Stuffed up brakes (all of them)

[tunnermann]

I've posted before that my rear brakes are stuffed. so is the case of many others. but what I'm concerned now is with my front ones.

My forks are leaking a bit (can anyone help me do the job?) and it was leaking on top of one of the calipers. The disc on that side was a bit greasy. I took it off and cleaned it with engine degreaser. it improved a bit. but still is not up to scratch. I really noticed that my brakes were bugged, or not good enough when I rode my friends 250 ninja. I had to brake much lighter on his'. I ride a 98 zx7r. He also has a 11 GSXR. I asked him if the brakes on his GSXR were as good as on his ninja. I was expecting a no. but he said off course. he has Tokico calipers on his, so do I. But If i thought his ninja had much better brakes (i think from 100km/h to a stop would take half the time than on my zx7r) and if his GSXR that I haven't ridden is better and has the same calipers different years of course, brakes much better than I'm left with the waht's wrong with mines question. When I cleaned the brakes I had a look at the pads and they had plenty of life still. (bought the bike 6 months ago from a cheap ass careless guy stupid idiot, what else...) Found heaps of problems with the bike already when he said it had only cosmetic damage. I ride at fairly high speeds sometimes, and on the event of a e.brake I want to be able to brake on time. Have seen myself dodging cars cuz it didn't brake on time. also just for riding you want your brakes working.

Any ideas?

Also, could it be cheap brake pads off ebay? it didn't have a brand name at the back.


cheers

[Stephan]

If you don't want to turn yourself into a statistic, stop riding your bike with non functioning brakes! I would guess that your pads are saturated with forkoil and they don't like that one bit. Fix up your forkseals and change your pads. I found, the genuine ones always did the job for me. Track or road.

[out_in_front]

1) make sure no oil is getting on them - check fork seals and also remove calipers and see if brake fluid is leaking from them too
2) if the discs are greasy, wash them with soapy water and hose them down properly to get rid of the detergent.
3) If that is not the case - get some proper pads - from EBC etc - only $30 per set for sintered pads on superbike toy store.

[Pinkee]

ahhh man, i got the same prob... only my pads are 100km old. F^%&$K !!!

[Ozboy]

Hmmm, looks like we need a PSB brake check/service/change thread going.

If your bike doesn't brake as well as it should guys, take it from me, stop riding your bike until the problem is fixed.

You WILL end up in a world of pain if you don't heed this warning.

[burlyoaf]

What kinda feel are you getting with the brake lever? Firm and solid or soft / spongy all the way to the bar?


The fork seals are easy mate, did my zx-7r forks last week, pro-tip, they're only $25 odd dollars, buy 2 sets just incase you have passion fingers.
Have you got a copy of the workshop manual?

[pangpang89]

I had this exact same issue on my ZZR250. When I tried to brake hard, it didn't stop very fast. It would slow but then not apply any more pressure than what I had in the first place. Make sure you do not ride in the rain as the water made it so much worse.

Fork oil was leaking down the fork onto the calipers which made its way onto the brake pads. After fixing the seals, replacing the pads and washing the disc for 20 mins, the bike was stopping as it should.

Replace your brake pads asap.

[SIR sparks a lot]

U will find your pads are f'ed get new ones also change your fork seals and if you clean your discs and shit try brake cleaner on it works a treat every time

[tunnermann]

ahhh man, i got the same prob... only my pads are 100km old. F^%&$K !!!

isn't it normal for brand new brake pads that they don't brake as well in the begining?

Well, it happens that I'm not gonna stop riding it, since that's my only vehicle and guess what it's raining today So I won't speed for a change

Will have to get onto those seals asap

[tunnermann]

Yes, I've got the workshop manual. PDF and hard copy. I don't think I have passion fingers, apart from parts that i'm not suposed to touch, like the speed gauge. now I have, or better don't have, a tacho anymore
what was the process of getting the forks done?

did you have to take the forks off?
how did you lift the front end? I don't think normal stands would do right?
I heard that you gotta use an specified pressure in the forks. is it true? How do you measure it than?

it sounds like a big job? Anybody fancy giving me a hand?

[burlyoaf]

What did ya do to the tacho? play with the dodgy corroded screw on the back of the dash??

forks were pretty easy, but the forks have to come out, either chuck the bike on a head stand, or sling the triple up on a rafter.

so get the front wheel off the ground, turn the rebound screw fully anticlockwise, count the clicks and write down, also the amount of rings visible and how far through the clamp the forks are.
undo the top caps of the forks just a little while they're still in the triple so you can undo the cap once they're out.

calipers off, undo the pinch bolts on the right leg and undo the axle, undo pinch bolts on left fork, take the wheel out.
take the forks out.
then watch these, much easier than typing.

