'92 Royale stopped up brake line

[rcbailey56]

Good morning everyone,

 

Since purchasing a non-running '92 VR back in January, I've gotten it running and have everything working on it except the back/left front brakes.

 

I rebuilt the master cylinder and the rear brake caliper. It wouldn't bleed. I removed the line going to the front at the master cylinder and plugged the master cylinder with a flanged bolt. Back brakes bled out fine.

 

I have intentions to de-link the rear and front brakes, but I want to get this thing fixed first. As I don't yet have the money to upgrade yet. As part of the de-link process, I've read on this site that many people are using YZF-R1 or R6 calipers, so I got a set of blue-star front calipers off an R6. $49 bucks on eBay with no shipping charge. Tested them on the bench and they looked like they were working.

 

After installation, still couldn't bleed the brakes. I got a 65cc syringe and attached a piece of clear tubing to it and tried to pull brake fluid through the line that way. No love there, as the syringe would pull a vacuum but when I let go, it would just snap back. I felt like something was stopped up. I loosened the bleeder up by the handle bars and tried again, same result. I must be stopped up somewhere between the caliper and the top bleeder.

 

Ok, so what now? I went out to the barn and tried the same thing on an '87 donor bike I have. I could pull air through its line just fine. So, I removed that brake line and installed it on my '92. Now when I use the syringe method of bleeding, I can pull brake fluid all the way from the rear master cylinder reservoir to the front left caliper. HOO! RAY!

 

Finished bleeding the brakes and now I have a decent pedal and feel like I can do an upgrade from a clean baseline when the time comes (that translates to, when I get the money). If I hadn't already spent so much money on this bike, I would've already gotten the brake upgrade kit that Skydoc_17 sells and I will. Here's the link to his kit: http://www.venturerider.org/classifi...line-21&cat=22

 

I post this to help encourage others that it is possible to clean up a 20+ year old brake system. On bikes that have been sitting up for many years, a stopped up brake line might be preventing you from bleeding your brakes.

 

Important: If you have an older bike (20+ years old), it would be in your best interest to replace as much of the old system as you can afford as stopping is so important and no one needs a surprise in an emergency on a high-powered 800 lb. bike.

 

Let's go riding.

Edited April 24, 2014 by rcbailey56
typo

[dvuch1]

I hadn't seen that before....nor thought of it...but I have seen some goo eee fluids before so I guess it shouldnt surprise me ... thanks

[Flyinfool]

When you do put n Skydocs delink kit, you will be replacing every single brake line with new braided stainless lines. So any gunked up old lines will not matter.

[Venturous Randy]

I had a plugged up clutch line one time.

RandyA