Not long ago the front brakes stuck on my 1990 heritage. The lever was rock hard. I got them freed up enough to get home by pecking on the caliper. Me and a buddy rebuilt the master cylinder and front caliper. It worked fine for a while and then today i noticed my lever getting hard again. Well soon after my front brakes stuck again. You could not pull the lever in at all. I bled the caliper and freed the brakes again to get home. Any ideas. Thanks in advance.

 

I'm not real sure how the brakes work on that bike but on all of the disc brake bikes I own the calipers ride on pins. Those pins need to be cleaned and lubricated with brake caliper or dielectric grease. Take a close look at the bushings that the pins ride on as well. They could be worn and hanging up, preventing the brake pads from moving back away from the rotor.

Every time I service my Road King I always pull the pins, clean up the calipers, inspect the pads, then regrease the pins.

 

It's really hard to say from afar but my rebuild on the master includes the piston and cylinder. Not sure about yours. The caliper requires a special grease (probably silicon) for the pistons. Since your bike is old could have a contamination problem that's still in line. I do know when right they work great and mine has 40K with at least 4 sets of pads and I have changed out dot 5 fluid twice. Since you are having same problem twice and it were me I would rebuild master and caliper and flush. Be sure to use all proper and factory part to a good manual. Use a micrometer and dial caliper to check everything. If you do not have the tools pay a expert to do it.

 

When you rebuilt everything were you careful to flush the lines out really well, and make sure no crap got in after the flush? Could possibly your relief port in the master cylinder getting plugged from contamination in the brake lines? Just a thought.

 

Was this resolved? I'm having the same problem. I haven't messed with anything. My 2015 FXDL has 45,000 miles. The master cylinder was rebuilt during a recall by Harley in 2016 at about 10k miles. I removed the master cylinder cap to relieve the pressure and it worked for about 5 miles. I stopped and relieved the pressure again and I made it home for 30 miles. It didn't stick again. I'm thinking of bleeding the lines in the morning.