Front Caliper Pin - Missing Rubber Sleeve

[Guest]

My '82 850G front brake calipers have two pins that fit into the c-shaped brackets, one is solid steel, and the other is steel with a rubber sleeve that fits on the end. I ordered an OEM replacement for the rubber-sleeved one (part #59306-45200). I'm looking at the package right now, and the pin is machined to receive the sleeve, but there is no rubber sleeve on it. I mentioned this at the dealership when I got it, and they looked on the parts fiche, but found no separate part# for the rubber sleeve. The package is unopened, so it appears to just come this way.

So does anyone know if there is some kind of "hidden" part# for the rubber sleeve? Lacking that, has anyone had to make one, and what did they make it out of? It's a pretty thin walled tube, so the normal suspects like brake hose or vacuum hose won't work. Also, it's supposed to be greased, so the material would need to withstand lithium grease. Thanks for the help.

[Nessism]

The photo in the parts fishe shows the sheath on the pin already. I'd send it back and ask them for a different one.

Also, you need special high temperature grease to lube the pins - sold as "caliper grease" at places like Napa. Lithium is way too thin.

[DPage]

Has anybody actually bought one of these with the rubber sleeve on it? The guys at the dealer were clueless (okay, yeah, yeah). I'm a little uncertain about how to say a sealed package direct from Suzuki is missing a major piece. These guys at the dealership just get what they order from the manufacturer. So has anybody gotten this part with the rubber sleeve on it?

[49er]

Has anybody actually bought one of these with the rubber sleeve on it? The guys at the dealer were clueless (okay, yeah, yeah). I'm a little uncertain about how to say a sealed package direct from Suzuki is missing a major piece. These guys at the dealership just get what they order from the manufacturer. So has anybody gotten this part with the rubber sleeve on it?

Why did you decide to fit a new sleeved pin to the caliper? Were the original rubber sleeves swollen and causing the brake pads to drag?

I experienced pad drag, so stripped mine down for re-sealing. I had a terrible time trying to remove the sleeved pins. The sleeves were swollen and actually slide over the groove edge and wedged in the bore at that point. After much manipulation, brute force and swearing, the pins obliged.

I ended up fitting a series of o rings onto the pin grooves that matched the bore and lubed them up with high temp grease. The resistance against the bore has reduced and now allows a floating caliper that returns freely after brake lever depression. The correct o ring OD and composition is very important.

I never tried to purchase OEM sleeves, so I can't offer any help should you decide to continue down that path.

[DPage]

Thanks 49er, yeah the sleeve was swollen and hanging up in the bore. O-rings and high temp grease sounds like a good alternative.

[Nessism]

I disagree on the ditching the sleeve. The inside diameter of the caliper hanger bore is sized to match the pin with the sleeve. By ditching the sleeve the load bearing area of the pin is greatly reduced. And adding an O-ring will do nothing more than push grease out of the way of where it’s needed.

I don’t have a good suggestion on what to do about the missing sleeve, but I’d definitely recommend finding them, even if you need to get used parts.

[49er]

I disagree on the ditching the sleeve. The inside diameter of the caliper hanger bore is sized to match the pin with the sleeve. By ditching the sleeve the load bearing area of the pin is greatly reduced. And adding an O-ring will do nothing more than push grease out of the way of where it’s needed.

I don’t have a good suggestion on what to do about the missing sleeve, but I’d definitely recommend finding them, even if you need to get used parts.

Your'e not adding a single o-ring but a number of them side by side over the length of the pin groove. You are still taking the axial load along the pin, but with far less drag during operation. The grease is still trapped between the o-ring surfaces because of their curved shapes.
I have operated my calipers with this system for 18 months now. It's a definate improvement on the stock set up.

[Nessism]

Your'e not adding a single o-ring but a number of them side by side over the length of the pin groove. You are still taking the axial load along the pin, but with far less drag during operation. The grease is still trapped between the o-ring surfaces because of their curved shapes.
I have operated my calipers with this system for 18 months now. It's a definate improvement on the stock set up.

The plastic sleeve is intended to carry load, but the O-rings can't. If the plastic sleeve is swollen up and causing binding, I'd clean it up really well in degreaser and sand it down until it fit back into the bore. Make sure to use caliper grease when it goes back together - hopefully that kind of grease won't swell the plastic.

