Brake caliper Ques?

[Mudder F er]

Im not sure how the caliper piston is supposed to work. How free should it be? Can I move it by hand? Im on my 2nd front brake caliper. The guy I bought it off said it was working. Can it be my lever? When I squeeze the lever I see a small bubble in the fluid resorvoir. How is that supposed to look. I know its a bunch of questions but Im clueless when it comes to the brakes, and many engine parts for that matter :confused: What can I do to test if the caliper and the lever are working? Thanks any helpis appreciated Ive been finding answers in this forum for a while now. I owe alot to you guys. Thanks :beer

[md1985250r]

it sounds like you need to bleed the brakes. to do this to your front brakes , you first need to fill the resivior and replace the cap . then quickly squeeze and release the lever a few times then hold it in as you loosen the bolt holding the line to the resivior, and immediately tighten the bolt, still holding the lever in.repeat this process until the lever is firm to the grasp... be sure to keep the resivior full!! good luck...GREG

[Howdy]

I agree with md1985250r. But I might add that your master cylinder needs bled first.
#1. Pump the lever 3-4 times and hold it in the braking position ( towards the handle bar ).
#2 Loosen the bolt ( just a little ) that connects the brake line to the master cylinder. Just loosen it enough to let the air / brake fluid out.
#3 Tighten the bolt back up ( Only tighten it up enough to seal the fitting up ).
#4 Release the brake lever.
#5 Repeat steps 1-4 until only brake fluid comes out. Once you only get brake fluid coming out procceed to step #6

#6 Pump the lever 3-4 times and hold it in the braking position ( towards the handle bar ).
#7 Loosen the bleeder on the caliper ( just a loosen it enough to let the air / brake fluid out ).
#8 Tighten the bleeder back up ( Only tighten it up enough to seal the fitting up ).
#9 Release the lever.
#10 Repeat steps 6-9 until only brake fluid comes out. Once you get only get brake fluid coming then your brakes should be good to go ( if the pads are good ).

I might add this: Sometimes I find I have to bleed the line to the caliper. You can do that via the same as steps 1-5 but instead of loosening the bolt for the fitting by the master cylinder you loosen the brake line fitting on the caliper.

If you can't get your master cylinder to pump fluid you might want to clean and or rebuild it.

I hope this helps.
Howdy

[Mudder F er]

Thanks I will try it Today.

[Mudder F er]

Im thinking the cylinder it messed up I get no fluid coming out what so ever. Am I doing something wrong?