[BigDawg]

Well, I had just changed my brake lines to SS for better feel at the track, and had new diablo corsas mounted up. After putting everything back together, I now have tons of front break drag. Everything appears to be back together fine and works well but if I exit a corner hard and it lifts the front at all, when it contacts the ground I get a big old chirp from the front tire. When the bike is on the stands, I can hardly rotate the front. What gives? Any suggestions to gain some rotor clearance. These are older pads (still got some life) and everything was working fine when I took it apart. Kinda freaky to hear. Any ideas?

Anyone? Please!

 

[CBRGuy]

How much drag? All brakes drag some. Anything less than 1/2-3/4 turn when you spin it seems like it is excessive.

 

[ConqSoft]

Front axle spacers on the correct sides?

 

[HondaGalToo]

Before tightening down the axle bolt and pinch bolts, give the wheel a spin and hit the brakes a few times, to help center the rotors. Then tighten stuff. I think the order was to tighten the axle bolt, then the right side pinch bolts (rider's perspective), then take it off the stands, bounce it a few times, then tighten the left side pinch bolts.

*Someone please correct me if this sequence is wrong. I'm doing it from memory, the order may be different**

I had a lot of drag initially, but did the above, (or something real similar) and now the amount of drag is normal. The wheel will spin for about 1 to 1 1/2 revolutions.

 

[lfg929]

You got it right HGT.

My guess is the spacers aren't on correctly or the sequence HGT mentioned was not followed. There is some flex in the fork tubes at the bottom and if you don't center the wheel along the axle before you tighten everything down then you will get excessive drag from the brakes.

 

[Gearhead]

Well, duh, get your fingers off the brake lever
Seriously, though, I'm gonna go with Conq on this one. Check those spacers to make sure they're on the proper sides.
Possibly warped rotors? Or, might need to shim the calipers. Let us know what it turns out to be.

 

[BigDawg]

It could be incorrect spacer setup. I had left them in the wheels originally but when they mounted the rubber, they pulled them and I just reinstalled them how I thought was correct

Let see here. As of right now, I have the spacer with the large flange on right side against the right fork leg (sitting on the bike). The straight gage spacer is against the step in the axle. Sound right?

At most I might get 1/2 turn. Way to tight. I had thought it might be because I had the pistons pushed way out when I bled them and ended up pushing them back in thier bores but out of center so I thought some riding would finsh centering them. WRONG! Still really really bad. I'll have to try what HGT had mentioned. Come to think of it, I think tightened everything up on the stands.

No warped rotors and no I'm not grabbing the lever! LOL

Any idea if the spacers are right? If so I'll loosen the axle clamps and try the above mentioned bounce method. Thankx.

fast

 

[Zippy]

Also, check that the fork tubes have not slipped in the triple clamps. This happened on my friend's bike when he had the wheel off, and it made the brakes drag badly. Make sure they are at the same height at the top of the upper trible clamp.

When I take put the front back on, I put the axle through, tighten the pinch bolts on the side without the nut. Then I tighten the nut on the axle, then tighten the pinch bolts on the nut side. It is not quite what the manual says to do, but it always has worked fine. No brake drag. I get 1 1/2 to 2 revolutions. Done it at least five times. I don't even bounce the front end any more before the final tightening like I used to.

 

[HondaGalToo]

I forget offhand which side the spacers go on. I'll have a look when I get home, unless someone else chimes in.

 

[BillAce]

I beleive the space with the flange is on the Front Brake lever side and the straight flange is on the clutch side. I looked at my bike but the aftermarket wheels came with new spacers so I'm going from memory.

Bill

 

[BigDawg]

According to your accounts, I should be fine with the spacing then. Maybe I just need to loosen the front wheel and do the bounce trick

Like I said, it was fine when I pulled it apart and the only difference is the brake lines and the new rubber.

 

[lfg929]

I think the spacers are correct. My guess is you just need to center the wheel. You would be surprised how much affect this little step will have on the brake drag.

