I made a stupid mistake while changing my brakes on my new road king special, I'd done it before on my Sportster and thought it'd be straight forward, i stupidly mistook the bolts that hold the caliper together for the ones that hold the caliper to the forks, a tiny amount fluid leaked out and i immediately tightened the bolt again, i finished the brake change but now I'm unsure as to how to proceed safely, any help or advice id grately appreciated.

 

1. Use brake cleaner to clean off any spilled brake fluid
2. Make sure those bolts are tight.
3. Check to see if functioning the brakes makes it leak, if not you should be good to go. Squeeze the lever hard to ensure the pressure is functioning the pads and caliper pistons.
4. Bleed your brake system normally.
5. Ride it and enjoy.

NOTE:
The above information, while credible, is worth what you paid for it and should not be considered gospel.
Do due diligence, research and have a H-D Field Service Manual before working on your bike.
You will probably have many opinions and suggestions presented; make sure you research the person providing the helpful information as there are some who provide good information that is useful and some who speak out of other orifices with gibberish. You will figure out this quickly.

 

Thank you very much for your information, i will be sure to do that, it's my first tourer so I realize it's a rookie mistake, do you have a brake bleeding tool you recommend or one you know is good? Thanks again.

 

1. I would just use the old method of having someone pump up the brake lever, hold pressure while I opened the bleeder valve. Repeat a couple of times to ensure no air in the front brake system and call it good. Make sure the master cylinder reservoir stays full so you do not get air in the system. And don't spill it, use lots of shop towels around where the master cylinder is.
2. If your front brake is not spongy then all should be good.
3. You did not say if you have ABS or not. If you do you should flush the brake system every two years (see your service manual) with new fluid, then have the dealer cycle the ABS with their digital technician tool.
4. If doing it yourself, I use speed bleeders or a mityvac tool. You can get them at Harbor Freight or off Amazon.
5. Cheap ones work as good as the expensive ones if you are not using them daily.
6. Also for filling master cylinder and reserve cylinders with brake fluid I use this:

 

Thank you for your help, my bike is indeed abs equipped, is that something only a dealership can do? Or is there a way around it that I can look for to not get the dealership involved.

 

If only a small amount of fluid leaked, chances are you didn’t introduce any air in that brake line. You’re good.

This guy sells a relatively inexpensive ABS flush kit.

http://infotechmercenary.com

 

1. As stated above, you are probably okay and just doing the bleeding on the front system will not introduce air into the ABS controller.
2. Yes you can flush and cycle the ABS yourself; however, you need the appropriate scan tool to accomplish it, one model is provided above.
3. As I only flush and have my ABS system once every two years I have not bought the scan too - I'm too thrifty
4. I have a good relationship with my dealer so I just follow the flush procedure in the H-D Factory Service Manual, then take it to the dealer and have them cycle the ABS, they charge me 30 minutes of labor to hook-up their Digital Technician and cycle the ABS. I usually have them check for software updates etc. at the same time. Ask your dealer what they charge for cycling the ABS - they may or may not charge by the 1/4 hour like my dealer does and want to charge a minimum of an hours labor. Then you can decide on what route to take.
5. You can also check the moisture of your brake fluid with one of these: 6. You might also want to find an independent shop that can do this for you if you do not want to get the equipment and do the work yourself.
7. You do have a H-D Factory Service Manual - Right? The procedures and information is in there.
8. Link here has information on Flush Tools: https://www.hdforums.com/forum/frame...ush-tools.html

 

Thank you very much, i checked on it this morning and saw no further signs of leaks or any fluid, I made sure all bolts were tight again and rode it cautiously at low speeds I'm around the neighborhood and checked the brakes and it all feels and looks good, I'll flush the break fluid this afternoon and I think I'll be okay. I appreciate your advice and will probably seek out a dealer whenever I need to flush out the abs, i just like doing all the work myself if possible, also i don't own a service manual, I never used one for my sportster and just looked up on the Internet whenever I needed instructions. I appreciate your time and help.