Calliper seals

[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)