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Rear brake seized?

  • Thread starter Thread starter beardedmonkey
  • Start date Start date
B

beardedmonkey

Guest
1978 GS750:

I'm a noob and my buddy who knows what he's doing keeps being busy. Alas, I turn to the forums; please forgive my ignorance.

Anyway, it's not seized like I can't move the wheel in neutral, but seized like the brake is halfway engaged when it's not. Should I bleed the brakes? Is this something I can do with minimal tools and not so much experience? I've got the Clymer manual at home (am at the gf's right now or I'd just look it up). How long would it take? I'm planning to play hooky tomorrow and I want to ride!

Help is greatly appreciated.
 
Usually it is the return port is clogged, brake fluid can't return from the caliper to the reservoir. It can lock up and throw you on your ass even if you never touch the brake, as the fluid expands with heat, causing brake drag and more heat, a vicious circle that ends with a locked wheel that stays locked. Several forum members have had this happen.

The cure is to disassemble and clean the calipers, master cylinder, replace the brake lines and flush the brake fluid. Not what you wanted to hear I bet, but brake fluid should be changed every two years or so, if it's been neglected thirty years it causes serious problems.
 
Gah! No, not what I wanted to hear, but it is what I heard the last time I posted about my brakes doing something weird (that time is was that the brakes seemed to be momentarily engaging when I went over a bump even though my hand wasn't on the lever). It's been raining for so long and I hadn't ridden it since I posted last time... Beautiful day today and I guess I was hoping all the rain had washed away the problem. Ehhh... I'm an idiot. A very lucky idiot. From what my friend says taking all that apart isn't something I'm gonna want to try on my own, at least not the first time.
 
Pull the brake arm out of the frame, polish it up, clean and sand the shaft in the frame, apply grease to brake arm where it goes into frame, install. ;)

Eric
 
beardedmonkey said:
From what my friend says taking all that apart isn't something I'm gonna want to try on my own, at least not the first time.
Click to expand...

In that case I would do it without this friend's assistance, he must be mechanically inept.

Just keep your parts and pieces in the right order, it's not too hard.
 
Yeah? Maybe I will try it then. What's this about pulling the brake arm and sanding it?
 
Stay with me here, you can laugh while you do it...

Brake arm = brake lever/foot brake? Sorry, like I said, my Clymer is at home.
 
Just do what Tom said and take care of your brakes properly. Basscliff has the procedures here on his site so you can look at how to do it even at your girlfriend's place.
 
Not that a rebuild isn't in order, but I would take a look at the rubber dust boot that surrounds the piston. I had the very same problem with my rear 3 days ago, so I tore off the caliper and was ready to rip it all down when I noticed that the dust boot had just simply come undone from the lip it sits in. That caused it to push the brake pad into the rotor just enough to cause enough drag to create heat and noise. I reseated the boot and no more drag.
 
IMG_1201.jpg
 
Wow Eric. You make it sound like it's the only thing he has to do for his brakes to become perfect. So what are you going to do if he dumps it because he only took your advice instead of actually CLEANING the system?
 
Have you gotten your spare clutch and brake levers?
As you tend to drop your bike often. Once per how many/few miles ridden?

I never said it was the ONLY thing just extremely common on something that is thirty years old and has no provision to be greased in the first place. ;)
If you change/flush your brake fluid every year, the calipers/ master cylinder never get to looking like some of the terrible examples shown here.

Any pic's of your bike to show him how it is done?
We want him to take advice from an expert such as yourself with all of your years of EXPERIENCE.
How long have you owned a GS Suzuki again?


Eric
 
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I'm losing track of how many sets of calipers and masters I've cleaned in the last 8 or 9 seasons but I remember that at least 70% of them are seriously grunged up. Maybe not as bad as Ed's pic shows but often close. For some reason folks don't change the brake fluid frequently enough over the years. There must be a fear of doing it or more likely if its working , why bother. You need to bother as your life may depend on it!

Take the advice and clean and rebuild your entire brake system including the rear brake pivot as Eric mentions.

Cleaning brakes is not difficult and there is lots of information on the subject so there is no reason not to do it.

Remember, "Your life may depend on them".

Now get to it.
Spyug
 
7981GS said:
Have you gotten your spare clutch and brake levers?
As you tend to drop your bike often. Once per how many/few miles ridden?

