Front Caliper Piston Service + Fluid Refill

After a drop of the bike (99 SVS), the left hand caliper has been sticking. I have ridden it out and it comes good after a few minutes, but i do not want to risk a seize when i am riding.

I recently gave my back caliper a full service, split the caliper and regreased etc. It was actually a very rewarding job!

I want to do my front brakes now and wanted some advice on how similar it will be. Do i split the caliper in the same way?

Some other questions -
- I don't like the idea of bleeding the fluid dry, would it be best to service calipers then bleed new fluid through after? Or should i empty it out fully and fill up after? Just worried air bubbles will grow in the master cylinder.

- Depending on the answer to above, maybe i will do just the left hand side... problems here?

Basically, i can either do it myself or pay somebody £30+ to do it... i have fluid and grease, so i will do it myself providing it is not drastically different to the rear brake.

Any advice appreciated here guys!

[Mr Speirs]

I think if you are capable of doing the rear you will be capable of doing the front too. If it were me I wouldn't be comfortable just doing one id do them both at the same time, why not eh?
Not sure about the fluid question but again if it were me I would flush out the whole system and start from scratch.

not that bad to be fair fella, just a few more pistons per calliper. personally if u cant afford the bike to be off the road longer than a weekend, buy a set of seals (wemoto personal choice) and split the front calipers, replace the seals and give all the pistons a polish/clean up and bleed new fluid through- the key to this is time/persistance its quite a simple task to do.

[yorkie_chris]

Or you could pay me £25 to do it

Exactly the same as the rear in principle, except with it being a sliding caliper rather than opposed there's nothing to split.

Easy to do, get a G clamp, pump them out a bit at a time, using the G clamp to stop the other piston from moving. Get them bothe moving out equally if you know what I mean.
Reassemble as for the rear.

Do job right and do both sides. You can probably do both in 30mins.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by vzzzbuxt

not that bad to be fair fella, just a few more pistons per calliper.

Same number per caliper. But they are parallel rather than opposed.

[Mr Speirs]

YC if you were closer to me (geographically speaking) id take you up on that offer. I could do it on my own with the Haynes but would be more comfortable having a Pro showing me

[yorkie_chris]

I'm not a pro, just a tight amatuer!

why would a drop make them stick do you think???

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Exactly the same as the rear in principle, except with it being a sliding caliper rather than opposed there's nothing to split.

Easy to do, get a G clamp, pump them out a bit at a time, using the G clamp to stop the other piston from moving. Get them bothe moving out equally if you know what I mean.
Reassemble as for the rear.

Do job right and do both sides. You can probably do both in 30mins.

so, just to clarify... the caliper does not split? the middle paragraph makes it sound like i don't have to remove the pistons?

Do you have any advice on how to handle the fluid? Full drain?

why would a drop make them stick do you think???

i really don't know... but it seems that a slight knock on the caliper has caused it. If a re-grease does no good i will have to look more at warping.

Originally Posted by branny

so, just to clarify... the caliper does not split? the middle paragraph makes it sound like i don't have to remove the pistons?

Do you have any advice on how to handle the fluid? Full drain?

no but you need to get the slider out and give that a clean/grease aswell, but yeah you can get the pistons out without taking the caliper apart