New 85 VR owner needs help

[englishwheeler]

Today I bought a 85 VR with 49,000 miles got a great deal $1,000.00 bucks has a couple of issues it will need fork seals. It has a miss and suppers at high rpm it has been settin for a while put half can of sea foam and filled tank with premium. Class system was unpluged pluged it up got E-4 code. Main concern is rear brake is draging going to drain old and put new fluid and bleed. Thought I saw something about someother problem that might cause it?

[skydoc_17]

Hey KJ,

Good score on your 85'VR! Now about that Pesky rear brake! Since it's so hard to get to the rear master reservoir, you will probably find the fluid is pretty old and in pretty bad shape. The other problem is that the rear caliper is in just as bad a shape as the rear master cylinder. If it was my bike, and I just got it, I would pull the rear master cylinder and reservoir, clean it real good, check the very small hole that feeds brake fluid to the rear brake line and you should be OK. I would then remove the rear caliper, pop the pistons out, (I use compressed air, be sure to cover with a cloth, those pistons are gonna' fly!) check the seal and wiper O'Rings (the two rubber rings are different) buff the pistons, a light hone with oil in the piston bores, clean the parts up, lube the piston bores with brake fluid before you put the pistons back in, and put it back together. As I have said before, there is nothing inside a caliper that retracts the pistons, If you can't push and pull them out by hand then they need to be throughly cleaned. You will have a good day in this project but there will be no cost for parts, I don't know about you but I have more time than money these days. If this doesn't do it, you will need rebuild kits for the master cylinder and rear caliper.

Good luck on your project,

Earl

[jimmyenglish]

At this point just replace the caliper with an R6. I can't remember the specific years that will work. It's an easy search and they're cheap on ebay all day. I'm going to do this soon with all of them. These bikes are awesome and all the money you throw at them will not be in vain! Nice purchase.

[skydoc_17]

Unfortunately, The MKI (83-85) Ventures have the smaller braking systems on them. The bolt pattern for holding the calipers on is 80MM as opposed to the MK2s (86-93) which is 100MM. I have the R1 calipers on my 87'VR and think they were well worth the investment.

Earl

[Monty]

Here is one thing that will make the rear brake drag...

 

If someone has had the rear wheel off, there is a thin spacer on the right side. This spacer goes between the rear caliper bracket and the swingarm...NOT between the caliper bracket and the wheel (this will hold the caliper at a small angle to the rotor, and make the brake drag, getting the rotor very hot).

 

 

Don't ask how I know this.

[dynodon]

my 86 had dragging brakes, but I noticed it on the front. The rear brake is linked to one of the front brakes, so if you have one front AND the rear brake dragging, then it is a plugged orifice in the foot brake master cyl. If it is just the rear brake dragging, then it is probably in the caliper.