 

[Denny]

Since you replaced the brake lines, is it possible you have air in the lines? If everything else is correct, I would pursue that.

 

[BigDawg]

Thankx lfg. I'll pull it down later and see if I can get it sorted. Like you said, what seems so small is making a huge difference. I had almost no brake drag prior, now I can hardly get the wheel to spin.

Thankx again.

 

[CanyonCarver]

BigDawg,

If the spacers check out OK, and the bounce trick doesn't help, you may be experiencing something I just went through.

After a minor off-road excursion at Buttonwillow (no crash, just some dirt ridin&#39, my brakes started doing exactly what you describe.  I tried both of the above ideas, but no luck.  Now, I know you just changed lines and bled the brakes and in the process, you probably pushed the pads and therefore the pistons back into their bores.  If you didn't clean around the pistons before doing this, it can contaminate the seals with dirt/crud which will then keep the pistons from retracting properly from the rotors after applying the brakes.

My calipers were dirty from off-roading, and when I swapped lines it created part of my problem with the brakes dragging.  The other part was a very hot day at Buttonwillow (just under 100) that helped my pads to embed quite a bit of their material into the rotor surface, causing lots of friction between pad/rotor.

The fix was to rebuild the calipers with new seals to remove the contamination and use Scotch-brite & acetone to scrub the rotors clean on both sides.  Also, I installed some new pads at the same time.  Problem solved.  The front wheel now spins like new.

As this was a bit of work to remedy, I hope that you are successful with the bounce trick.  But if it doesn't help, you might try the caliper rebuild with pads and scrub the rotors clean.

Best of luck to you.

 

[tkjacobs]

Hey, I had almost the exact same situation.
Changed to stainless lines and EBC HH pads.
All of the sudden tons of brake drag.

Well, today I decided to try the tightening order, and also put some brake lub on the pads (backside, duh!&#33, pins, and spring.

I took the calipers off and pryed the pads apart a bit, to loosen them up.
Lubed the rubbing spots on the pads and caliper.
Put it all back together.
Now, something I discovered is that you probably don't want to squeeze the lever any harder than you would to normally stop, or stop on the track.
Even with the stainless lines I can bottom the lever on the grip if I pull hard enough. This seems to be a big no, no.
Only squeeze the lever enough to get the pads back seated on the rotors.
Then take it for a spin, carefully, and brake fairly hard a few times.

Unfortunately, whilst spinning the wheel to check the drag I discovered that my wheel is bent!!!!!

On the plus side, the drag is all but gone.
Now when I do stand-up wheelies I can still see the tire turning. Before it would stop RIGHT away.

cheers!!

 

[ConqSoft]

tkjacobs : Unfortunately, whilst spinning the wheel to check the drag I discovered that my wheel is bent!!!!!

On the plus side, the drag is all but gone.
Now when I do stand-up wheelies I can still see the tire turning. Before it would stop RIGHT away.

Hmm. I wonder how that wheel could've gotten bent?

 

[tkjacobs]

I seriously NEVER bring the front end down hard.
The 929 is so 'dial-a-wheelie' it's easy to bring it down soft.

I strongly suspect a mid-corner sharp bump.

Or maybe when changing tires?
I would think I would have had to have really cranked on it to actually bend the wheel.

Now thinking back a bit I may have been braking really hard not too long ago and bottomed the forks on a sharp piece of road. I remember it being quite a jolt.

 

[HondaGalToo]

Canyoncarver has a point, but before doing an entire rebuild, if the bouncing/retightening sequence doesn't work, just clean the calipers first. Remove them, take out the pads, and spray liberally with contact/brake cleaner. Scrub with a toothbrush. Reassemble.

 

[chrissie32]

Brake drag could be anything from contaminated brake pads, wheel out of alignment, worn brake pads, warped brake disc to sliding caliper stuck, just need to check everything every one is mentioning..anyone of these could be it..i'm in the middle of taking motorcycle mechanics course.