This is where I post my general motorcycle and Harley-Davidson Sportster stuff.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Rear Master Cylinder Failed!
Well, it happened. The rear master cylinder on my Sportster failed at 41,600 miles. It really wasn't all right since the rear pad change at 30,000 miles. The rear brake has been weak and required a bit pf pumping once a day to get the pedal to not sink too far down. Once pumped up it would stay up for a relatively long time (days). The rear brake was not totally mushy, but it was not all that strong. I could still lock up the wheel, but with more effort than I thought was necessary. Anyway, since the brake was sort of serviceable, I left it alone until an opportune moment to deal with it. Well, that moment arrived a few days ago when I removed the rear wheel for a tire change. I get my tires online at Motorcycle Superstore which has the best prices on tires for my bike, BTW. I then remove the wheel assembly and take it to a good shop to mount the new tire. So, while the wheel was off the bike I decided to bleed the rear brake and get rid of that funkiness.I hooked up my MityVac and proceeded to vacuum bleed the brake via the bleeding screw on the caliper, which I removed from the swing arm and hung up such that the bleeder screw was the highest point in the system. This causes air bubbles to collect at the bleeder and not in that arch the brake line makes when the caliper is on the swing arm. If you own a rubber mounted Sportster you know what I mean. Anyway, after bleeding I had NO REAR BRAKE AT ALL! WTF?! Well, I read up on various forums, but mostly here that this is a rather common issue. After changing the pads and pushing the rear caliper cylinder back to accommodate the new pads many, many, MANY people observe the failure I had. Even the pictures look the same as what I found when I disassembled my rear master cylinder. I have ordered a rebuild kit and will rebuild this thing and see how things go.
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Vladimir -excellent blog -thanks for the inspiration. I don't know if I'll rebuild my master cylinder or buy another one but I could rebuild it from your blog. I also replaced a failed clutch pack/hub on my 2005 to the tune or $1200 at the dealership. Good for you doing it yourself. If you buy a new hub/basket also ?
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