Calliper seals

[Red ones]

I'm time poor at the moment - and cash poor too if I'm honest. But I need to get my brakes sorted fast

Any idea how much a garage would charge for replacing the seals on the front callipers of an SV?
All the garages I know are closed on Mondays, but I'd like to get an idea quickly (having had a MAJOR scare this morning on the motorway)

[Bibio]

its not a case of just changing the seals. there are other nasty surprises such as the pistons being pitted. this all bumps the price through the roof. add in do you trust a garage to do the job properly like clean out the recesses (main problem) and assemble them again using RRG.

personally i would get another set of callipers and refurb those. seals are cheep pistons are not.

i would say a full strip and rebuild with new pistons and seals done properly will cost you a min of £150, ride in ride out will be around £200. depending on the condition of the pads you can add in the price of those as well.

[tom_e]

powerhouse automotive will do you a full set of front calipers completely reconed for around £160 if you send them your old ones once you've changed them.

[Red ones]

Jeez.

I think I'm cash poorer than I thought.

[Bibio]

best to see how bad the pistons are first.

its normally the recesses that get furred up that makes the pistons seize/sticky.

calliper strip and rebuild is easy. once you have done it then do it every year.

what exactly makes you think that the brakes are not working correctly?

[Red ones]

I always seem to have problems getting the pistons out. There dust seals look like they are sticking to the pistons.

This morning the front definitely didn't stop as it should, I had suspicions for a few days before, but this morning brought it home when the car in front hit the brakes and stopped while I took to the central reservation and overlook them while still braking. In the past I would have have the front skitting about under pressure.

[Bibio]

take the callipers off, leave the pads in and pump the pistons out with the brake lever. this usually get the pistons out enough so you can wiggle them out. if not then take another pad out then do the same. be careful that the pistons dont pop out.

you need both pistons to be pumped out far enough to wiggle them free. if you dont use a 'shim' like the pads and you pump the pistons out then you might only pump one of them. having a 'shim' makes it so when one piston reaches full extension the extra pressure will force the other one out, if you get what i mean.

this is the cheepest kit i can find http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Suzuki-SV-650-S-K6-2006-0650-CC-Front-Left-Hand-Full-Caliper-Piston-Kit-/390566213707?hash=item5aef8f784b:g:-GMAAMXQBwlRUaUo

[Red ones]

I think I found some spare callipers in the shed. Are K5 callipers the same as K8?

Are brake piston removal pliers any good at their job? If so, I have a plan. £35 for rebuild kit and £20 for pliers.

[maviczap]

I use a foot pump and one of those conical beach ball inflator adaptors cut down and jammed into the banjo bolt thread.

A quick pump and it usually shifts the piston. To do each piston in turn, just clamp/wedge 3 pistons in place, then the unclamped pistion will pop out.

[Biker Biggles]

Is it the pistons or could it be the caliper sliders that are stuck?A bit easier and quicker to fix if so.

[Bibio]

the pliers are not bad if you can pump the pistons out enough.

remember you will need two rebuild kits and RRG. dont what ever you do rebuild the callipers with brake fluid no matter what anybody tells you. brake fluid does not build a barrier from the elements which results in seized callipers again after a few years. use RRG.

service your callipers once a year and you will never have to buy pistons/seals for a very long time.

K5 callipers are the same as K8. the callipers are all the same for all years.

[Red ones]

Sounds like I have a plan. I have a set of K5 callipers, so I'll get two sets of seals and some DOT wotsit and some pliers. I can then rebuild some brakes off the bike. Then swap them on to the bike and repeat. Cool.

Now the stupid bit.

I'm not that hard on the rear brakes. I've ridden SVs for 16 years. I do 13,000 miles a year. I once changed the rear pads on the SY, but the K8 is different (oops I must have missed the pads on the K5!). It looks like you need to use a paddock stand to get to the plug and pad mounting pin. Is that right, or am I being daft? I don't remember getting the stand out before.

[Sid Squid]

Hugh!

If the caliper is in good nick, sliding correctly, and not all gunged up, remove the rear caliper bolt and rotate the caliper forwards and you can remove the pads. If you're lucky you can wiggle the caliper and front bolt out of its socket without removing/undoing anything else. If not, then refit the rear bolt and remove the front one (14mm) be warned, it's often stuck and more than once I've seen the bolt come out with the threads of the caliper body, so if you don't need to remove it, and if unless it comes out easily, don't.

[Bibio]

your being daft. you dont need a stand to do it. the rear calliper can be taken off from the carrier (dont loose the shim on the carrier as you cant buy a new one YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED). the rear callipers on the pointy dont usually fur up as they are anodised in the recesses so its just a case of strip clean and grease. all pointy rear callipers are the same for all years.

dont go fancy with brake fluid any dot4 will do. dont forget to buy Red Rubber Grease, i'm not joking. brake fluid is hygroscopic so will suck water which is the cause of the furring on the seal recesses.

[Red ones]

I thought I was being daft.
I clearly don't do the rears that often and I don't want to get them apart and not able to put them back together as the bike is the daily commuter and as I said I don't have time.

I've got the RRG. I once tried DOT 5. Don't do it. DOT 4 is hydroscopic and that's why it needs replacing every so often. DOT5 isn't and water side in the fluid either sinking to the lowest point or boiling if it gets hot enough. Ok if you replaced it every race, but awful to commute daily with.

[tom_e]

It's also totally incompatible with dot 3,4 and 5.1 so don't try mixing them!

Sent from my XT1580 using Tapatalk

[Red ones]

Sorry for being really thick.
I have an aftermarket exhaust that appears to hang lower than the standard so I can't get the rear pad retaining pin out with the rear calliper in situ, or even rotated.

Are you saying that by removing the mounting bolt I can rotate the calliper forward on the sliding pin and then pull the calliper off the bracket?

If so, I can then remove the retaining pin with the calliper in my hand?

[Bibio]

first take the cap off the pin then loosen the pin.

if you cant do that then take both bolts out and lift the caliper free from the carrier (i sometimes do this when taking the rear wheel off as its easier to get the wheel back in with just the carrier)

put a rag on your zort or you will scratch it.

[Red ones]

I'll try taking both bolts out and removing the calliper tomorrow as I can't get to the pin. Otherwise I suspect I might have to pop it on the stand to get rid of the sag and access the pin.

I took the front callipers off this evening and found the left one had a seized pin on the carrier. So I'm hoping it's better now having tapped it out and applied a little TLC aka RRG.

[Red ones]

Back one came off after little bit of wiggling. Cleaned up - wasn't too bad, regreased with RRG, opened up my bag of pads only to realise I hadn't ordered the rear pads!

So I put the old ones back in and will get new ones in the next couple of weeks. At least it now won't take long to do as everything is greased again.

Then thought as I have the tools out I would do a few other checks. Pillion off, seat off, tank up ... hang on ... The clutch adjuster isn't under here!!!

(What you get for going on autopilot)

[Red ones]

The fronts now feel much better and it feels like the pads are bedding in a bit more.

The rear is awful now.
I stripped the rear and regreased and rebuilt with the old pads, having forgotten to order new ones. Now the rear doesn't brake at all. It looks like one of the pads has swollen or something. It just isn't meeting the disc in anything other then a small patch just in from the outer edge. It's really strange. Both pads are sitting snug in the calliper.
The pads are shot so I need to get some new ones. So I think I'll fit a set of GG and see how they feel.