Brake went dead

[Canuck]

Anyone else have this problem. Just replaced the rear tire to a Avon so because the tire was off I also removed the diff and greased the drive shaft. Anyway when I put the brake caliper back on it seemed fine until it was time for a test ride. The rear brake went all the way down and there was no stopping power at all. So took the caliper back off and could not see any thing wrong. Bled the heck out off it and got most off the braking power back. It just doesn,t make sence because when the caliper was first removed it was just moved out off the way and left until the rest was back together. Oh by the way it is an 08 Venture. Any suggestions.

[GeorgeS]

Very strange one ??? Only thing I can say is keep a close eye on it. Close watch for any sign of fluid leakage.

 

Very strange --

[eazyduzzit]

It's not strange at all. Anytime you have a brake caliper off more likely than not you will compress the pistons at least slightly. You could have probably pumped the brake a few times and it would have been fine.

[Stoutman]

My RSTD did the same thing. First time I hit the brake it went all the way down with no braking force at all. All I did was pump the brake while it was still on the bike. It pumped right up and the braking force came back. Now I pump it as a matter of habit everytime I replace the pads. It may be that removing and repositioning of the caliper lets the caliper relax enough to where it takes a few pumps to get the pads back close to the rotor.

[V7Goose]

Did you get the washer in the correct position on the right side? How about the spacer over the bearing on the left side - did you ensure the smooth side was out? A mistake on either of these will cause the brake disk to be in the wrong position.

Goose

[eazyduzzit]

Any time you take the caliper off and put back on you will have to pump the brake a few times to get the pistons back to the right position. I first learned this 20 years ago when I did my first brake job on a car with disc brakes. After I did the back wheels I started the car to back it up about 2 foot to do the front brakes, and ran through a garage door.

Edited October 11, 2008 by eazyduzzit
fix a typo

[dragerman]

It's not strange at all. Anytime you have a brake caliper off more likely than not you will compress the pistons at least slightly. You could have probably pumped the brake a few times and it would have been fine.

... that's what me thinks.

[OutKast]

Check the spacer washer on axle is inbetween the caliper bracket and the swingarm.

[Canuck]

Thanks guys but the first thing I did was pump the heck out off the pedal and got nowhere. Second thing I did was check the washer to see it was put back right. I,m sure I didn,t touch the pedal while doing the rest of the work and there wasn,t any fluid under the bike when I was done. Darn I hate GREMLINS.

[V7Goose]

Once after putting front wheel back on I had no brakes up there. I could squeeze it a thousand time and nothing changed. I found one of the pads was not fully aligned on the rail; one of the ears was caught on the corner and bent back from the piston trying to force the pad toward the disk. After I straightened out the ear and made sure the pads were correctly on the rails, all worked fine.

Goose

[saddlebum]

Anyone else have this problem. Just replaced the rear tire to a Avon so because the tire was off I also removed the diff and greased the drive shaft. Anyway when I put the brake caliper back on it seemed fine until it was time for a test ride. The rear brake went all the way down and there was no stopping power at all. So took the caliper back off and could not see any thing wrong. Bled the heck out off it and got most off the braking power back. It just doesn,t make sence because when the caliper was first removed it was just moved out off the way and left until the rest was back together. Oh by the way it is an 08 Venture. Any suggestions.

sometimes there is a little air in the caliper that is unnoticed until you take the caliper off and let it hang with bleeder screw down it will work its way out of the caliper and up the line sometimes right back to the master. Here combined with the pistons pushed backit tends to have a more noticeable effect than when it was trapped in the caliper. so when you bleed you have to work it all the back to the caliper and then out.