Caliper Question - Is this normal?

[Night Vision]

Ok, I've been jumping back and forth between working on the carbs and front brake.

I have installed an OEM caliper rebuild kit (piston, two seals) and a K&L master rebuild kit and am in the process of bleeding the system but first.......? Is this normal?

The caliper seems to be loose on the carrier.? The caliper "tightens up" when I apply the brake.? I can lock the wheel up rolling both forward and reverse (on a concrete garage floor) , but when I release the pressure, I can "rock" the caliper back and forth on the carrier. I don't remember how it was before I took it apart, but before I go any further.....

Normal..... or Abnormal?

[Extent]

That dosen't sound normal to me, if you've got the caliper torqued down to the fork leg correctly you shouldn't be able to move it back and forth, it may tighten up when you apply the brakes but I'ld worry about repeated movement backing out the mount screws, and you don't want your caliper to fall off!

But if it's just the caliper housing sliding side to side that's probably ok, since it's only a single pot caliper it works by sliding the housing to apply pressure to both sides of the disk.  Maybe what you've got is air in the lines that's making the piston really soft, so it's pushing back in more than usual if you push sideways on the caliper.  The piston is usually very stiff, and last time I had to push it back into the caliper housing a bit to remount it on the wheel I had to use a C clamp to force it back.

[Night Vision]

Extent - The bolts are torqued to spec, but it's the carrier that the bolts go to. I bled the brakes well and they seem to be "satisfactory" although I have nothing to compare to. The front brake was DOA when I bought the bike.

The caliper "hooks" over the rotor so I don't think it will fall off.  The o-rings are on the carrier posts.

I guess I'm just asking if there is supposed to be some play in the caliper when its at rest?
   

[louthepou]

There shouldn't be much free play. Did you completely remove the slider part from the carrier part? Often, I've seen the sliders with the chrome gone, thus making them smaller; that could explain the free play.

Are the dust boots on the carriers in good shape, is everything greased with brake caliper grease? Are the sliders tightened enough?

Lou

[Night Vision]

Lou- everything was apart on the caliper. Aside from the ball-peened piston and single seal that were replaced (with two seals of course) , nothing looked cooked.?

I think I'll take it apart and look again. Perhaps soak the slider o-rings in ATF to swell them up a bit, maybe they are dry.

There wasn't much grease in the holes where the carrier slides into caliper,

How much grease should there be?

Funniest part about this whole thing is I have a three year old reciept where some toad soaked the PO $202 to

"fix elec" (battery won't hold charge) $60
"rebuilt caliper"? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?$60
"rebuilt master"? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? $60 plus tax and parts

can't wait till I get to the "fix elec" part

aawww crap... went to a schematic at DGY and see I'm missing a caliper shim and a pad support (both are back ordered) Guess it's time for my weekly trip back to the dealer. Good thing they are .5 miles down the street

so it's back to the carbs.......

[louthepou]

Keep on truckin'...

Keep us posted  ;)

Lou