As an aside, the early design round puck caliper uses bronze/brass bushings for the pins to ride on. The second generation caliper, which seemed to show up in 1980, use medium-small diameter bolts for the caliper to slide on and no bushings inside the caliper bracket for the pins to bear against. The pins and bores in the caliper bracket had a tendency to wear quite a bit on these calipers (the pins are $20 each, and the caliper brackets are no available any longer). Suzuki, or their brake supplier, must have figured this out and introduced the calipers which we are talking about which uses larger diameter pins, with a plastic bushing on one of the pins to further reduce wear. I think this is the best of the three designs by far…although is really sucks that the replacement pins don’t have the proper sleeve installed.

[hampshirehog]

The pins did come in 2 specs - with or without the plastic sleeve, though now I think about it I can't recall ever seeing the plastic sleeve as a part on it's own.

There was a dealer recall in over here in, I'm guessing, '82 or '83 (early GSX range) as they'd used the wrong plastic in the sleeve and they were swelling up; this was thought to be a potential safety issue but there were loads of bikes that didn't get done and I never heard any more of it.

The official solution was to fit a rolled up strip of thin alloy in place of the rubber (looked like a tube but had a split down the length and was slightly springy). You pulled off the rubber, smeared on some grease and with a little bit of expansion allowed by the split pushed the alloy sleeve on. I'm sure I've got a box full of them somewhere at my parent's house; if I can find them (no promises - my dad's garages are even worse than mine!) they're free to anyone who wants one. Oh, and the alloy sleeve is softer than the caliper because the alloy sleeves do wear out.

[Suzuki_Don]

The pins did come in 2 specs - with or without the plastic sleeve, though now I think about it I can't recall ever seeing the plastic sleeve as a part on it's own.

There was a dealer recall in over here in, I'm guessing, '82 or '83 (early GSX range) as they'd used the wrong plastic in the sleeve and they were swelling up; this was thought to be a potential safety issue but there were loads of bikes that didn't get done and I never heard any more of it.

The official solution was to fit a rolled up strip of thin alloy in place of the rubber (looked like a tube but had a split down the length and was slightly springy). You pulled off the rubber, smeared on some grease and with a little bit of expansion allowed by the split pushed the alloy sleeve on. I'm sure I've got a box full of them somewhere at my parent's house; if I can find them (no promises - my dad's garages are even worse than mine!) they're free to anyone who wants one. Oh, and the alloy sleeve is softer than the caliper because the alloy sleeves do wear out.

Man you have the best memory!!!!

I can't remember what I was doing yesterday, let alone details of a Suzuki recall in 1980 something!!!!

[hampshirehog]

Man you have the best memory!!!!

I can't remember what I was doing yesterday, let alone details of a Suzuki recall in 1980 something!!!!

Don, I only remember the important things - like caliper pin sleeve recalls and things I have to - like my wedding anniversary.

And of course there was this lovely long-legged blonde when I was in the fifth-form......

[Suzuki_Don]

Don, I only remember the important things - like caliper pin sleeve recalls and things I have to - like my wedding anniversary.

And of course there was this lovely long-legged blonde when I was in the fifth-form......

That must be the one I married when she immigrated to Australia.

[DPage]

Just a follow up on the swelled rubber sleeve on the caliper pin. I caused my own problem by using the wrong grease to begin with. Early on in this thread, Nessism says to use caliper grease, not lithium grease on the pins and sleeve. It turns out, not only is lithium wheel bearing grease thinner and less heat resistant than caliper grease, wheel bearing grease also causes rubber to swell. Probably not news to most of you, but it was a learning experience for me.

Real caliper grease is 100% synthetic, it has no petroleum products to make rubber/plastic sleeves swell. Be careful when you go to the auto parts store and try to get this stuff. There are tubs and tubes of so-called brake grease, some of it even says synthetic, but it's not 100% synthetic. If somebody tries to sell you a pint of "synthetic brake grease" for $6 or $7, it's not the real thing. Real caliper grease is pretty expensive - a 2 1/2 ounce tube of CRC brand synthetic caliper grease cost me about $10.

Thanks again folks for putting me on the right track. Now I'm hoping that the rubber sleeves will come back into shape after a cleaning and drying, with real caliper grease in the bores from here on out.