Caliper rebuild on Maxim X

The brakes need to be replaced on the X, they looked decent last year but today I was surprised to find one of the pistons on each side is doing more work than the other one is and the brake pads are toast.

I'll get the caliper rebuild kits tomorrow. When I looked more closely at the calipers though I see they are much different than the XJ650 or XJ1100. Hopefully I can find a local source of pads tomorrow but I'm not sure how to deal with these calipers & get them apart properly & also how best to remove both pistons. If there is a pictorial on the web with clear instructions how to best remove the pads, I'd sure like to see it. MUCH easier on the XJ1100...

Thanks.

 

Okay been here done this one. I will do my VERY VERY best to walk you through it.

Im assuming you have them off?

Pads: You can order on ebay or almost any decent sized shop will have them in stock. I went with the ebc pads and rear drum brake shoes. No complaints.

You're gonna want a can of break cleaner, the little blue paper towels, and a set of picks. I used an old tooth brush as well.

Chances are if they haven't been rebuilt than you are gonna have some dried (idk the technical term) brake fluid. This is where the picks come in scraping it out, making sure the holes on the inside of the calipers are clean. There are two small ones behind each piston. I used the red straw with the brake cleaner to spray them out.... Several times. I used a tooth brush and brake cleaner to remove every ounce of breakdust I could. Internal and external.

As far as getting the pistons out I used an air compressor with a rubber nose. Removed the bleed bolt plugged the other hole and wrapped them in a rag. Suckers popped right out. ( watch your fingers here)

This is what I started with:

Ignore the lady hands.... My lovely assistant (fiance')



They ended up looking pretty!



Here is midway through the process. Let me know if you get stuck. I'll check back tomorrow!

 

Oops! Here is the mid way one!

 

I'm doing that to my X for Len; got to the point where I was recoating the caliper halves with the "armor coating", but the can of stuff was bad or something and the vendor has it on backorder. Still, I could take what I've got done so far, upload it somewhere and link to it for you...

 

Thanks for the replies.

I didn't know if you're supposed to split the calipers or not. I am looking at a photocopy of the service manual and the photos were fuzzy to start with and these photocopies are pretty lousy. Under the caliper disassembly section (Page 6-12 & on in this service manual) it doesn't show the splitting of the calipers into two halves but it does show on Page 6-12 two arrows going to opposite sides of something on the calipers I can't make out and they call it "A" and say "do not loosen".

I was wondering if they were referring to the two bolts that hold the calipers together? I'm assuming there are O-rings in-between the two halves for the brake fluid to pass through or maybe a copper crush ring. If so, the caliper rebuild kit doesn't have that part in it. So I'm not sure what the "A" pieces are that they tell you not to loosen. I looked for torque specs for the bolts that hold the two halves together and I can't find any values for that.

Idears?

 

The service manual says NOT to split the calipers.... it says something to the effect of "they are not servicable"... BUT Len has the fluid transfer passage o rings that you need.

I'm working on a write up on piston removal for those dual caliper piston brakes too....

 

It will be a lot easier to clean the channels in the caliper bores if you split the calipers in halves. It will also enable you to replace the fluid transfer seals.

Len can provide these seals.

This will be my next job on my Seca900. It has the same kind of calipers as your X. Calipers are already off of the bike and split, seals removed. I haven't perfectly cleaned them up yet.

I looked for the torque specs in my manual but didn't find anything for the bolts you mentioned. I wouldn't go a lot higher than 12 ft-lb. THey were definitely easier to loosen than the bolts that hold the calipers to the forks (torque is 25 ft-lb)

 

When i did mine, I just torqued them up to where the halves were sitting snugly togerther, then gave it an additional 1/2 turn or so. havent had any leaks or issues

 

Ah. I'm assembling an order for Len but I'll be needing those O-rings earlier. They're probably viton rings to deal with the heat but I don't know what size they require. Might could be able to re-use the old rings but that would risk a leak. Think I'll have to do it without splitting the calipers. Bugger, it's much easier to do when you can see clearly what you are cleaning.

To get the pistons out, I don't have an air compressor but I do have a tire pump. What I've done before is to squeeze the brake & replace fluid till the piston was squeezed out. Not sure how to do that with two opposing pistons. Guess I'll have to leave one side of the brakes intact & on the bike & then have at the side that is loose.

 

KA1J - pm me your email address + i'll send you a draft of my write up.

 

I split the calipers when i did mine. There is so much gunk that builds up i cant imagine not cleaning them out.

 

Found the same thing. It looked like the Caramilk stuffing!

 

I probably spent a solid hour on each caliper scraping amd cleaning.

 

I soaked the calipers in full strength degreaser.... it softened a lot of that $hit up....

 

I have a gallon of industrial grade carb cleaner. WOuld it be suitable for calipers?

 

Carb dip? I would probably pass on that.... unless you plan on repainting them too. make sure you get all the dip residue off if you do...

 

I just sprayed them down like crazy in brake cleaner and wrapped them in a rag to soak. I love that smell now lol