Hi guys,

Since a while now, the rubber gasket between the lid and the housing of the front mastercylinder is weaping.
The black lid is starting to corrode badly to the point that it annoys me.
I allready tightened the screws but it doesn't seem to help.

Is it common for these things to wear out?
Is there a replacement part/trick available?


Ride strong and...
keep the rubber side down

 

They make a rebuild kit. Ronnies harley stocks them Make sure you buy the right one. One is the piston and th other is the seal

 

Sounds like there's Dot 3 or 4 in there, make sure the right brake fluid is in there,
Dot 5 shouldn't eat the paint.

You could get a aftermarket chrome cover and seal pretty cheap, don't over tighten it

 

well what year is the bike? if it is 07 i know the seal was bad on a few, are we talking just the cover? replace it with a new one, harley changed the chemical make up of the rubber seal, and will not rot!

 

Actually, the MoCo jumped around a lot with what brake fluid they are putting into the bikes by years. You really gotta read the manual or cover to see what's supposed to be in there. I've had buddies where they took the bike to the dealer and the dealer guessed wrong and mixed 3 & 5. What a mess to clean up.

 

I'd start with a new gasket and flush the system with the proper fluid. If you don't know what is in there now, flush it out first with alcohol, blow it out with air, flush it with the proper fluid (DoT 5 in Evo's, but RTFM for your bike,) bleed, new gasket, and you should be good to go.

Seals do get old and start to leak all by themselves, too. Even in the Low Land countries without governments.

 

heheheh,

Well...can tell you that it's a late '96 Fatboy and that the dealer did the last brakefluid change, so no way what's in there now...mannual states DOT5 indeed.
I was planning to change the brakepads one of these days so I might as well dig into the fluids then.

Thanks a lot for the replies guys.



Ps.MoCo doesn't stop to amaze me. Why do they change things, only to change them over and back again...like the whole Timken bearing thing...would like to gave been a flie on the R&D-wall in the nineties.