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caliper bolt snapped

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by ken007, Apr 1, 2012.

  1. ken007

    ken007 Member

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    this arvo out having a ride ,pulled away from lights ,just shifted to 3rd and felt a couple of banging noises, put the front brake on and nothing, pulled over to the side of the road and the caliper was hanging by the brake line, im assuming as i put braided lines on about 3 weeks ago that it just speeded up the metal fatigue process, i havent checked any manuels etc yet ,but do these bolts have a recommended service life? i cable tied it to the frame and took it easy for 20 k's on the road to get it home, the bike has 55000k's on it and i dont know if it the original bolt, its the single front caliper on the maxim, has this happened to any one else? thanks
     
  2. Yammadof

    Yammadof Member

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    So after the rebuild, you installed the caliper with the sleeve/o-ring/washer? Did you tighten to spec [19 ft.lb]? Did the bolt break or simply "let go"?.....the maxim has this "floating" caliper doesn't it? My seca has two bolts per caliper......Need some Maxim guys to comment...

    Dave
     
  3. ken007

    ken007 Member

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    hi dave, yeah all bits where they were meant to go, the bolt simply broke, this bolt could possibly have been on the bike since new,its only 8mm and seems a bit light to me,now an interesting thing about tourqueing the bolt to spec ,about 19lb's, when you do it this tight it simply is to tight to float, i know it says that in the haynes but i jusy cant believe it at the moment, anyway got a new bolt,new pads ,went for a ride ,bedded them in now they are as good as new again, i will put up a photo of the bolt
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    i was hoping somebody would say the bolt should be replaced every X amount of time
     
  4. mtnbikecrazy55

    mtnbikecrazy55 Active Member

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    how tight the bolt is should have nothing to do with float... at least on cars....
     
  5. ken007

    ken007 Member

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    probably should have said that somebody farted and the caliper had pods attached to get some more thoughts on this,,, oh well,such is life, i must have been the 1st person who has experienced this, thank god....
     
  6. Bushy

    Bushy Active Member

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    Yeah i was surprised at that too, but i'm not familiar with th 650's brake set up, glad you're ok and it didn't happen at a worse time ... over tightened and stretched/weakened? old age and fatigue?

    And maybe it was just one of those things that fail, somewhere sometime.
     
  7. wwj750

    wwj750 Member

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    Im guessing fatigue and maybe vibrations after 55000K. I've had trouble with the anti-dive assy' bolts on the fork of my 750 Seca. Good on ya for the creative use of cable ties to get home. Some would have been left stranded, not knowing what to do. I always carry a couple for emergencies as well.
     
  8. ken007

    ken007 Member

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    untill this happened, i couldnt have imagined it could happen, i think once every 6 months or so i will pull the bolt(very easy to do) and have a look for any cracks, but then again the bolt only cost a dollar or so, why not renew? i have heard all about rear brake delamanation, which results in rear wheel lock up, but imagine your caliper snapping of at speed while undergoing an emergency stop, anyway its food for thought, im thinking its a bit of a one off, but it did co inside with me fitting braided front brake lines 3 weeks ago,
     
  9. shangovi

    shangovi Member

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    Well Ken007 one thing that is unmatchable on this forum is the experience and experiences of all the riders on here - everyday something new comes along. What I get from this is that it may be much cheaper to replace the bolts everytime we do a calipher job then to risk your life.
    jst my 2c
     
  10. hogfiddles

    hogfiddles XJ-Wizard, Host-Central NY Carb Clinic Moderator Premium Member

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    FWIW, I don't think you'd have to worry about an emergency stopping issue...the pads have extensions that go up into the fork casting itself, and simply the rotational forces would keep the caliper in place until stopped and pressure is released. THEN the caliper could conceivably drop off. But we all know how tough if can be to actually remove a caliper, so the likelyhood of catastophic front break failure is pretty unlikely. Not saying it isn't POSSIBLE though.............Just not something to stay up all night worrying about all the time. I'd worry more about the back brakes....................:)

    Dave
     
  11. ken007

    ken007 Member

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    your right ,it wont do any good worrying about it, it would detract from the pleasure of riding this old girl to much, fact is i dont really use the brakes that much, only when you have to come to a complete stop or some melon in a car doesnt see me, after i put my braided lines on i did a lot of emergency stops to get a feel for them,probably had a flaw in the bolt for years. thanks for the advice,, cheers
     
  12. Yammadof

    Yammadof Member

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    Ken....when you replaced the old line with a new braid, did you pull the caliper off? Or did you replace just the line/banjo/crush washers ?

    Dave
     
  13. ken007

    ken007 Member

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    gday dave , i didnt pull the caliper off, i just replaced the line,bolts and washers, the caliper was rebuilt about 18 months ago but i didnt change the pivot bolt back then.
     

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