'78 gs750 brake pad woes

[providedrailroad]

I removed the front brake from my bike when removing the wheel, and now that I'm trying to reassemble the wheel, the brake will not fit back on. It seems that the caliper holder is movable but one of the brake pads will not move backwards, it is spinning loosely inside of the brake.

Maybe that's not a great explanation, but I think it's the best I can do. It's possible someone depressed the brake while the wheel was off.

Am I going to need to bleed all the fluid out? I've bled some out, didn't seem to make a huge difference. I'm sure there is something I need to do to get it to return.

[cowboyup3371]

Why not fully disassemble and rebuild them? I'll bet they have so much crap in there that by replacing the seals, pistons (if needed, and really cleaning them up) you'll have brand new brakes. Make sure you do the MC as well and look at changing out your lines with stainless steel ones.

[providedrailroad]

I honestly didn't have a rebuild kit planned into my budget for this bike, I wonder if I can get away with cleaning them well? They were working just fine before I removed them. I do already have stainless lines though. I'm sure there is something simple about making the movable pad go back in, that someone just hasn't told me yet.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Get a big screwdriver and pry them apart

[allojohn]

Get a big screwdriver and pry them apart

And take the cap off the reservoir to reduce the pressure a little. If you still have trouble the return vent in the master cylinder is probably blocked with the gunk you're pushing back and you will need to dismantle and clean the MC. When you take the reservoir off there are two very small vents which you can only clean by pushing a single strand of wire through. Good luck.

[hampshirehog]

I would advise stripping the caliper down and cleaning. It's possible the piston has got rust on it and when you push it back in you'll booger the seal and you won't have any front brake when you need it.

On the other hand, it is also possible that you strip the thing down and it's just gungy. But you won't know unless you stirp it down.

[providedrailroad]

I managed to get it pushed back, I did clean out what I had access to without completely tearing through it. Seems to be working fine, but rebuilding the brakes is definitely on my list, just other matters to attend to in the time being.

-Wes

[allojohn]

I managed to get it pushed back, I did clean out what I had access to without completely tearing through it. Seems to be working fine, but rebuilding the brakes is definitely on my list, just other matters to attend to in the time being.

-Wes

Apart from getting the bike running, brakes are the first thing to attend to. Safety first Sean!