2007 FJR Front Brake - only engaging right (linked) caliper

[odot]

It's called tieing down the horses fourth leg. Frees up the other ones. There is a matter of a pivot point....however....the extra weight of the larger bolt takes care of that.....

 

[Queensland Ken]

[No message]

 

[Abercrombie FJR]

Nice idea and you had me confused also although in the past I have cleaned and rotated my bobbins by just grabbing them with finger tips. I have never had my brakes so gunked up that I couldn't turn them with my finger tips but I will keep this tip in mind.

 

[stealth1]

Thanks for the vid Ken.

I learned something today and it's not even 8 am.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Well, THAT clears up a lot of confusion on my part. I never even heard of that.

 

[RadioHowie]

Great....MORE **** for me to do on the Cerulean Battle Cruiser.

 

[Denver_FJR]

... I have never had my brakes so gunked up that I couldn't turn them with my finger tips but I will keep this tip in mind.

Yep, certainly something to keep in the ol' "toolbox". I'm guessing most of us haven't heard of this technique as we don't run "FJR Rat bikes"

I have to admit the chains were intriguing.

 

[rogdeb]

Well, THAT clears up a lot of confusion on my part. I never even heard of that.

+ 1

 

[wfooshee]

Yeah, I thought he was locking down the rotors. Never heard of doing that. But I've never had any that didn't move freely, either.

 

[Queensland Ken]

That little trick helped a mate out whose FJR had symptoms like a warped front rotor.

The semi-floating rotors can push the pads apart if they don't move and you can also have a horrible lever action.

Did a big brake service on my "new" Suzuki's with their horrible 6 pot Tokico calipers.

Made a huge improvement, cleaning up the pots, freeing up the rotors and bleeding out the banjos.

With banjos, it pays to bleed out from the master cylinder and work downstream.

 

[RaYzerman19]

When you pull the (front) brake lever, is it firm or does it pull to the grip? If its firm, I don't think your problem is air in the system. If it's mushy, rebleed the brakes!
If the top right pistons engage when the lever is pulled but nothing is happening on the left side, the problem is blockage on the left. Crimped line or issue with your new SS lines. Messed up banjo fitting or the left-right splitter?

Note: If the bottom right pistons are engaging, that will only happen when the rear brake is applied. These do not engage with the front brakes at all (unless the plumbing was messed up when the new lines were installed). Any chance that the rotor heating was from application of the rear brake? If so, it is still possible that there is NO braking action from the front brake lever. If lever is firm, it isn't air but possibly master cylinder block.

Short of screwed up plumbing or a defective set of lines, I cannot imagine what could allow the top right piston to engage (firmly) with a solid brake lever and no action out of the left side. I can understand a blocked (or defective) master cylinder causing no braking action but getting normal response only out of the top right with "normal" brake lever feel...?

Perhaps we are not fully understanding the symptoms?

I think Ross is on the right track...... try lifting the front wheel and applying only front brakes. If there is a blockage, both sides won't work. Your right rotor got warm perhaps because of applying the rear brake, thus only activating the right bottom (linked) pistons. If the front brake lever is firm, and brakes not applying, then that would indicate blockage. In any event, further diagnosis is required. Are you certain the stainless lines were connected to the correct ports?

 

[Two-Wheeled Tourist]

Sorry...been busy the last few days so I'm catching up on the conversation.

For the person who asked about the brake lines, I went with Galfer. The lines are great, however I'd recommend using OEM Yamaha washers for those banjo bolts because the ones that came in the kit weren't malleable enough and leaked like a sieve in the rear so I had to replace them.

Here's what I came up with in regards to the original problem: I had one of my trusted techs (yes, he is one of those that knows this bike pretty well) look at it. Turns out that yes, I did bleed all the brakes correctly and in the right order. However, the problem wasn't in the calipers, it was in the actual ABS junction box! There was so much air in there that he had to bleed it twice to get back to normal. After he did that and tested it, the braking system was back to where it was, if not better. Apparently the 06-07s are a real PITA in that area of the ABS system because of that linked BS.

Unfortunately, there's no section in the FJR manual on how to bleed from the junction box. Did someone on here figure it out? I'd really like to figure out how to do that myself. I really like my tech, but we really shouldn't be meeting like that. Like lunch instead would be nice. Ha.

With that being said, that linked front brake pad was dragging a bit because of that air in the junction box. Once that was cleared up, it was engaging and disengaging as it should.

Those brake rotors though...eventually I'll have to replace the darn things. Already went through a set of them, I try to replace them every 75-100k miles. Should be enough of gap. They're a bit pricey. I'll poke into that disc bobbin thing too. Never thought I'd have to do that. All I do is just ride the darn thing!

 

[Mihalis fjr]

Happy end!

Glad that you found and solved the problem!My thought was that the problem was in the ABS block..