Topic: Question about original honda brake pads...

[bparro]

Can anyone tell me what the original Total thickness of a Honda front brake pad was for a K7 or K-8 CB750? The EBC pads that are in there appear to be slightly too thick and do not allow for proper adjustment of the caliper.

[scottly]

This is a problem with the swinging caliper mounting design, which doesn't allow the pads to sit flat against the rotor until they wear in. Remove the adjustment screw and spring, and loosen the three bolts that mount the caliper to the fork leg. Back them out a fair amount, to allow the caliper to float. Squeeze the brake lever, which will force the pads flat against the rotor, and note the gaps between the caliper mounting bracket and the fork. This is the thickness of the shim washers that need to be added. All three shims should be the same thickness.

[Don R]

 Some of the aftermarket pads also are too big OD and need to be sanded a bit. I haven't had new oem pads in forever so I can't help there.
 Scottly makes sense.

[Erny]

I installed new EBC organic pads on my K7 w/o any issue. Disc is like new practically zero wear.

The only problem is crazy squealling. But seems to be decreasing a bit with pads wear (now have 360miles on them)

[PeWe]

I got a problem with locked brake on right side, the 2:nd to get dual. Fender bracket needed to be inside the caliper bracket + shims to make the caliper bracket to sit parallel with rotor. CB750K6

[bparro]

Ahhh so there are shims available to cure this? Were shims ever used from the factory?

[Yoshimatic]

Some of the aftermarket pads also are too big OD and need to be sanded a bit. I haven't had new oem pads in forever so I can't help there.
 Scottly makes sense.

The EBC pads I got were too big OD also and had to hit the OD with sanding disc to allow the pad to move free in the calliper. The calliper has a convex piece on the piston which is meant to allow the pad to move to some degree to keep it flat on the disc. The other half of the calliper without the piston also has convex shape where the pad sits. I don’t use the adjuster screw with spring at all and leave it out.
The bracket spacing idea mentioned before is a real good one, I like it a lot.

[bparro]

The pads that are in there have already been reworked to fit the caliper without hanging up. I only need about 1mm to make a difference so I'm thinking about carefully surfacing the stationary pad to gain the gap that I need. Thoughts on that?

[bparro]

Ok guys, I have installed a new OEM piston seal, bled the brakes to a rock hard lever and I still have a piston that doesn't retract fully. My 1978 750k caliper has a plastic washer between the piston and the brake pad. Should I remove that?
I also wanted to add that I made sure the return hole is clear. Looking at the exploded views of the front caliper doesn't show this plastic washer at all. Anyone know where it came from?

[bparro]

UPDATE!
I removed that plastic washer behind the brake pad and now it works as it should!

[PeWe]

The plastic washer looked like a ring was placed behind the fixed side? Not piston side.

[robvangulik]

The plastic washer looked like a ring was placed behind the fixed side? Not piston side.

That ring is shown here on the rear side of the (piston side) brakepad, as it should be!

[bparro]

Yes, it was on the back of the pad on the piston side. But, wouldn't the plastic washer be accounted for on the parts list if it was meant to be there?