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Trouble Shooting No Front Brake

2K views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  DanCX500 
#1 ·
I just bought a 79 cx500 off of Craigslist yesterday it has quite a few things to fix to get it on the road however. I am starting with the front Brake. Basically there is none. There is zero resistance with the brake lever. The reservoir is full. Looking around Youtube I am thinking the pistons are seized and I should do a rebuild. However I was thinking I should maybe start simple and try just replacing fluid and then bleeding the lines. Can air in the lines result in nothing or would they work and just feel squishy? Any other thoughts of how to trouble shoot this would be appreciated.

Also, I did a quick search but if anyone knows of a good thread about this subject, I would love a link to it....
 
#2 · (Edited)
Welcome to the forum. A search will usually yeild results or check out the wiki.

Here is my 2 cents worth. Best to do it right. Pull the caliper and master and disassemble them. Clean everything up real good. Replace any rubber that looks bad. Many times the rubber can be reused if on a budget. Reassemble using brake fluid on rubber parts. Make sure both the holes in bottom of reservoir are clear. Put the system back together and fill with new fluid. Bleed system. The brake is very important part and must be working 100%.
 
#4 ·
My feeling here is that the MC is shagged since it is full of fluid. Seized callipers won't cause a soft lever, if anything the opposite would be true.

I would attempt to bleed the system before I pulled anything apart though. Air in the lines will definitely give you a poor lever but the air must have got into the system somewhere and this would need to be investigated even if they do bleed up.
 
#6 ·
I hear you Fatchumang, - and it's good policy, especially concerning brakes.

I would still attempt to bleed them up to see if I could identify the fault before tearing it down so I'd have a better idea what I was looking for though.

Of course... they may not bleed up at all.
 
#8 ·
#9 ·
Thanks Dan I think I may do that... I really wanted to rebuild it for the learning experience, since I have none... At the same time I want to get the bike on the road in the next few weeks and there is a ton of work to do. More every time I look at it. I'd hate to get it up and running just in time to store it away for that looooooong NH winter. Plus at $20 it's cheaper than the rebuild kits I've found. Anybody know why prices for everything seem to be all over the place? I'll find the same part in one place for $25 and another for $100
 
#12 ·
Thanks Dan I think I may do that... I really wanted to rebuild it for the learning experience, since I have none... At the same time I want to get the bike on the road in the next few weeks and there is a ton of work to do. More every time I look at it. I'd hate to get it up and running just in time to store it away for that looooooong NH winter. Plus at $20 it's cheaper than the rebuild kits I've found. Anybody know why prices for everything seem to be all over the place? I'll find the same part in one place for $25 and another for $100

Hay, no problem! I need to keep my stuff running on the cheap, so I keep track of the lower cost stuff.

Why are prices all over the place? Because it's a free world, well most of it is, and because there are some guys who will buy that stuff at that price.

Good luck on getting it running. You're doing the right thing asking questions.

Have you tried searching the Wiki? The search works well there.
 
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