XJ550RH Front Brake Phun

Straight up, the front brake has NO pressure at all after replacing the brake lines.

When I bought the bike (eBay) I had it shipped to a shop recommended as a good one where they did some fork work, chain and sprockets, valves, carbs and adjust the front brake. When I picked it up the front brake worked, but it went almost all the way to the handle. I asked them about it and they said that they had bled the brake but that was just how those older bikes were, spongy. After an emergency stop, I thought maybe steel brake lines would help the feel so last night, we replaced the old rubbers with new steel.
As we were putting the line up to the MC, we pulled the brake handle to ensure fluid would come out when activated, and it did, but just a sort of trickle. We finished hooking up the lines and started pumping to bleed the lines but nothing ever came of the line and the level in the reservoir never went down.

Was the trickle the clue of problems with the MC or might there be other problems that can be checked first?

Thanks,

 

1. the shop is wrong about how old brakes are.

2. They sent you off with an unsafe machine.

3. Were the calipers and master cylinder rebuilt?

 

That ^ and buy a manual, a small lot of tools and become your own mechanic.

Gary H.

 

That ^ and read those linky-things in my signature.

 

Boy, are they giving you a load of BS. Considering they don't know squat about the front brakes........they probably didn't tell you about rear brake delamination, and I sure wouldn't trust anything they SAY they did on:
forks-WHAT SPECIFICALLY did they SAY they did
chain and sprockets -unless YOU can SEE that they are all NEW parts
Valves - did they give you a list of exactly what shims they replaced AND a list of now current shims ? Did they install a new cover gasket and new donut if your cover is a YICS?
Carbs - EXACTLY what did they SAY they did?

Obviously, if they don't know what they're doing with the brakes, are you really gonna trust them with anything else? If they DO know what they're doing, then you also now know they are giving you a bunch of crap, didn't do the right thing with the brakes --and we all know that--.......are you really gonna believe that they DID do all the right stuff for everything else, though?????

Methinks not......

 

Thanks all, you (sadly) read the situation as I have.

I have a Clymer manual and the awesome instructions from Len for the line replacement.

Regarding the work, the sprocket and chain are new, the throttle response is good, accelerates very well and as for the fork, they said it was off so they set it back to "true". No, they said they did nothing more than bleed the brakes.

As for the brakes as they are now, I have checked the lines, looking for kinks and made sure the red tape on the lines is in the right place. Len's instructions mention leaving the system open overnight and using gravity to "pre-bleed" the system and I am trying that now. Otherwise, I guess a new MC is in my future.

 

Baxter, welcome to the group. You should have came here prior to going to your mechanic.
It is true, you CAN become your own mechanic. There is plenty of good reads and even better advice right here.
Plus - and this is really important - no one, absolutely no one will be as meticulous with there attention towards safe and reliable repairs as yourself. I have learned so much from this community it would make your head spin.

You can rebuild your MC (don't know why pics don't show up in the link).

A lot of mechanics look at older bikes as 'novelties' that are shown off in parking lots and swap meets, they will do 'just good enough' repairs (assuming they even know what to do with a bike that is older than them). and then send you down the road.. . . . not cool.

Do it yourself, do it right, be a proud XJ Owner and Mechanic!

That 2nd one? Do it right - it's ok if you bugger stuff up once in awhile, just don't do the same dumb thing twice (don't ask how I know)

 

Stumplifter,
Thanks for the words.
I have to get to work now but assuming the gravity "pre-bleed" doesn't work, I guess I am looking at a new or rebuilt MC.
Baxter

 

If all is good the gravity bleed will work. If the mc reservoir is not damaged or cracked it can be rebuilt as Stump stated.

Gary H.

 

The master cylinder should be rebuilt even if you can get it to bleed properly. 30+ year old seals aren't going to last much longer, and may already be flaking bits of rubber which will block the return passage, which can in turn cause the brakes to drag or lock while riding. Same goes for the caliper, which likely still has bits of gooey old brake fluid hiding in it.

 

Okay, so the gravity "pre-bleed" sort of worked; when I pull the brake handle, fluid comes out once under pressure the first pull, but subsequent pulls do nothing and yet, come back in a half-hour and the sequence repeats so I am just getting a new m/c.
On multiple suggestions, I pulled the front caliper and started to disassemble it (I checked Len's page but I do not see a complete brake caliper for the XJ550 so I it looks like I am going to have to rebuild this sucker).

So, following along with this thread (below), I need to track down a grease gun because yes, the caliper does not want to come out.

I do have a question about removing the Slide Pin. When I try to push it through, it gets flush with one side but then the rubber boots push it right back where it started from. For the rebuild, do I need to remove the Slide Pin? If so, do I use a dowel and tap it out or should I just pull it out with some pliers? The boots look okay but given the condition of the rest of this caliper, everything is suspect.

Thanks,
Baxter

 

Okay, here is the reference to the link on the forums that talked about using air compressor or grease gun to push out the caliper:

post-527768

 

Kit received from Len.
Awesome.

 

While we are on a thread about master cyl, I am ready to start adding fluids to the 700 Air resto-mod that just about everyone here has helped me with, (and a big TY for that). Started with front brakes and no luck, tryed at the resoviour and no luck, tore it down and there was a lot of gunk inside, even after i had cleaned the crap out of the bowl. All the seals looked pretty good, all clean inside and out now. Tried to bench test and still nothing. I was told and sold DOT 4, that you can use 4 even if DOT 3 is called for. Long story to get to my question- '85XJ 700N (air), what front brake fluid , and does DOT4 make a difference ?
Thanks, Wagy

 

DOT 4 is compatable with DOT3. The only thing that is going to make a difference is for you to tear down the whole brake system, clean it thoroughly, replace the old seals and brake lines, and refill/bleed with new brake fluid. Flushing only works if it happens on a regular basis (every two years), otherwise you end up wigh the goopy crud you have now.

 

Thanks k-moe, any clue why my m/c is now not pushing fluid when it did at the start of my resto ?
Seals look fine but are looks that decieving ?

 

Yes.

 

Short & Sweet, TY k-moe