Hi guys... Happy 4th of July! Have always had a problem with my 99 Heritage Evo front brake making a scraping sound when making right turns. Took it apart, cleaned greased the pins, made sure there was movement in upper bushing and made sure the outer mounting plate pin was in the notch of top bushing. I noticed on the mounting plate there were scraps where the rotor had made contact. Pads showed little wear, almost like new.
Anyhow, put it back together, bled the brakes, topped up fluid, took it for a ride around the block and no noise. Then took it for a long ride and everything heated up and it started again... no noise when braking going straight but when going around a right turn, no brake... scrape , scrape, scrape.
I have pictures i'll try to post but basically there very little clearance between the outer pad mounting plate and the rotor....I have a little bit of run out on the rotor, but I'm thinking that gap should be larger. The inner pad has all kinds of room and it seems like if I make the inner pad thinner it would make more room on the other side. How much gap is normal?
Thanks in advance!
I'll try some pics

gap between rotor and outer mounting plate

Inner pad

 

Spacer on that side???
Sometimes...especially when problems only rear their ugly heads when side loaded, (turning) ... the wheel bearing spacer may be too Loose!! ie too long of a spacer, and the wheel can move laterally...

 

Is the retaining spring in correctly...or at all??

 

Warped rotor?

 

My 98 clatters frnom a weak spring.Retainers can cause several problems.

 

Start here,to make sure you have all the parts in play.
https://partsfinder.onlinemicrofiche...davidsonmc/312

Next make sure to use Silicone grease to lube the slider bolt, the sleeve and their O rings, so the caliper can free float as need on the pins.
Note, do not use petroleum grease on these parts, since it will swell the O rings, and cause the calipers to bind on the float pins.

From here, make sure you have the correct spacer in play with the caliber about the half way point on the pins to the rotor.
Note, with caliper mounted with no shoes in play, when you push the caliper each way on the slider pins, should have about the same distance back to the rotor face both sides of the U of the caliper. If one side it tighter than the other, then wrong spacers in play.
https://partsfinder.onlinemicrofiche...davidsonmc/312

The last one, do a quick check on the wheel bearings end play, since you have timkin bearing in play.
Also, since you will need to pull the seals to at least grease the bearing, make sure to get a set of bearing seals. JP has them for both the front and back as a set for $5, and every tire change or at least 15K if our tire are lasting longer then this, should be pulling the seals to clean and repacking the bearings, as well as checking end play even if the bearing and races still look good.
Hence even if everything else is correct on the brakes (enough room for the kick out so the pads can clear the caliper both ways, with the amount of canting that your getting on the rotor during turns, does sound like the bearing are about shot, and have too much end play in the first place.

To add here, when you are doing the new brake pads, make sure that you are able to compress the piston in all the way and not getting major binding.
Note, I have strong hands, and can compress the piston by hand as my standard if I need to pull the piston to start cleaning parts. If it take more than this to compress the piston in, then I know it time to pull the caliper apart to resolve the piston binding problem.
Also, should be power flushing the brake fluid every 2 years both ends,and in cases where the fluid is coming out black from not being flushed enough, not a bad idea to pull caliber piston to check it seal and O ring, as well as check the ID of the caliper to make sure is clean as well. The parts are easy to clean, seal and O ring is cheap enough to replace if needed, and allows you to get the last of the dark fluid chucks out of the caliper that may be be removed with a standard fluid flush.

Also, a good time to pull the front lever to pull it plunger assembly for a quick check, as well as clean up its channel with break cleaner and Q tips, to make sure when you are releasing the lever, the plunger is coming all the way back so the brake fluid passage it open to the res tank, so the pistons can be kicked back in the caliper. As for plunger seal, once the grip channel has been cleaned, should be getting brake pressure on the lever at the beginning of pull, and if your half way in or more before the lever gets hard, time to replace at least the lever plunger since it shrunk and not initial sealing correctly in the first place to the channel. Harley shows the entire assembly at a single replacement, but if you check around, can get just the outer seal, the O ring and the plunger if the rest of the parts are still in good shape.
https://partsfinder.onlinemicrofiche...davidsonmc/312

 

To add here, if you get pads that have been painted on the sides of the pad surfaces, take the time to use Acetone with a Q tip/brush to remove the paint from the sides of the pads surfaces. The paint will transfer to the rotors over time as the pads wear, and just makes a mess of the rotor surfaces.

 

Those pads have been hot to debond like that with the amount of thickness left, check items mentioned. Brake pads getting hot crystalize becoming hard and can squeak but usually brake noise comes from the back side of pads from harmonic vibration amplified by dirt, it's best to spend a little more money and get the pads with a metal backing plate.

 

If yer gonna bother with pulling/replacing the seals...an A2 bearing kit is Cheaper than Dirt..could do it every year if ya wanted...
Gotta set endplay anyway...may as well start with Naked, no Lube On Timkens for that!!!

 

WOW! Thanks for all the help! I did notice the piston was difficult to compress, so gonna rebuild the caliper. I saw in the service manual and found a video of how to check the end play while it's still on the bike and if it way off might as well change the bearings while its tore apart.

The link for the parts diagrams with part numbers is big help...

I know I'll have more questions when I go to put it back together... Thanks again!