I replaced rear brake pads for the first time tonight. It was simpler and harder than I expected. Still, I did it somewhat wrong.

I was following Clymers. I took the cover off the fluid resevoir just like the instructions said. The problem was that I took the cover off the front break resevoir not the rear resevoir.  That could explain why it was so hard to push the pistons in :lol:

Anyway, should I worry about bleeding the front brakes? Since I didn't take the cover off the rear resevoir do I need to do something to that? There won't be a problem with too much pressure in the line will there? The fluid level is still within the fill markings.

I went for a ride and everything seemed to be working fine.

You shouldn't need to bleed the front brakes. Bleeding gets rid of air in the system, or flushes old fluid out, but if all you did was remove the cap you shouldn't have any air to worry about in the lines. As long as you didn't knock and debris or gunk into the resivoir of course... Brake fluid's biggest enemy is moisture, so don't take the caps off your resivoirs more than you have to, it introduces moisture and other contaminants into the system... and nobody wants brake problems...

I learned something here though.. the front and back brakes are on their own systems. I don't guess I'd even taken note of it this past week or so getting the bike in order.. pretty cool.

trey

Quote from: dwburmanI replaced rear brake pads for the first time tonight. It was simpler and harder than I expected.

I shot some video of the procedure 2 or 3 weeks ago now, but I haven't done any editing yet.

What I want to know is - did it scare you when you pulled one of the pins and one or both springs "sprang"?  (Depending on the Clymer procedure steps this may not have happened at all.)

Just curious!  :dunno:

lol kerry....i did just that this week, to clean my rear pads up etc...pulled pins and woooooosshhhh..springs must have flew 10ft into air...one question tho..do all u guys still have theshims on the back of the pads...cos mine hasnt and the brake(rear) squeals...smeared copper slip on backs of pads..stopped it for 100 miles and know its louder...can those shims be bought seperate?/ and how much cheers.......

I hope Kerry get his video out soon. I will attempt to change my brake pad next month. I hope I won't get shot by stray springs. An idea will be  to cover up the brake with a piece of transparent plastic bag before I remove the pins.

Quote from: lee67lol kerry....i did just that this week, to clean my rear pads up etc...pulled pins and woooooosshhhh..springs must have flew 10ft into air...one question tho..do all u guys still have theshims on the back of the pads...cos mine hasnt and the brake(rear) squeals...smeared copper slip on backs of pads..stopped it for 100 miles and know its louder...can those shims be bought seperate?/ and how much cheers.......

According to Kerry "Ron Ayers sells the shims (items 13 & 14) for $6.30 each.  YOW!"    

heres the link...

http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3428

yeah, the sprung springs s'prised me. I kinda wish I wore eye protection even though they didn't fly into my face.

I had to go out and buy some brake pad lube and needle nose pliers since mine apparently disapeared. I only found some stuff in a spray can called "disc brake quiet" or something like that. No squeaks last night. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

The things I had trouble with was pushing the pistons all the way in (because I didn't take the top of the resevoir) and lining the pads up to get the pins back in.

I think the Clymers has an error in this section. It said that the brake hose didn't need to be detached but the calipers needed to detached from the fork sliders. I think it was just copied from the front brakes section.  :dunno: