A quick answer please! I’m in the middle of a repair

[Guest]

I’m trying to fit a reconditioned front master cylinder to my GS550e 79’ and have noticed the banjo bolt is only for a single brake line. Can I just put my double banjo bolt from the original one, into the reconditioned or are they a different design.

Thanks for your help and a speedy reply would be brilliant!

[jsandidge]

You can use your original.

[Wes51st]

Awesome thanks so much! This place and you guys are the best!!

[chuck hahn]

use new crush washers

[eddypeck]

use new crush washers

I know they're only pennies, but if you're caught out and haven't bought new crush washers and don't want to be held up, heat them with a blow lamp till they glow red hot.

Let them cool (there's some debate on if the should be left to cool naturally or dropped into water) and they'll be good as new and ready to reuse.

The heating expands them to their pre-crushed state. Done this for years with old washers if new fitting haven't supplied enough, or I drop one and it rolls away.... or I simply over looked I needed them and new had an issue on fuel lines, brake hose or oil fittings.

[eddypeck]

[Nessism]

The OE crush washers are plated so I'm not sure heating them red hot is the best solution. Plus, after being used they get a deep groove in them and making the metal soft by annealing won't take that out.

Suzuki brake lines are such that only one line attaches to the master. There would not be a "double banjo bolt" installed from the factory. Sounds like someone did some modding on your bike.

And speaking of master cylinders, if the bike has one disc up front like most USA based 550's the master piston diameter is supposed to be 14mm. Bikes with dual discs up front use a 5/8" bore master. You might want to make sure you have the proper size, and that you also have fresh brake lines. If you have the original rubber lines, take them off and deposit them in the closed trash receptacle and get some new lines.

[bwringer]

Couple of things:

1) Just install new copper or aluminum crush washers. And crush washers get, well, crushed (that's their job, just like it says on the label...) and they're often too thin and misshapen to seal correctly even if they're re-annealed. Sometimes they'll seal when re-used, sometimes not. It's a crapshoot, so you really need to have some on hand anyway even if you're determined to be the cheapest of the cheapy cheaps for some reason.

2) If your bike has dual disks up front, there's a double banjo bolt on the OEM splitter attached to the lower triple, so when moving to a two-line setup, most people use this, unless...

3) Some aftermarket or other brand master cylinders use a different thread pitch on the banjo bolts. Suzuki used 10mm diameter X 1.0mm thread pitch banjo bolts in the GS era. But many other bikes use the same 10mm diameter but with 1.25mm thread pitch. So compare the threads first. If your double will thread in, great. If not, you'll need to scare up a double banjo bolt with the correct thread pitch. I'm pretty sure Kawasaki always used 1.25 pitch; not sure about the others.