Time to get back to it, and this session will cover installation of the front brakes. I'll get to the throttle cables later; the front brake really needs to be installed first, but I'll be getting back to them eventually...
Here is a layout of the major components (excluding the rotor): moving from right to left (sorry... no especially fancy words for that that I know of) we have the Master Cylinder, complete with lever, hose "B" and boot; next is the three-way "joint" with pressure switch and hose "A"; below that are the caliper adjustment "bolt" and spring, the joint attachment bolt with clip, and a brake connection "Banjo" bolt with crush washers; next to that we have the front and rear caliper (calipers "A" and "B', respectively) with pads, the caliper hanger, and the two big caliper bolts; finishing up with the caliper hanger attachment bolts, the rigid brake pipe and the disc splash guard
Now, if you've been following along you'll notice that some of the above indicated parts (hanger and splash guard) have already been installed with the fender. That simply leaves us with just that much less to fiddle with during this session. And, are we happy about that? Yes, we are...
I began by installing the 3-way joint; it fits up against a stop on the bottom steering yoke and is connected with a single bolt. For what appears to be such a simple component, it's actually sort of complicated. Here it is with all of its parts:
At right is the brake light pressure switch with its associated crush washer and wiring harness; at bottom is a Banjo bolt and crush washers; to the left we have the mounting bolt and a clip that will help route the speedo cable when we get to that. Finally, we have a second banjo bolt with washers (note that the actual "Banjo" is the fitting at the end of the brake line...
Banjos
...so the above bolt is the "internally relieved" bolt that connects it to the system; hence, the term "Banjo bolt")...
Whatever. As I mentioned, the 3-way joint fits on a bracket formed into the lower yoke
Next, I attached the lower brake hose (hose "A") to the bottom of the joint with a banjo bolt; note the crush washers on either side of the banjo "head". The "neck" fits into a little slot formed into the "skirt" surrounding the hose/joint interface; it routes the hose toward the rear (inset)...
...where it curves down and back again toward the front. A rubber grommet on the hose attaches it to the fender via this bale...
The bale is pretty stiff wire, so it can be difficult to push the hose connector and grommet down over it. The method that worked best for me was to slide the grommet down onto the hose, slip the hose and grommet into the bale, then push the hose connector into position in the grommet.
Once the hose is in position on the bale, the next step is installing the rigid brake pipe. It routes down between the fork and fender; there's a little valley formed into the fender brace for it. There should be plenty of room here; if you can't get the pipe through, you've got the fender on wrong (see the fender installation post). I left it loosely connected to the hose in order to have some wiggle room when inserting the pipe into the caliper
With the pads pre-installed, the two halves of the caliper are attached to the hanger with two big bolts. It helps to back off or, better yet, remove the caliper adjustment bolt and spring while installing the caliper to the hanger, and make sure that pad "A" (moving or active pad with piston) is pushed as far into the caliper as it can go
The brake pipe then routes onto the caliper, where it attaches at the pipe inlet. I tightened down the pipe connector here, then finished up the connection at the hose "A"/pipe joint. The pipe needs to be able to move with the caliper without binding, so when snugging down the connectors I was careful to avoid introducing any extraneous tension into the system, and made sure that the caliper moved freely after the pipe was installed
Gotta love that POR-15 Chassis Cote!
Back at the joint, the girls were feeling frisky, so I dropped my... oops! ...Sorry! Wrong forum!!! ...where was I... oh, yes; back at the 3-way joint the upper brake hose (hose "B") connects in a similar fashion as hose "A", and is routed upward toward the master cylinder. This hose has an interesting configuration in that one of the banjo joints is slightly bent (inset): this attaches to the master cylinder while the straight end connects here at the 3-way joint, as depicted
This leaves the final major component to install: the Master Cylinder (or MC). This is another part from the original bike, and I've rebuilt it and installed a new kit.
The MC fits onto the bars using a clamp and it, like all the other bar clamps we've used, has one "leg" longer than the other. In this case, the short leg is indicated by a little punch mark on the clamp (inset). I installed the clamp with the punch mark (short leg) oriented to the bottom, tightening the top bolt first and leaving the gap on the bottom of the bar. The MC will have to be re-adjusted on the bar once the bike is all together and in running trim in order to maintain the correct fluid level; for now I'm setting it roughly in a position that will be conducive to bleeding and adjusting the brake
With the MC in place, the upper brake hose (hose "B") is routed up from the 3-way joint and installed. There's a rubber boot that covers the connection at the MC; I slid it down over the hose, then attached the hose to the MC using two crush washers and a banjo bolt. I'll leave the boot off until I've bled the brakes just to make sure there no leaks here
Now that everything is in place, I went through all of the connections and made sure they were tight. I adjusted the pad "B"/rotor clearance to .006" per the owner's manual, then added fluid and bled the brakes per Two Tired's excellent write-up in the FAQ section. If you haven't read it yet, you should as it is invaluable...
After bleeding the brakes, I installed the rubber cover over the hose "B"/MC connection to complete installation of the front brake
Upper brake hose (Hose "B")
Lower brake hose (Hose "A") and brake pipe connection
The main thing I was concerned with during the installation, particularly the rigid brake pipe, was that the system remain as neutral as possible. It's important for proper retraction of the caliper and pads that the caliper arm able to move freely and not be forced to one side or the other due to a twisted hose or connection. Bleeding and adjusting the brake is enough of a PITA without fretting over the mechanicals, so it's best not to
hose up your connections! Har, har! Get it? "
Hose up your"...
Fine. Be that way.
With that, I'll bring this session to a screeching halt
Next post will cover more brakes and some peripheral items like shifters, riding pegs and what-not. Should be a blockbuster!
'til next time
