Recently my back brake pedal started sticking when pressed down. The back brake still works, but I need to lift the lever back up to disengage the rear brake and turn the brake light out. After talking to my local tech, I was informed that it could either be a bad manifold that need to be rebuild and then bleed the brakes or it could be a dirty rear caliper causing the pads or piston to stick. I had new brake pads put in about a year ago and I know they are good and I would imaging that the tech that changed the pads cleaned the parts up, had it done with a tire change while on a road trip. Anyways, I watch a video or two and going to read thru my service manual to do this rebuild. The kit looks pretty simple, remove brake line, remove brake adjuster rod, removed manifold from bike and swap put the rebuild kit section. Then reverse the process and bleed the brake.


I wanna know if I am missing anything that might be causing this issue or if there is any additional knowledge that can be applied to this fix. 2010 Street Bob OEM brakes (manifold back to caliper, Switchback Footboard setup up front).

 

The rebuild kit is $65 new from HD, I can purchase the complete rear manifold for $115 (maybe cheaper if I look around). I guess I want to be 100% sure that its the manifold causing the issue before I spend money I don't need to spend.

 

First I'd check the brake pedal and rod pivots to make sure that they are not corroded and sticking.. If the master cylinder is indeed the culprit, I'd replace. I'm not familiar with the pedal / master cylinder arrangement on a Switchback in particular but if there is any angle from the pushrod to the master, the cylinder part of the master will wear.

 

Thanks, I think I will start at the lever and work my way back to the manifold to check for issues. Maybe pull the rod and see if the lever itself is sticking, then press the rod in to see if sticks, also check clearances, I didn't have any clearance issues when I installed but I'll see if anything has changed.