Zen and the Art of DIY Motorcycle Maintenance #02 …

Front Brake – What Front Brake? (Part 2)

Removal Of Seized Front Brake Piston – The Easy Way

A 40 year old Classic Honda Motorcycle. No road tax, no MOT, cheap to run – an answer to the Cost Of Living Crisis?

What follows is a pictorial account with description of the 1st phase of that restoration – The missing Front Brake Part 2 …

So, I don’t have a garage and the drive where I can work on the bike is south facing. It was a very hot day and my solution was to set up a ‘Pop Up Workstation’ consisting of a workmate under the BBQ parasol.
All set and in the shade … result
Calliper off the bike and on the bench … well, workmate!

Makeshift brake fluid ‘catcher’ cable tied to fork leg while the calliper is stripped and parts ordered
First challenge was the single screw holing the pressed steel pad cover. Didn’t want to budge so I dug out another 40+ year old relic … see next image
… A couple of sharp taps using my trusty impact driver had that screw out undamaged.
With the cover plate off the old pads and the general mucky condition of the calliper’s working parts could be seen.
The 2 pins that locate the pads were in no mood to pull out easily, a gentle tap with a Pin Punch persuaded the pins to surrender without any fuss or damage
Apologies for the out-of-focus image. And here came another lesson! To dismantle the calliper and gain access to the sliding bolts that create the ‘floating calliper’ design, a 14mm ‘reduced socket’ is required. This issue ‘stopped play’ for that day while a socket was ordered! … (next day) … With the correct socket the 2 bolts undid ‘reasonably easily’ but another rusty mechanic’s mistake meant it was more of a struggle than it should have been – note for next time – release these 2 bolts while the calliper is still on the fork leg, easily reachable through the spokes of the from wheel with a 4″ extension.
… Here is the calliper half complete with seized piston (see my mistake yet?) …
… And here is the whole calliper dissasembled

And here is yet another ‘rusty mechanics’ failing! It has been over 20 years since I worked on bikes but … NO EXCUSE! That piston is going NOWHERE! Looking closely I could see the piston had previously been subject to the stilsons/pipe grips/vice jaws treatment, no way to treat a piston! I tried briefly with compressed air (albeit from a hand pump) to no avail. Anyhow, what I should have thought of earlier and saved myself a lot of time and double handling was to use good old hydraulic pressure to force out that stubborn piston. In other words use the actual brake system to remove the piston.

So, I loosely re-assembled the calliper lightly nipping the sliding bolts. re-attached the calliper minus brake pads, sliding bolt rubber boots, piston rubber boot etc, using just one fork leg bolt so as to enable swinging the calliper clear of the disc, re-connected the hydraulic ‘banjo’ fitting, bled the system (again!) and … see below

… Note the calliper attached using just one bolt to enable the calliper to be swung out away from and clear of the brake disc. Banjo re-attached and system bled.
Here’s a brief video of the piston being persuaded to move …
Here is the piston pumped out as far as possible using the brake lever and good old hydraulics. One thing to be aware of when using this technique is that the fluid reservoir is not designed/does not have the oil capacity to move the piston this far. while gently pumping the brake lever, keep an eye on the fluid level and keep topping up to avoid ingress of air.
So here is the calliper off the bike and stripped again. As you cn see that piston is in very bad shape.
Again with the piston completely out showing the extent of the corrosion.

End of Part 2. 

Thank you for reading.

… And if you’ve just joined at Part 2, below is a little background to this story.

Motorcycling is in my blood [ RIP Dad – A Truly Great Father ] and because of motorcycles I’ve literally spilled many pints of blood [ Conscious Throughout ] My Dad passed the DNA and the bug to me in 1976 aged 15. My younger brother then aged 10 also caught the bug and eventually carried on the motorcycling tradition for far longer than myself. I rode on and off from age 15 to 40, all weathers, commuting on various ‘hack bikes’ while pampering and saving the main bike for dry (mainly) runs out for the sheer joy of riding. My brother recently bought a new 2023 Triumph 765 Street Triple R, a two wheeled sculpture if ever there was such a thing. The Street Triple was to join his stable of bikes alongside his classic Triumph Daytona 1200, and another classic, the Honda CB250 RSA you see below. The little Honda was his ‘hack bike’ back in the day, not used since 2010 and carefully stored, dry and covered in our Dad’s old garage. That garage is a shrine to our dear father, not really disturbed since his sad passing in 2016.

So the Street Triple needed room, the garage needs sorting but both my brother and I are dreading the day we have to disturb our Dad’s workshop and birthplace to so much of his woodwork creativity, and so many precious memories. The motorcycling bug never dies, although I myself have not ridden for over 20 years, the pull has always been there and watching the wonderful Allen Millyard‘s YouTube channel has fed my interest in the mean time, and when my brother suggested I take custody of his little classic Honda and get her back on the road I jumped at the chance!

… And Why ‘Zen’?

There’s a stand out section for me in the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and it is the part where the author describes making, or proposing to make makeshift ‘shims’ for his friends John and Sylvia Sutherland’s new and exclusively dealer serviced BMW motorcycle. Pirsig tries to explain how shims made from a discarded Coca-Cola can would be perfectly adequate and functionally identical to those fitted by the BMW Dealer’s mechanics at exorbitant costs. John Sutherland could not see this or be convinced, so programmed was he that only the main dealer has the expertise, equipment and materials to carry out such a task.

“In the book, the narrator describes the “romantic” approach to life of his friend, John Sutherland, who chooses not to learn how to maintain his expensive new motorcycle. John simply hopes for the best with his bike, and when problems do occur he often becomes frustrated and is forced to rely on professional mechanics to repair it. In contrast, the “classical” narrator has an older motorcycle which he is usually able to diagnose and repair himself through the use of rational problem-solving skills.”

Recap Part 1 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

Published by

Unknown's avatar

Baffled Ape

Baffled by much of human behaviour, Life long engineer, Father, Mate, Love #Nature, #Engineering, Saved by #NHS, Stuck with #ChronicPain, Nature can provide #Green Clean #Energy #Politics is broken, we need #Sortition