Brake Problem
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Tourer
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 401
Likes: 11
From: Escondido, CA
Brake Problem
I bought an '09 Ultra on ebay with 18,500 miles and love everything about the bike accept the front brakes. It has what is to me a very pronouced pulsating of the front brakes regardless of the speed I'm slowing down from. Before this bike I put 25,000 miles on my 2000 Valkyrie and it's brakes were always smooth as butter. I don't expect a Harley to have clampers that stop as quick or to be as smoooth as a Honda but this pulsating strikes me as way out of the norm...at least I pray it's not normal. Since I've never experienced warped rotors I'm wondering if this very pronounced pulsation, and the front forks oscillating up and down when I squeeze the brake lever, is evidence of warped rotor(s) or something else. Please advise me. Thanks.
Last edited by HOGNOT; Nov 12, 2009 at 05:11 PM.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,968
Likes: 34
From: Lockport Township, IL
I've had fair luck straightening slightly warped rotors. Jack the front wheel off the ground. lock the fork and set up a dial indicator to find where it is warped. bump it gently with a leather or rubber mallet. recheck with dial indicator. Repeat until it is within specs.
Tourer
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 319
Likes: 1
From: Great State of Texas
If there warped good excuse to replace them with chrome. That bike should be still under warranty if warped they should replace them.
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Stage III
Joined: Mar 2010
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Just curios what you found out about your front rotor. I have an 08 Ultra Classic and am having pulsating problems. Took the bike to a former service manager of a Harley dealership who works out of his garage. he told me my brakes and rotors were fine. He sent me to the dealer and they said there was a downloadable fix for this problem. since the bike was out of warranty it cost me under $30 for the fix. seemed to help the problem for a while - like a few hours. started doing it again.
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Stage III
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I bought an '09 Ultra on ebay with 18,500 miles and love everything about the bike accept the front brakes. It has what is to me a very pronouced pulsating of the front brakes regardless of the speed I'm slowing down from. Before this bike I put 25,000 miles on my 2000 Valkyrie and it's brakes were always smooth as butter. I don't expect a Harley to have clampers that stop as quick or to be as smoooth as a Honda but this pulsating strikes me as way out of the norm...at least I pray it's not normal. Since I've never experienced warped rotors I'm wondering if this very pronounced pulsation, and the front forks oscillating up and down when I squeeze the brake lever, is evidence of warped rotor(s) or something else. Please advise me. Thanks.
Thread Starter
|
Tourer
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 401
Likes: 11
From: Escondido, CA
Just curios what you found out about your front rotor. I have an 08 Ultra Classic and am having pulsating problems. Took the bike to a former service manager of a Harley dealership who works out of his garage. he told me my brakes and rotors were fine. He sent me to the dealer and they said there was a downloadable fix for this problem. since the bike was out of warranty it cost me under $30 for the fix. seemed to help the problem for a while - like a few hours. started doing it again.
Just before taking the bike to the dealer I installed new brake pads to see if that would help. When doing that I discovered the left caliper's pads had wet circles on their backsides where the pistons touched. It seemed obvious to me that it was leaking brake fluid. I cleaned the calipers and went ahead and installed the new pads. The brakes were better but still not right so I took it to the dealer. Odd thing was that they couldn't find any brake fluid leakage so it may have stopped when I cleaned it up and put new pads on. The pistons and their rubber gaskets may have re-seated and stopped leaking when I installed the new pads.
I don't have ABS brakes so your situation may be different.
VR
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