Man, it's been spongy since I laid it down on the right side in the sandy creek area at Baja last Feb and I've tried bleeding it with the closed loop bleeding kit. Tried leaving it overnight with lever squeezed with a zip tie, still spongy. What's the secret? Bubble trapped in loop going over handle bars or something? How do I purge that out? Any help is appreciated!
Do you have access to the pump/vacuum bleeder, they have worked great for me over the years. If you have a Harbor Freight near you you can get one of their cheep ones. they work pretty good. I have one of these little gizmos and it may take a 8oz bottle but they work. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92474
You might want to check if the disk is bent. I noticed spongy front brakes on my TE, and it was because I tweaked my rotor just a tad. The mild taco/pringle shape pushes the pads out further when it spins, so you have to squeeze the lever further to get them to contact the disk. And yes, one of Kelly's replacement wave rotors is on my Father's Day list...
Have you ever tried this method. This is the only way that i could get the brakes bled on my bike and i had to take the caliper off and hold it above the resevoir and pump the brakes. I took this from Transworld. What you do is place a wrench on the bleeder and take a clear plastic hose that fits tight over the bleeder. Make a couple loops in the tubing and run it into any empty container. Then open the bleeder one turn and start pumping the lever. Make sure the fluid level stays up and you will be good to go. Mine took at least 6 to 8 ounces to get all the microscopic bubbles out. [/IMG] Good luck.
I bleed them the conventional way. But then i stand there and pull that clutch in and out probably 100-150 times, about as fast as i can. All kinds of little micro bubbles just keep on bubbling up.
Excellent suggestions fella's. I can't see any discernible bend in the disc, I've had Kelly's disc guard on it since before the sponginess occurred with no apparent hits to it or the disc. I've tried the bleeder mentioned above using the bottle and pumping a good 4-6 ounces of fluid through the master cylinder. The lever never firms up after pumping it while static....... It has to have air in it somewhere. It still works like a champ for me but whenever F2G and I switch bikes we both notice my front brake is soft. Wonder if I should take the brake assembly off the handlebars and elevate it to make the master cylinder THE ONLY high point in the plumbing? Keep 'em coming! Mike, it sounds like you need to get laid...... or switch hands
That was some funny chit right there...spit water out of my nose on that one. Mike bunked with us in Baja and did disappear late in the night...maybe he needs some more south of the border entertainment...OR switch hands as suggested!
Ok, you two clowns, knock it off. You leave Mike alone. Now back to our program. I have two, thats right two CRF150 F an 04 and 05, and the front brakes are different. One hits hard right at the top and the other hits a little lower. So it could be the bikes. Although you guys are 450 and 510. Could it be you have a hand squeezing problem, "Rosy palming air and the five swinging sisters"?
I done that also and then took a large screwdriver and hit the line, caliper, fingers, head with the handle end. With the clear tubing you could barely see bubbles but it made the difference from having to pull the lever to the bars for full brake to pulling it an inch.
Try this, as it works for me.Think I read it on KTM talk? Remove the reservoir cap, and wire the lever back tight against the bars. and just leave it over night. Job done.
I wouldn't leave the cap off over night..brake fluid will get water moisture from the air and that is worse than air bubbles in the line. Just my .02
Bingo- never leave off the cap of anything realted to brake fluid. EVER. Use a vacum bleeder (like Vegas Husky has) or drop the caliper and let it sit. The bubble will migrate to the highest point (quick fix, not a cure in some cases).
Just read that thread, Haven't ridden it much lately but now have a pretty good idea what will fix it. I need one of those bleeders anyway for my other vehicles
I had this same problem and used the Ram mount for my GPS to hold the master cylinder at the highest point. It also worked good as an extra pair of hands, holding the MC while I tapped the line and caliper. There must have been a few hundred tiny bubbles come out over a 15-20 minute period. When they stopped coming out, I topped up the MC with brake fluid, buttoned everything back up and went for a test ride. Brakes worked like new Here's a link to a pic I took; http://www.cafehusky.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6503
