| Author | Message | ||
     Dongalonga |
Ok well I changed the front brake pads the other day to EBC. I didnt have the repair manual so I took the whole caliper apart like a dummy. After about and hour or two of bleeding I finally got all the air out. So I went for a ride and there was a really bad clunking in the front end under moderate to hard braking. During light braking there is still a noticable pulsation and a light clunk. So, I decide to walk next to the bike with the front brake lightly applied and noticed the pads catch at the same exact spot on the rotor every time. a little less than a quarter of the rotor seems to catch the pads. The bike did have a light pulsation before changing the pads. so, what i am wondering is if the front rotor is warped or if the head bearings are loose. i have heard both can cause this type of problem. Unfortunately I dont have a delaer anywhere near me or a front stand. I know i need to order a repair manual and a stand, but what will be needed for the head bearings? i dont want to buy a rotor if it is not the problem. | ||
| Dongalonga |
ok well my father and i just checked it again. i drove down the street and shut the bike down and then got on the brakes. neither of us think the clicking/clunking is coming from the brakes. so, i suspect it is the head bearings. is this something i will have to bring to a shop? i do pretty much all my own work unless it involves a stand as i dont have one. | ||
| Glitch |
The best thing you can do at this point is buy a service manual. The head bearing is a quick adjustment. Easy to do yourself in minutes, the only special tool you'll need is a torque wrench. You'll have to lift the weight off the forks, but you can do that with a jack under the muffler. | ||
| Dongalonga |
I have a Jardine....am i still able to use a jack?? I also found and printed the instructions for the head bearings, definately an easy job...just need to figure out how to get the beast off the ground now!! | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
hang it from some rafters in the garage/shed. i do this for my service work and it works great. i do wish i had some stands though. | ||
| Daves |
Do not use a jack on the Jardine, it will crush like a pop can. Hang it like Firebolt suggests Be careful when torquing the clamp/pinch bolt at the top center of the upper triple tree, many people have snapped the tab on the tree by over tightning it. | ||
| Dongalonga |
i also dont have a shed/garage so it looks like i will be have to wait till i can afford a front stand. oh well no riding for me for awhile....bummer  | ||
| Kootenay |
Front stand will still support the bike weight through the head bearing. You want to find a way to support the front wheel off the ground with no weight on the front end (like using a muffler jack, or hanging it by the frame). | ||
| Indy_bueller |
You could take the Jardine off temporarily so you can jack it up and adjust the head bearing. | ||
| Dongalonga |
i was thinking the same thing. i will have to give that a try. i hope the jardine goes back on alright. | ||
| Dongalonga |
Well I took off the muffler and jacked the bike up. I then proceeded to remove handlebars, removed the top steering head pinch bolt, loosened the steering head bearing cap nut, removed the lower pinch bolts, torqued the bearing nut to 42 lbs, applied locktite to all of the bolts, reinstalled the steering head pinch bolt to 19 lbs., and reinstalled the lower pinch bolts to 15 lbs., and reinstalled the handlebars. I ttok it out for a ride and sure enough the clunking is still there. It looks like the problem must be in the brakes. Anyone have any suggestions?? | ||
| Hammer71 |
Just an idea here but check to see that you havent lost or damaged any of the springs behind the rotor. | ||
| Dongalonga |
Good call on the rotor. I have decided it must be a slightly warped rotor. I had the bike jacked again and rechceked all the caliper bolts and the clunk is still there a little. Looks like I will getting a new rotor soon. | ||
| Blake |
The clunk wasn't there prior to your brake pad replacement? If not, then something has likely changed during that procedure that is causing or exacerbating the clunking issue. Loose steering head bearings would be an obvious source of clunking as demonstrated via following diagnostic tests. 1. Bike in neutral on flat smooth grade or downhill grade, get it moving to a slow walking speed and clamp hard on the front brake. If you hear a clunk-clunk, repeat and take note of possible movement of upper triple clamp relative to frame. A single clunk could just be the pads slamming into the caliper as the brake is applied. No worries if that is the case. 2. With the front end jacked up as you already described, have someone brace the bike as you, from in front of the front wheel, grasp the bottom legs of each fork and pull them towards you. You will be able to detect a loose steering head bearing via the movement and clunking of the fork legs. To check the rotor, clamp a straight edge against the right hand side fork so that it is just barely off the surface of the disk. Spin the wheel and observe if/how the gap between straight edge and disk varies. If the gap doesn't vary, your disk is not warped. If it varies significantly, the disk is warped or bent. Hope that helps.  | ||
