| Author | Message | ||
     Mikef5000 |
So I finally figured out how to lift both wheels off the ground without a proper lift, and now..... How in the heck do you get the front wheel off of this thing?! My conclusion is that I pull that center top bolt out of the caliper, and the brake pads pull out the top?! Then there's enough clearance for the caliper to slide off the rotor at an angle?! Is this right? If so... how the heck do I get that little bolt out of the caliper? It's in there tight as hell, and the more I try with a flat-head screwdriver the more it wants to strip out. Is there a trick? | ||
| Joesbuell |
Are you talking about the little plug that covers the brake pad retaining bolt? if so they can be a bitch! hit the end of your screw driver with a hammer to help shock it lose! this may help. once you have the pads out the caliper will come off very easily.Good luck  | ||
| Djkaplan |
You gotta remove the brake pads first to get the caliper off. That little bolt that covers the retaining pin is a bitch and half. Before you bugger it to a point where you're screwed (pun intended), I'd use one of those manual impact drivers (heat might not be wise)to break it loose - be careful, though (if you have to, you can always unbolt the brake disc from the wheel to get the caliper free and clear of the bike so you can hammer on the caliper with the impact driver - lightly!). If you get the screw out without having to unbolt the disc, tape a section of the wheel up because you're going to have to jiggle the hell out of the caliper to find the point where it slips out between it and the disc. I could only get mine out by the use of mystic Zen-like movements with my eyes closed at that point - not a joke. Be patient, young one. | ||
| Joesbuell |
Going by my old disc bolts that may be an even harder task! May the Force be with you! | ||
| Zenfrogmaster |
You don't need to remove the pads to remove the caliper. Just remove the two mounting bolts and retract the pads. It's easier on the cast wheels, and will seem almost impossible with PM wheels until you do it once. Then you can remove the plug and pin to drop out the pads. Even with fresh (thicker) pads, the caliper can be reinserted. If you do bugger the retaining pin cover plug, I just happen to have a spare handy... | ||
| Djkaplan |
If you can get the caliper off the bike (so you can get the front wheel off) without taking the pads off first... you are indeed the more Zen-like of the two of us. That's a trick I'd like to see. | ||
| Zenfrogmaster |
If swearing is zen-like, then I qualify! I'm running PMs now, and you do have to rotate the wheel to *just* the right position... You're right though - the service manual does say to remove the pads first. I never thought to check before now. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I have NEVER figured out the front caliper trick. I have tried multiple times to get it past the disk and failed. I always end up taking the front disk off. Perhaps my wheel is odd or the casting for my caliper is 3mm too wide but I never figured it out. I'm pretty good at those wrought iron pub puzzles too! | ||
| Eshardball |
Nope, it's a tight fit. Go have a couple beers and go back to it later. You will be victorious | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I put the back wheel back on and everything back together and rode to school tonight. The advantage of going to automotive school... I barrowed an impact screwdriver, and it came off with one nice tap. Put the plug back in (not nearly as tight) and hopefully I won't have any problems with it in the morning when I go to remove it again. | ||
| Djkaplan |
"I have NEVER figured out the front caliper trick. I have tried multiple times to get it past the disk and failed." It almost drove me insane and then just fell out in my hands - I apparently made metal pass through metal, or so I thought. It's a tight, tight fit, but you can wiggle the caliper past the disc if you monkey around with it long enough. The key here, is you have to be smarter than a monkey, or it'll take a while... and then the insanity will set in. Tape the wheel up so you don't scratch it getting the caliper out. Some people take a grinder to the caliper as an anti-insanity strategy. Not me though... | ||
| Bomber |
As DJ intimates, once you GET the caliper off, I've got a tip that'll allow you to keep any non-grey hairs ya got while removing the caliper, make a note where it fouls the wheel (Stanford Sharpie or Majik Marker, TM/SM/AllRIGHTSRESERVED and all that) are handy in helping you find the offending part of the caliper once off, grab your coursest file, and break the edges on the appropriate areas -- there's a lot of meat in the caliper, and the removal of a lil aluminum would harm the operation ot the thing -- caliper removal will be much, much easier initial removal seems to be easier when the wheel is aligned with the Dog Star, if north of the equator -- try rotating the wheel until the caliper is lined up with one of the rotor "spokes" -- | ||
| Kmbuell |
This process is also a whole lot easier if in addition to removing the pads you push the caliper pistons back into the caliper a bit. It's easy to do with a medium flat blade screwdriver. BUT - Remember to pump up the front brakes before riding after re-assembling. It's no fun to pump like crazy as you target the deck lid of the car in front of you! | ||
