Help with rear brakes

[P-roy]

On my way to work tonight I noticed a grinding noise coming from the rear brake. I thought it odd as 2 days ago I put on new rear tire, brakes pads did the lube of the splines..etc...... When I tried to stop tonight the rear brake pedal was soft, managed to get her stopped and on the side of the road. Looking at the rear brakes, I find that either I forgot to install or tighten the two bolts that hold the rear caliper in place, (they were gone). The caliper was rubbing against the rim and was making the grinding noise. I was able to limp the bike to my work but now need to get things fixed up.

Anyone know what size and thread pitch the bolts are for the caliper. If it wasn't metric I could make a good guess, my metric skills are lacking. Everything looks to be in good shape, and should just be able to be bolted back in place. I will prob run a tap in the caliper to chase the threads. And should I use locktite or something similar when I bolt it back in place.

Edited October 6, 2011 by P-roy

[Yammer Dan]

Don't see how they could have fell out that easy. I don't know size but sure someone will. Could you have left them out?? Did you look where you were working?

[P-roy]

Oh yes it is entirely possible that I just didn't put them in. I called home and had someone check my work area, and they didn't see them. I don't get off work til 6:30 in the morning and am hoping to just hit the 24 hardware nearby and bolt things back up for the drive home. I remember looking at them on a parts tray when I was bolting everything together, but don't remember putting them or tightening them.

[Yammer Dan]

Depending on your ride you could tie it on and not use rear brake on the way home. I've made a few rides like that.

[P-roy]

Actually a couple of zip ties and not using the rear brake I was able ride it the rest of the way into work. Just hoping to get er fixed up proper before the 30 mile commute home.

[mm482]

I think they will be 10mm1.25 and the tighten torque is 29 ft pounds.

 

Earl

[P-roy]

Thanks for the info. Looking at the bolt size I would think they were a little bigger than an 3/8 SAE, 3/8=9.5mm, so my guess would have been a 10mm. The pitch always throws me, but 1.25 seems pretty standard in metric stuff. Thanks again for the info, it makes me a little more confident in my guess, and hopefully makes for a few less trips to the hardware store.

[allwx]

I just wanted to say how much I admire you for making a public admission of the mistake with the bolts. We all have done this sort of thing. I once left the rear caliper bracket bolt loose on my Roadstar; it fell out and was lost. Never admitted it to anyone until now. It feels good to make a clean breast of it!!!

[P-roy]

Well the bike is all fixed up and stopping great again:). The bolts were 10mm 1.25 pitch. Took a little while to locate them as all the big box hardwares around had 10mm but only 1.00 pitch or 1.50 pitch. I even stopped at a commercial fastener place, and a young guy came outside to the bike with a pitch gauge and swore that the bolts were a 1.5 pitch. Sold be a couple of bolts and off I went on my way home. I did not install the bolts then and rode with the caliper tied up and out of the way just not using the rear brake. The bolts would only start in a little way and then stop, like they were the wrong threads. I was going to buy a tap and re-thread the holes but I just couldn't see that the threads looked damaged. Decided to give my local mom and pop hardware a try. They had 10mm bolts in a variety of thread pitches. So I grabbed a couple of 1.25 pitch bolts and presto, they threaded in like new. Looks like mm482 was dead on (not that I doubted you). Thanks again for the help and replies.

[skydoc_17]

The difference between a 1.25 thread pitch and a 1.50 thread pitch is .0099"

(That's 9.9 thousandths of an inch!) Or basically, twice the thickness of a human hair!

If you would have run a 1.50 pitch tap thru that caliper hole, you would have rendered that caliper useless, so it was very smart to take another run at getting the right bolts.

Congrats on getting you bike up and running again.

Earl

[FuzzyRSTD]

Well, just wondering, did you find the original bolts ? Glad you got her going.

 

Fuzzy:thumbsup2:

[Yammer Dan]

Yeah did you find originals? Wondering how they could have gotten out of there. Glad you got it going.

[P-roy]

Well the originals are MIA. I really think I put them in but never tightened them. I rode the bike for 2 days and about 300 miles before I had problems. I did not notice any brake issues or noises until headed to work that night. I guess I'll never know for sure, but I do know that I am very good at putting stuff back together and having left over parts. I always thought it was because I am just more efficient at design than the original engineers. And I am also notorious for putting things in a place where I will always know where they are. So I am sure if I forgot to put the bolts back in, I will find them in that special place in a couple of months.

[Yammer Dan]

Are we related??

[mm482]

Good to see you have rear brakes now.

 

Earl:thumbsup2:

[FuzzyRSTD]

Are we related??

 

Ya, count me in too. Tomorrow I will not remember saying that.

[P-roy]

well yammer dan, I'm not saying we are, but I'm not saying we aren't. My family is from not too far from your area and I spent part of my childhood there.. a couple a little towns Kopperston and Oceana. Love the area but work took me away. Hope ya get you garage done.

[Condor]

Just thinking a bit here... but harmonics will loosen bolts over a period of time... It could come from tire tread, or the final or?? You may have put the bolts on and after 3 days they finally worked their way out. If you had left them out originally the problem would have started emediately. Probably not torqued down enough. You might want to pull them out again a put a dab of Loc-Tite on them to make sure... I think??