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FLH Brake Upgrade

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Old Feb 8, 2021 | 06:07 PM
  #21  
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nope. mine work great
 
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 04:11 PM
  #22  
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Originally Posted by Joe12RK
nope. mine work great
your lucky whats the secret
 
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 05:15 PM
  #23  
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Stainless lines, pads matched to rotor, and later model master cylinder
 
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Old Feb 9, 2021 | 07:02 PM
  #24  
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When I took a closer look at the parts I changed I realized why my brakes weren't performing. Like Joe said, get all the parts right and you should see an improvement.

​​​​​​I had rotors that were probably only getting 30-40% contact with the pads.
The last thing I found was a duh moment. My switch housing was so close to the handgrip that I was pulling on the brake lever too close to the master cylinder. I moved the switches an inch and suddenly I had much better feel. Too simple, but I had missed it
 
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Old Mar 6, 2021 | 12:22 PM
  #25  
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So after getting the master cylinder rebuilt and new pads and brake hose I blew the seal in the front caliper. Should have rebuilt that when I did all the other work in hindsight.
The problem I'm having is the piston was a bitch to get out of the caliper, I finally had to put 100 psi of air to it to get the piston out and the piston won't go back into the caliper bore. According to the service manual this should not be the case.

Measuring the piston and the bore of the caliper I see why it was difficult. The ring on the bottom of the piston that rotates is about ten thou larger than the caliper bore. If I turn the piston around it slides right in but that ring is preventing me from installing the piston. The service manual says to press the piston in firmly but I assumed that meant with the new seal installed. I'm just trying to get it to go before I install the seal.
I am attaching a picture of the ring that is giving me a problem. Is this common? Do I need a new piston or sand down the ring until it fits the bore? My piston looks pretty rough anyway but was hoping a new seal would get me going.

This is the part that won't go back into the caliper


 
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