down the page.)

Hehe - it nearly worked!!!! I saw it today! Cheeky B******D!!! And no it wasnt me that posted that, and I use brake cleaning fluid to free up my sticky caliper not WD40 so he isnt paying attention anyway!

Just got my new calipers so will let you know how much of a pain they are to fit once its done!!

Now to find a big stick to beat Tony with tonight!!! :wink:

[silvtr1000]

You Guys Are Gonna Love This

I have a feeling that this entry in my brake thread will possibly go down in the history files of this great site. That's not to sound conceited or anything, but when you see the pics, you'll see what I mean.

I freed off the offending caliper (front left) with more ease than I'd anticipated. G-clamps & plenty of brake cleaner aerosol/wire brushes action did the trick. The outer seals (dust boots?) were toast, as were the pads.

Obviously I need to fit new discs, pads and dust boots. I'm going to order them from Milner this morning.

My biggest problem will be removing the wheels. Purely by luck, the only wheel I can get off the Surf is the front left - the security nut on all three others won't budge. They're destroyed from previous owner's attempts to remove them. I guess I'll have to get my local garage to break them off.

Learn by my mistakes - investigate brake doubts immideately.

I'm lucky my bogey brakes didn't kill me or anyone else before I did something about it.

Mark

[Chillitt]

a picture really is worth a thousand words!