I posted this over in the tech area, but there's only like 3 people there so thought I'd see what you all think.

A couple of months ago I replaced my front caliper, lines, MC, lever-- everything when I put on new bars. Put on a PM 6-piston and had a heck of a time getting the system bled, even with a vac. After trying a few methods finally got good lever and felt like they worked great. Then, a couple of days ago I put in some new Lyndall pads based on great reports from this forum. Had to push in the pistons a bit to get everything lined up. Put it all back together and... WTF! no lever-- none at all. Never even opened up the system. Any ideas on what's going on here? thanks for help

 

did you clean the pistons first? it is on lyndall web page.
http://www.lyndallracingbrakes.com/service_tech.htm

 

Do you have the correct bore in your MC? I believe it is supposed to 9/16".

 

If the lever is 'frozen' in place and the pads won't move its possible that you needed to clean the pistons first and they are now jammed.
It doesn't take much to make them hang up like that.
Unlike a car, the brake doesn't have a power booster so its not as easy to overpower the dirt with just hand pressure.

 

I didn't do the cleaning procedure because the new calipers only had 60 miles on them or so. I did check that they were moving freely, though.

My MC bore is actually 5/8, which is the stock bore. I guess I could have put on a 9/16 since I changed to a new caliper, but thought I'd just put on what I took off.

In the tech forum, Fatboy Bob suggested that I might have some air in the MC, and told me to bleed at the banjo. He thinks that pushing in the pistons may have driven air up there so I did that last night and have pretty good lever. I do, however, have some concerns about the quality of the MC. For instance, the lever never returns all the way out unless you push it out. It's maybe just another 1/16 or so, but I've noticed if I do that with the MC cover off and then pull the lever a little bit, I get a little geyser of fluid. No geyser if I don't push the lever out.

Seems that it is hard to find good chrome replacement parts for these old bikes, unless you go with Ness or Joker or something, but really wanted to keep the look as close to stock as possible. The MC I ended up with is unbranded-- the same ones you see in the fatbook or JP cycles, etc. --Taiwanese and came with chrome switch housings, etc-- none of which really seem to fit together as well as the HD stuff.

 

It sounds like your master cylinder is not working properly, I had purchased a set of new chrome controls off ebay for my bike last winter and had to send several MC's back because they were not working properly. I finally ended up purchasing a chrome HD Master cylinder. Worked fine. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose on the aftermarket stuff.

 

sorry-- Fatboy Brian, not Bob.

well that sucks. I really don't want to have to tear all that apart again. Hopefully J&P will take it back.

 

Dr. V, if you're still looking at this thread, do you know of a good aftermarket OEM handlebar control setup? I don't think I can get chrome HD for a '94.

 

Time for a little research. i am sure there is something available. On the other subject, I had this happen on a sport bike years ago and discovered there was a tiny crack in the master cylinder.

 

Thanks Doc. Give me a holler if you find something.