Front Brake issue

[LapTraffic]

Was riding this weekend, there was a light snow on the ground. One of our riders on a motorcycle slid out and laid the bike down. He was getting it out of the ditch and so I tooled down the road a bit and started to do a brodie checking the road for just how slick it was. I turned left into the start of the slide and foolishly didnt check behind me. My friend on a foreman thought I was takin off and when I turned left he ran into me hitting my front left tire with his front right.

It was a soft hit, just a few mph, it didnt even turn my bars in my hand.

He said 'sorry,' I said 'myfault and no harm done anyway' and we continued riding.

Well about 5 minutes later I went to brake and was able to pull the lever to the handle bar. The front right slowly locked up (this was in snow with very little traction, these front brakes will easily lock up on dry cement if youre not careful) and the front left did not lock at all.

I dismounted, checked for leaks, found none, resevoir was still full and no brake fluid around the wheel. When depressing the lever the lever felt very soft and traveled to the bar, the left brake pad did not move.

Rode about another 40 minutes then loaded em up and went home.

Did not get a chance to drop the wheel and tear into the brake as it was Christmas eve. The next day after the obligatory running around I went to the garage and pulled the bike out to check the brake system out.

Could find no pinch in the line, no leak or anything even remotely remarkable. Resevoir still full, checked the brake lever pull and it felt like it was back to normal and the brake pad on the left was moving. Brakes appear to be working ok.

So what happened? Did the jolt knock an air bubble loose? That with time worked its way up to the resevoir purging the line?

I intend to bleed the front brakes this weekend and do a full inspection, just thought it strange that it fixed itself without my intervention.

Anyone have similar issues with the front brake system?

[Redman]

I went riding yesterday for half an hour and I noticed the front end felt like it wanted to go everywhere. Brought it home pulled it off the trailer, then i started pushing it into the garage noticing how hard it was to do so. Parked it for the night , went out and checked it out after work today. I tore it down to the spindles and relubed. Then I noticed that it was hard to spin the wheel hubs with the brake caliper mounted. I noticed that the lever was hard to push in. I bled the entire front system and guess what, works great now.

[cannondale27]

Sometimes the caliper will get pushed causing the pads to be spread apart.(like when you install new pads and push the pistons all the way in so the new pads will fit over disk)Then you have to activate them twice once to get the pistons back out next time to get the pads to contact the disc.

[rowlrag]

If it goes away forget about it. if happens again fix it

[Redman]

I think I figured it out. That day I was trasporting my quad with the e brake on. It had gotten kind of cold out, so maybe that had something to do with my brake problem.

[Knight440]

QUOTE

Originally posted by rowlrag
If it goes away forget about it. if happens again fix it

Like the man said!

[LapTraffic]

Ok, I bled the brakes, checked all the banjo fittings and no luck, still a lot of lever movement (to the grip) and the wheels barely lock up. You can pump the lever a couple times and get it to bite down like normal but not on a single throw.

I took the wheel off to inspect the area and found the hit to have been harder than I had originally thought. The hit bent my steering stem ball joint tab enough to cause the bars to be off a degree or two. It was hard to tell in the snow. I adjusted the tierods to realign the front but the stem will have to be replaced.

The lower A-arm bushings are cracked and there is play in the A arm itself.

The brake housing shows a witness mark from the wheel hub so there was contact there.

And finally, when I spin the wheel there is movement in the brake assembly, closer inspection shows what appears to be a bent rotor. It's about 1/16th out.

My question is this;
I know I have to replace the stem, lower bushings and the rotor, but will this address the weak lever action? Im wondering if the rotor is pushing the cylinder out as it rubs through the warped section making the throw farther than what the lever can accomplish. It's a pretty simple hydraulic system I just want to make sure. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Jeff, could you PM on the price of a Rotor and the lower A arm bushing?

Thanks

[cannondale27]

You are right on track.When mine was rolled it bent the spindle so the pads werent flat on the disk.If you have the wheel off and you look straight at disk and pads you will see right away if spindle is bent.Your disc will be fine you would be suprised how much they will runout once they get hot or cold otherwise just give it a tap with a plastic hammer.I think you have a bent spindle pads have to be parallel with disc or when you are squeezing lever it is just bending the rotor straight.Thats why lever feels so spongy.

[LapTraffic]

I see what youre saying and that makes sense but the pads dont run true, the rotor contacts the outer pad and then, in about a 1/2 turn of the wheel, it's contacting the inner pad and pushing the cylinder.

I could have a bent spindle as well, and if it bent the steering stem tab like that (you can see where it hit the stops) then a bent spindle is probably not out of the question and that could be compounding the issue.

Although, from my vantage looking at the trim in the front the camber does not appear to be off...

Either way, Marty, can you add that to my list? If I havent bent it now I will soon enough