| Dongalonga |
Thanks Blake I am going to have to try that straight edge trick. I am pretty sure it isnt the head bearings as I have do the low speed check and there in no clunk only at riding speeds like the rotor is warped. | ||
| Dongalonga |
alright i did the straight edge and sure enough the 4-6" section i thought i heard slightly catching is warped slightly as well...go figure. i also retried the walking method and the clunk is definatley coming from the brakes and not the triple. so I guess it is a combination of the rotor and mounting hardware being slightly out of tolerance. the stock pads probably wore in with the imperfection that developed in the rotor. the new pads just brought out the noise that went along with the pulsation i had with the stockers. | ||
| Blake |
I cannot imagine how pads could adapt to a warped or bent rotor. | ||
| Dongalonga |
kind of like a car with a warped rotor the pads will wear unevenly and if you put on a new set of pads without addressing the rotors the slight pulsation you may have noticed before becomes much more evident. i just got back from a ride and noticed that the clunk seems to almost completely go away once the brakes are warmed up. also it seems to be less noticeable from higher speeds once it is warmed up. i could feel a slight pulsation but no noise except intermittently at lower speeds...i am puzzled!! | ||
| Kootenay |
Blake, worn pads, being thinner, might allow more lateral movement without "bottoming" than new, thicker pads would--makes sense to me (but only if the rotor is only slightly warped...). Donga, at least now you know your head bearing is correctly tensioned! | ||
| Dongalonga |
yeah at least i know one thing is all set for the time beings!! i am going to check my tire pressure again!! | ||
| Blake |
Is the surface of your disk discolored, kind of mottled in appearance? If so, try cleaning it via scotch brite pad and brake cleaner. The runout you detected though may be problematic. Check between disk and wheel mounting points for debris/dirt that may be holding the disk off the wheel and preventing it from floating as it should. | ||
| Dongalonga |
i did check all of the springs and they appear to be working perfectly. the rotor does have some discolored streaks on the edges of the pad contact area. i will have to try cleaning it up. | ||
| Blake |
You had the disk off the wheel? | ||
| Dongalonga |
no i meant i pushed on the rotor at the perches to check for binding and looked for debris. i know this isnt the way to check if the springs are in tolerance but i was just making sure they were even working at all. | ||
| U4euh |
Kinda out of left field here, but you said that you checked the caliper bolts. Was that torque value? The reason I ask is this, I replaced my pads and somehow the shims that went around the bolts got away from one. First ride I took I heard a loud clank or clud sound when hitting the front brake. Couldn't figure out what it was until I actually hung off the side of the bike at about 30 MPH and tap the front brake, not enough to slow, but just enough to make the noise. From that angle I could see that the caliper was moving about 1/8 of an inch, the caliper crashing into the fork mounts is what was making the noise for me. | ||
| Dongalonga |
are you taling about the clip that hold the pads in or the washers for the caliper bolts?? | ||
| U4euh |
Washers for the bolts. | ||
| Dongalonga |
There were no washer on the caliper mounting bolts if thats what you are refering to. I torqued them to 37 lbs. and used blue locktite. I couldnt find the torque spec for the center bolt that hold the pads in or the bolts that mate both sides of the calipers together. If anyone knows them it would be much appreciated. | ||
| Americanmadexb |
i also have heard the noise from my brakes. its more of a clicking at medium to hard breaking then it is a clunking. i thought i read somewhere that it was normal! It did this from the time i took it off the showroom floor till now, 2,500 miles later! Should i be worried? | ||
| Dongalonga |
Yeah it was a lot louder initially before retorquing everything and locktiting. Now it is almost completely gone and I can definately live with it as the is not vibration/shake in the steering. I just rode today for about three hours at highway and city speeds and everything seems fine. In fact the bike has never felt so stable on the highway. |
