Okay, I am a new Harley owner and just did a caliper rebuild on my new to me 1996 fatboy :-)

This caliper was different then all other bikes I owned..
First it's a single piston.. Okay cool
But the strange part I don't understand is the inside pad was screwed from the back to a base, BUT the outside pad (the one the piston side) is not screwed on to anything

It's dangling there barely under tension from that metal pin.
Can some explain to me how this works? Why is the pad loose and is there no chance for it to dislodge?

 

May be its a floating pad. Might want to do yourself a favor and consider a better caliper. Qtmi has a nice Brembo upgrade that I took advantage of. No shame in having good brakes, eh?

 

How loose is the pad? I'm guessing you have the same manual I do for my '96 Heritage. For the pad you're referring to, my manual says:

"Take the pad (9) that has the insulator backing, and place it on top of the spring clip with the lower end of the pad slightly entering the opening of the mounting plate. With the pad centered within the mounting plate and the insulated back facing downward, push down on the pad until it is against the flat surface and is held firmly by spring tension from the spring clip."

Are you sure you have the mounting plate facing the right way, and the spring clip installed like it shows in the picture? I've never had mine apart yet (like you, I'm a new owner), but it doesn't sound like it should be very loose.

Having said that, I did just replace the rear pads on my Heritage today. On the rear brake, once everything is in place and installed, there's not a lot of wiggle room for anything to fall apart.

 

Ok I figured out why, the retaining clip was installed improper, okay one more question, what is this little bit on the caliper, it looks like it should slide into some wher but where? My guess is this tab is broken in one side, and the slide is bent? This was like this when I got the bike,,, and just motives it when doI got brakes

 

Okay so it seems I have to order a mounting plate, because the tab that hooks on to the threaded bushing is broken and the threaded busting tab whee it latches onto is bent. Am I correct?

 

It looks to me like you need a new mounting plate and a new threaded bushing.

It seems the previous owner missed the warning in the service manual:

"The threaded bushing's flange must go UNDER the rivet head during assembly. At the same time, one of the U-shaped notches on the outer edge of the bushing flange must engage the rivet body. If the bushing is not positioned properly the rivet will be damaged when the mounting bolts are tightened."

 

Yes will order these 2 parts tomorrow. Does this actually affect braking performance?

 

Maybe some one can post a picture of how they actually assemble so I won't make the same mistake when the new parts come in

 

there's some pics on youtube. I think all the evo's used these front an rear. the touring bikes just used two. I just removed one of these, if you were in the US I'd give it to you but since you already spent money on the rebuild it's prob not worth the shipping cost to Canada.

 

[QUOTE=langwilliams;15190516]there's some pics on youtube. I think all the evo's used these front an rear. the touring bikes just used two. I just removed one of these, if you were in the US I'd give it to you but since you already spent money on the rebuild it's prob not worth the shipping cost to Canada.[/QUOTEI

You mean you have an extra mounting plate? It will probably cost like $20 shipping, I will pay for it if you want to ship. I think a new one is $40