YouTube - Change motorcycle fork seals part 1 (of 2) cartridge type
YouTube - Change motorcycle fork seals part 2 (of 2) cartridge type

they use a seal bullet, i didn't order one, i ran a couple of laps of electrical / race tape around the top of the inner tube and the ridge just below for the bushing, grease them up nicely and be careful and you'll be fine.
Make sure you check the inner lip on the seal once you've got it on the stanchion that the lip hasnt rolled in. if it has get it so they entire lip is out.

i also didn't get a seal driver i had done a bit of a search for other ideas, search for "fork seal driver" here and there are a few ways you can manage it
i went with darkfibres suggestion of wrapping tape around the stanchion similar in size to the seal, there was a link to a page with a picture but i cant find it..
i also made a ghetto depth guage the someone suggested on here with a spray bottle, cut the stem to length, sat it on the edge of the fully compressed fork and pumped the oil into a container until it stopped

the rest the videos kinda cover

depending whats going on when you plan on doing it i may be able to lend a hand, it's not as daunting as it sounds though.

[burlyoaf]

forgot to chuck link for the seals in Kawasaki ZX750 Ninja ZX7 R 96-03 FORK SEAL DUST SEALS | eBay

also one of these is very handy... not necessarily this exact one but a banjo with a bleed nipple for the master cylinder helped heaps with my brakes.
what brake line configuration do you have?

[Cam]

Speak to Marty Moose about your fork seals, he's "The Man" with ZX7's in general as well.

[tunnermann]

I guess my brake lines are stock.

I'll probably do it in a month. If seals are 25bucks off the net, I might just go to kawasaki. I think they said it was 21, and there is no shipping plus i can go there and get anothere one if i brake the new seals or soemthing.

I saw a couple of decent videos on youtube as well. It seems easy tofuck up, that's quiet likely for me .

how long do you reckon it would take to do both of them? Can we do it in a day?

[Thunderbird]

Hmmm, looks like we need a PSB brake check/service/change thread going.

If your bike doesn't brake as well as it should guys, take it from me, stop riding your bike until the problem is fixed.

You WILL end up in a world of pain if you don't heed this warning.

You recieved a special mention in the breaking section of the Trakdayz level 1 on the weekend

[burlyoaf]

i didnt realise they were that cheap locally, is that for seals and wipers??

we knocked out the forks and swapping back to the original master cylinder and bleeding in about 3.5 hours, dragging our feet a bit though.

easily done in less than a day

[tunnermann]

Not sure what came with that. I asked for a quote on fork seals and they said 21 a set. Dunno much stuff about stuff, just a passionate and curious. Get to learn on the way Did u do both of your seals that day? I guess it wouldn't be too hard to do both since you have everything off by than.

Forgot to answer what i did to my tacho.

Well, I just wnated to play around with it. I wanted to see if "I was good enough to open it and not brake it". Guess I wasn't. I managed to open the case without braking the trip pin thing that you use to reset the trip meter thing. I undid the screws at the back and pulled the arrow thing off the speedometer and tacho. undid the screws to remove that plate, and after figuring out that it was way too complicated to wind back the odometer, dodgy me (and I was never thinking of selling the bike), I guessed there was nothing else to do there, and put everything back. but the arrow thing for the tacho wasn't siting in there properly, it was a bit loose or stuck at times. it would work upside down, but not upright. so a week went by with me trying to glue it, trying to silicone it, tape it. and than nothing worked than I thought I would remove those coper wires from around it, it was so much work. I end by braking that thin copper wire, and than thought. I'll just buy some other wires when I fix it. so I grabbed my pocket knife and cut it all. and it has been sitting in my wardrobe since than cuz it is too much work I gues nobody fix it, or if they do, it will probably cost more than a second hand one off ebay.

[burlyoaf]

Would probably be wise to get a set of dust wipers aswell, do the whole lot new
yeah did both, technically did 3, cause we seated the first seal and noticed the lip was rolled so took it apart again, once you get your head round the process on the first one the second doesn't take long at all, the most difficult part really in compressing the spring again getting at all back together

[tunnermann]

cool. added u as a friend when I get the parts I'll contact u maybe we can catch up to do some work and have a few froffies and than go for a ride, hopefully not drunk It's good to have guys with the same bike as you so you can share similar concerns and problems.

[burlyoaf]

can do mate, let us know how ya go with getting parts and what not