Skip to main content

Project Z750 part 13

Just a quick picture of what it should look like to remind me !!

Between piston polishing I've been trying to get the sliders off the calipers, but they are stuck fast. I really can't see how to get these sliders out. I've been through the Haynes manual and it says the sliders should just slide off, there are no bolts or screws keeping it attached, but they won't budge.

Having now looked at the "Rebuild Kit Full Seals Caliper", one of the caliper slider pins has a rubber boot that goes through the hole and comes out the other side with the slider pin inside it. Seeing as I will be replacing all of the rubber bits on the calipers, I cut the end of the boot off so that I could get to the other side of the pin to see if I could push it through, but still no luck. still it did allow me to spray WD40 on the other side of the pin (I'd already sprayed some into the boot to try and free it).

so I carry on polishing the brake pistons while I think through how to get these sliders off.

looking at the rubber boot that the pin goes through, I thought that if I pull on the exposed bit of boot, it might help pull the slider pin out, so I cut the boot part of it, grabbed it with pliers and pulled.

I theorised that pulling on the boot would make the rubber inside around the slider pin thinner and lo and behold, the slider popped off (literally popped off and ended up on the floor). finally something going well. so that's the rear caliper completely dismantled.

So I try the same trick on one of the front caliper sliders and to my amazement, it worked (I really thought my luck would run out), so now the other front caliper. I tried to get a good purchase on the rubber boot with my locking pliers. once they were attached to the rubber, I pulled gently, but the pliers slipped off. whoops, okay a bit more pressure with the pliers and try again. so I start pulling and the rubber is stretching, looks like its going to work.

but of course it didn't work. something had to go wrong, and in this case, the rubber split around the pin and left me with almost no rubber showing, so no more rubber to grip to try my pulling technique.

okay, what now? well, my wife suggested that I try heat to free the pin, so I have now ordered some gas for my little hand held butane torch, and when that arrives, we'll see what we can do.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Project Z750 part 18

I have done a bit of reading on how to clean brake caliper pistons, and found an article that said you could use fine wet and dry to clean corrosion off them [ http://www.motorcyclenews.com/new-rider/choosing-kit/2006/november/jan26-05-how-to-service-brake-calipers/ ]. as it suggested using 1500 grit wet and dry, I decided to be cautious and start with 3000 grit. I cut the wet and dry into strips about an inch in width. I put some wd40 onto a strip and started polishing the rear piston. After quite a while I started to notice the difference. it was getting cleaner. well, it was working, but it was going to take a long time. well, I was patient and I really didn't want to rush it and ruin the pistons. Over the next couple of weeks, I polished all of the pistons using the 3000 grit wet and dry. As it seemed it was going to take the rest of my life using 3000 grit wet and dry, I decided to take a risk and bought some 2000 grit. yep I was really pushing my luck here. I cut the 20...

Project Z750 part 3

I realised that this was going to be a little bit more involved than simply attaching a new battery and firing it up. I guessed that the alarm could be stopping the ignition circuit and that is when I found that the alarm remotes had non-replaceable batteries. I also read that if the alarm sits for extended periods with no power then it can be toast. So my next step was to remove the alarm. another Hmmmmm moment. I have never removed or fitted an alarm. I've never even looked into how they work and what they do, so this was quite a daunting task. I took the insulation off the cables that attach to the alarm. now we've all seen nice electrical systems with all of the different colour wires to make it easy to see what goes where, well this thatcham alarm had a very large bundle of cables and all of them were black. No help there. So I had a look at how they were wired into the bike's loom. there was a bundle of wires going to the rear, which I guessed were for the i...

Project Z750 part 36 - the finalle

I took the bike for a quick test ride round the block and it was fine. it actually cornered now that I had sorted out the tyre pressures. and the brakes all work. I gave the bike a quick look over and noticed that I hadn't marked the rear caliper bolts. (I mark each bolt when I tighten it up to the specified torque so that I can see if it loosens up. so if you look at my bikes you'll see white dots on a lot of the bolts.). As I hadn't marked it, I hadn't tightened it up fully, so I torqued it up and marked it. The bike shop I use managed to fit my in for an MOT before they went off to the Isle of Man Classic TT, so that morning, I got my gear on, wheeled the bike out of the garage, said a quick prayer (I'm not religious, but it can't hurt), and I then put my life in my own hands. I mean that even though I ride every day, I had never before done this much work on a bike. I'd changed braked pads, but never replaced the brake seals, and although I had tor...