Front Brakes wont work. Please Help

All, I had to put new front forks on my bike. The brakes were working fine, I have everything hooked back up the way it was. I have filled my master cylinder back up and attempted to bleed the brakes. I can get brake fluid to slowly come out of the bleeder but they never get tight. I am not sure what to do next....

Is this related to me replacing the forks. What is the relationship with the anti-dive forks and the brakes?

Aaarrgg....

Thanks in advance.

 

83, don't have any experience with anti dive but I can't see where that would have anything to do with your brakes. Someone else may have a better answer for you there. I would sy you have air in your lines & you are just gonna have to bleed them till they firm back up. Do you have a mighty-vac bleeder that you can use? It will speed the process up a bunch.
Good Luck,
Gregg

 

Check all your unions are tight & keep on bleeding, pull & hold the lever, release the bleed screw, then tighten, then release the lever & repeat, this should do it unless your MC is stuffed.

 

Take the bleed screws out and use teflon tape on the threads. Mine would leak air into the system every time I opened them.

 

I am pumping the handle 5 times, holding it down and releasing the bleed screw. I filled up the MC through the fill hole, I did not take the phillips screws out. Does that need to be back in and tight?

I am not getting hardly any brake fluid out the bleed screw now.

Any other suggestions? This is frustrating!!!

 

Also do I bleed at the caliper bleed screw only or do I bleed at the anti-dive bleed screw also?

 

Get a manual, from Haynes page 204.
"Commence bleeding, starting with the anti-dive units. This will often clear the entire system of air, but it may prove necessary to repeat the operation at the calipers if air remains trapped in the system."

 

Would the proper way to do this then would be to start on the left side and pump the brake 5 or 6 times, keep it pressed down and release the bleeder. Tighten back up and repeat? How many times would I want to do this?

What would be a reasonable amount of time before I should start to feel the brake get a little tighter?

 

Yes pump, hold lever, open bleeder, close bleeder, let go of lever.
repeat.
Make sure your MC is full, I'm unfamiliar with this fill hole you have.
I would have the MC open, top off, full of fluid, open the bleeders until fluid flows from them with no air bubbles.(make sure the MC never gets low enough to draw air)
At this point I would close the bleeders, fill the mc, close it up and start your pump, hold, open, close,release, repeat procedure.
When done make sure MC is full.
You should have brake pretty quick this way.

 

I had trouble getting the system to bleed, and someone advised me to force feed the master cylinder(located behind the headlight) using 4 feet of tubing and a funnel. That worked great!!
The clear tube jams inside the fill hole and let's you see your progress-- keeps you from bleeding it dry. If you go dry, you start over.
You are bleeding all 4 bleeders, right? Also, try tapping the calipers with a rubber mallet to shake any air bubbles to the bleeders.

 

the hound is right you have to make sure that mc is completly full or it will draw air and then it is point less. when doing my truck brakes i just left the bleed screw loose when pumping the brakes for the first time to allow fluid to flow freely but not enough to drain out. then once the lines are primped then you start the procress that Hound described as follows "At this point I would close the bleeders, fill the mc, close it up and start your pump, hold, open, close,release, repeat procedure." this will allow you to get hard brakes once the lines are primped.

its like painting you put white over everything so that you dont ruin the collour your putting on next. same idea fill the lines then make them airless. hope that helps let us know the outcome.

oh yeah if you can lift the front wheel up it might help to push the air to the end of the line.

 

Well thanks to all who replied. I just came in from the garage with a bike that now has front brakes again.

I just kept with it even when it seemed hopeless. I would pump the hand brake 10 times real fast then bleed. I kept doing this on all 4 bleeders until I had all 4 squirting brake fluid. I kept having to fill the MC in between bleeds also.

It took forever but I did not give up.

Again thanks everyone!

 

glad to hear that you got it working. i am currently in the process of redoing my front brakes (they were seized). my problem is getting the filler cap off. the previous owner strip the screws a bit and they are rusted left some penetration lubricant on there for the night so well see tomorow.