| Ratbuell |
I'm with Bomber...exactly what I did, actually. I got the caliper off (after removing the pads) and ground down the corners of the caliper - where it was hitting the wheel while trying to turn the "impossible corner" - with a Dremel. Now? It practically falls off once I unbolt and remove the pads. And no more markie-markie on the white wheels! | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Once I pulled the pads out, I had no problem whatsoever pulling the caliper off. I just kept it even on the disk front to back, and is slid right up and out. All back together now, with new shiny Bridgestone Battlax BT-021's front and rear. Thanks for the assistance guys! | ||
| Yo_barry |
"I have NEVER figured out the front caliper trick. I have tried multiple times to get it past the disk and failed." Yeah, somebody post the video... I can't get my front caliper off without loosening all 5 rotor mounting screws! I always remove the pads, but didn't try retracting the pistons... Barry Hollister, CA | ||
| Djkaplan |
"Perhaps my wheel is odd or the casting for my caliper is 3mm too wide but I never figured it out." I'm thinking production tolerances makes it harder on some bikes. I can barely do it on mine. I'm gonna grind that thing into a bullet when I get a chance. | ||
| Al_lighton |
I never remove the caliper to remove the front wheel, or to change the front brake pads. In fact, I've never removed it at all, haven't needed to. All you need to do is remove the two right front fender bolts, pull the axle, push the wheel up and back to get the rotor clear of the caliper, and then rotate the fork leg out of the way. The wheel comes right out, and to do the pad service, the whole caliper is very accessible. Al | ||
| Djkaplan |
That wouldn't get you past the fundamental problem, Al. This part, "...push the wheel up and back to get the rotor clear of the caliper..." is where you still have to get the caliper body through the space between the rotor and wheel. The room created by the removed fender doesn't change the relationship between the rotor and wheel, neither does rotating the fork leg... the caliper is still stuck between the rotor and wheel. The only way to change the space between the rotor and wheel is to remove the rotor. Or is this something I'm not getting? There's lots of stuff I never get. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I'm thinking the wheel removal you described was for a bike with a much smaller disc and maybe a larger diameter wheel. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I also don't understand. | ||
| Scott_in_nh |
I thought it was just me that didn't get it  Visualizing it - it sounds like Al is thinking of an XB? How does up and back free the rotor? Doesn't that just push the rotor further into the caliper?  | ||
| Bomber |
perhaps Al is talking about XB series scoots? Up and Back would appear to push the rotor INTO the caliper . . . . . perhpas I just need to practice my visualization skills ;-} | ||
| Reepicheep |
Right Bomber, thats the factory service manual instruction for removing the XB front wheel... inside out rotors mean moving the wheel up clears the rotor from the caliper. My M2 was quite the puzzle trying to get the caliper off to remove the wheel. More then one time, I spent 20 minutes puzzling, going nowhere, then left to go eat or something. When returning, the thing would just fall off in my hand. I never really was sure what I did to make it work sometimes and not others... I just fussed with it and it worked. (story of my life perhaps  ) | ||
| Bomber |
Reep -- much better lucky that good, I alus say! | ||
| Al_lighton |
Doh!! Wrong board section..I was thinkin XB, this is old school. My bad. I don't have much BBoard time these days, a few minutes in the AM during breakfast, a few minutes at night before bed. Speed reading got me. OK, tube frame...yup, have to remove pads to remove wheel. The FIRST time you take the caliper off, it's a bitch. But if you clock the rotor to the right position, and break the corner off the caliper in just the right place with a file per what Bomber wrote, it's never an issue again, comes right off every time and there is no negatives about it. I remember the first time I removed it, I tried a dozen times, swore at it, got another beer, tried once and it was in my hand and I didn't even know what I'd done differently. I did learn that thin clear tape on the rim is better than duct tape, the clearances are that tight. There are a few "rights of passage" of Buell ownership. Getting the front caliper off a tuber is one, getting the derby cover off without binding a screw is another. For XBs, the big one is rotating the motor down. Al | ||
| Mwellm |
Beer is certainly required to remove that front caliper. A little touch up paint after. Putting it back on is so much simpler. Not really even sure how I did it it just came off after fighting it. I like how the manual sez "Slowly remove caliper by tilting away from the wheel and then pulling away from the rotor." My A$$ | ||
| Mikef5000 |
This is so odd, I guess I'm just lucky! Mine really was "Slowly remove caliper by tilting away from the wheel and then pulling away from the rotor." Took me 30 seconds. (Once I got the pads out) | ||
| Edddyjoe |
HMMMMM maybe I had Zen with me, I just remember removing the caliper, followed by a string of how the hellls, then it came apart. |