I never said it was the ONLY thing just extremely common on something that is thirty years old and has no provision to be greased in the first place. ;)

Any pic's of your bike to show him how it is done?
We want him to take advice from an expert such as yourself with all of your years of EXPERIENCE.
How long have you owned a GS Suzuki again?


Eric
Click to expand...


Eric, how come you can't make your point without the personal insults or sarcasm?

Scott's concern is real. Even though you are correct in suggesting that the brake pedal pivot may be rusted in place, a more comprehensive approach toward safe brakes involves making sure the system is clean. Suzuki calls for changing out the brake lines every two years, which obviously is excessive, but the point is that many people never even change their brake fluid so some higher level maintenance is highly recommended.
 
Nessism said:
Eric, how come you can't make your point without the personal insults or sarcasm?

Scott's concern is real. Even though you are correct in suggesting that the brake pedal pivot may be rusted in place, a more comprehensive approach toward safe brakes involves making sure the system is clean. Suzuki calls for changing out the brake lines every two years, which obviously is excessive, but the point is that many people never even change their brake fluid so some higher level maintenance is highly recommended.
Click to expand...

Because Scott is just upset that I wouldn't clean, polish and paint the complete air intake system that I wasted a good bit of time taking (10) pictures,
cropping for clear image's and practically was GIVING AWAY to him for his 550.($40 plus shipping)
Then, he wanted every screw, nut, washer and clip for it as if he had none of the parts on his bike.
So, I wasted another hour for him only to have him cheap out because cheap wasn't FREE!
Apparently everyone else gives him parts for FREE to support his bike? :confused:
One of TEN close-up pictures that he received...

DSC09000.jpg



So now, HE has been following me around trying to discredit me. :rolleyes: Understand now?
Check the 7th Annual Western States Rally thread for another recent example. ;)

Of course, you should make certain that your complete brake system is up to snuff when you buy a bike of questionable maintenance history.
Isn't it part of the top ten mistakes list?

Just sayin'

Eric
 
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Fortunately, I'm taking my lunch break and figured I'd look in on this and noticed we resorted to acting like a child. Based on what little I know of you Eric I assumed you were much much older than me especially since you seem as though you are retired now. Good for you.

I chose not to take the air box from you solely due to your condescending attitude in your emails. I also chose not to express my real reasons here out of RESPECT for YOU and others who might want to do business with you. I asked for the pictures because there were two parts missing from my air box setup that are now either jerry-rigged or replaced with the piece that is not working correctly as we assumed it was. Therefore I am looking for a COMPLETE setup. Your holier-than-thou attitude is for the birds and little kids - not other adults. It also does not cost $30 to ship any of that as I KNOW you could have gotten a flat rate Priority box that would have held all of that. Yet you're the one who jumped up and down for getting a piece for only $20.

There's a reason why people don't care for you and it's your attitude. I've never seen one comment from you towards others without it and I sure am glad I don't live out that way.

To the OP: Please take care of your system properly so you can keep your bike running correctly. Yes, I've taken a couple of spills for dumb reasons. I'm also a new rider and will freely admit to it. But none of them have been because of poor brakes as I did them correctly by thoroughly cleaning them out and wiping everything down as recommended by the real experts here.
 
7981GS said:
Because Scott is just upset that I wouldn't clean, polish and paint the complete air intake system that I wasted a good bit of time taking (10) pictures,
cropping for clear image's and practically was GIVING AWAY to him for his 550.($40 plus shipping)
Then, he wanted every screw, nut, washer and clip for it as if he had none of the parts on his bike.
So, I wasted another hour for him only to have him cheap out because cheap wasn't FREE!
Apparently everyone else gives him parts for FREE to support his bike? :confused:
One of TEN close-up pictures that he received...

DSC09000.jpg



So now, HE has been following me around trying to discredit me. :rolleyes: Understand now?
Check the 7th Annual Western States Rally thread for another recent example. ;)

Of course, you should make certain that your complete brake system is up to snuff when you buy a bike of questionable maintenance history.
Isn't it part of the top ten mistakes list?

Just sayin'

Eric
Click to expand...

Maybe so, but in this case he addressed a real concern relevant to the thread. Guys, try to keep your petty squabbles to yourselves if you're at ALL able...
 
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