Topic: MC rebuild....how to get the clips out???

[Lumbee]

....greetings hedz...trying to rebuild a MC on my 76 550, and got the rubber piece that covers the piston off, but don't see how in hades I'm gonna get the clip and circlip out of there...and suggestions welcome.

...also a question about MC's in general.  The PO had it set up with duel from disks.  Woudl this work with a stock MC?  Not sour if its the stock MC or not...it looks stock, however the lever is not.  I normal single disk MC won't work on a dual disks....correct?

[Bob Wessner]

....greetings hedz...trying to rebuild a MC on my 76 550, and got the rubber piece that covers the piston off, but don't see how in hades I'm gonna get the clip and circlip out of there...and suggestions welcome.

I think the rubber piece you are referring to is the dust cover? If so, and assuming it is the same as the 750, it's held in place by a simple round wire clip that you should be able to fish out with some sort of curved pick. It's the flat circlip that's a bear to remove. Some have successfully gotten it out by hooking one of the loops at each end. Others have used dividers, I used some circlip pliers I found at Sears. Good luck, it's no fun.

[techy5025]

If you are lucky, the circlip will come out by prizing it out with something like an icepick.  Don't
try to save it as the master cylinder kits come with a new one. There have been several threads
attempting to describe the process. I have not found a circlip pliers that is skinny enough,
long enough, and strong enough to reach to and remove the clip.

I don't want to start another mc argument, but I believe if you have the caliper set up with the
correct..read close...spacing from disk to pads that the standard mc should work fine with two
pistons and pads.  My brake lever only moves about one half inch with as much force as I can put on it.
If you double the number of pistons in the cylinder it should still only move an inch or so and should
not bottom out on the grip. You want the lever to move as far as possible to maintain the
greatest mechanical advantage...similar to why we use long wrenches on big nuts. 

Jim

[bryanj]

If it dont come close to the bar with the twin disc it probably aint standard. what you will have to do is take it apart and weasure the diameter of the piston/bore. I think standard is 14mm and the wing is 17mm but its been a long time so i could be wron

[Lumbee]

...thanx, the dividers sounds like a good tip to get the circlip out...

...I just aquired this bike in May, and I brakes were way spongy when I got it (lever bottomed out on the bars).  I cleaned the calipers up, but no new seals as the ones in them seemed OK, but after bleeding was still bottoming out on the bars.  The MC was leaking a little so thats why I'm gonna rebuild it, though I suspect this is not the main cause the brakes aren't working.

[superchode]

if you're not going for a full restore, i would strongly recommend using a used modern master cylinder off a newer bike.

much less hassle, cheaper and will work better than the original.

i picked up a VFR master cylinder for my 750F.

[Stevearino]

Good luck with that.  I tried to find an appropriate circlip plier set, to no avail.  None narrow enough/ strong enough.  Tried to use picks but the tolerance was too close.  Frankly, I gave up and rebuilt the bottom end, and all is fine.  It may be easier to find a replacement.  If you figure it out, let us all know.

[Lumbee]

...yea, i was thinking of going the replacemnt route...how standard is the banjo bolt at the mc...as long as it s japenese will pretty much anything work...

[superchode]

the banjo bolt mates right up with the VFR master cylinder. i may need to get a different length bolt to tighten it down with - but i'm not about to complain about that.

[scout18]

there is a thread in the archives that covers this. they use Crftsman circlip  pliers. I bought some but I had to modify then for them to work  on my MC  I ground the tips smaller and radiused  on side so that it would fit in the back  of the MC nicley. once I hooked it it came right out.

[JohnnyB]

I just did my MC last week.  I guess I got lucky.  The circlip holes were crusted over with rust and I was trying to clear them with a small pick when the clip just kinda popped halfway out. 

[Bob Wessner]

I just did my MC last week.  I guess I got lucky.  The circlip holes were crusted over with rust and I was trying to clear them with a small pick when the clip just kinda popped halfway out.

Quick, it's a sign, go buy a lottery ticket!