Changing my rear brake pads has turned into a major PITA!!!!

[cybrnathan]

I'm going to rant for a moment or two, please bear with me:

I got my brand new, pretty, and shiny EBC HH rear brake pads in the mail today. I went to install them and of course the F*()ING pistons won't go back in . I love my Kat, but this is a royal PITA!!!. I'm reading my Haynes manual and it's telling me if I can't get them back in I have to take the top off the rear master cylinder (which involves taking nearly all the F*()ING fairings off).... and hopefully it will make them go back in. This is my first bike, so I don't know much. Are all sportbikes this much of a SON-OF-A-B(*ch to deal with, or am I being a winy noob LOL ??????

Rant Completed

[ckholloway]

HAHA your kinda being a winy noob, but thats ok.

If you dont have it done yet another way is to put a clear hose on the bleeder and crack it open, then press the piston in. You will loose a little bit of fluid and may have to bleed the brake. Hopefully you won't loose enough that you have to take the fairing off anyway to add more fluid.

[SKNL2]

Take a breath. Relax and cool off before you go back to the bike.

Once you aren't feeling all Defcon 5, put one of the old pads back in the caliper as a hard point to pry against. Use a long screwdriver to pry the piston back into the caliper. Be careful not to mar any delicate surfaces like your knuckles.

[cybrnathan]

Take a breath. Relax and cool off before you go back to the bike.

Once you aren't feeling all Defcon 5, put one of the old pads back in the caliper as a hard point to pry against. Use a long screwdriver to pry the piston back into the caliper. Be careful not to mar any delicate surfaces like your knuckles.

The buggers still won't go back in after trying it with an old pad and a long screwdriver. I'll try the bleeder valve technique tomorrow.

[H-2 CHARLIE]

Try to expand them some , then use some syn. Greese around the piston after cleaning any dirt around it ..the fairings arent to tough on my post -2002 then use a wood stick or a soft tool to get them back closed ..i like a c-clamp with protection

[Trackerrrr]

You can use a small C-clamp also to compress the piston back in like Charlie said. Probably the easiest way to go.

[md86]

Take a breath. Relax and cool off before you go back to the bike.

Once you aren't feeling all Defcon 5, put one of the old pads back in the caliper as a hard point to pry against. Use a long screwdriver to pry the piston back into the caliper. Be careful not to mar any delicate surfaces like your knuckles.

Yes , but that'd be DEFCON1 , as 5 is the mellow "ain't much goin on" kinda DEFCON . Jussayin .

[600toStart]

You definitely need to use some mechanical leverage.
Unless the pistons are really dirty and rusty they 'should' go back into place. They might be getting a little crooked and thus wedging against the housing in which case you need to make sure that you are evenly applying pressure to the piston as you make it go back in.

Prying with a screwdriver works. A c-clamp works. I sometimes use a pair of large vise-grip handled pliers that have large flat surface and fits around the housing perfectly.

If you crack open the bleeder valves you will definitely have to bleed the system. I haven't done a brake job on my motorcycle yet but I assume a gravity bleed will be suffice? (Veterans?)

When you are pushing the piston back in fluid is being pushed backwards through the system so if you have the reservior open it might be easier.

Good luck.

[mambopalace]

It's Easy

Throw on a set of SpeedBleeders while you're at it.

[paul.miner]

If there is a lot of crap built up on the sides of the pistons, you may want to take the calipers off and remove the pistons and clean them. You don't want to push all that crap back into the caliper. I just changed my fronts last week and ended up taking both calipers apart to give them a good cleaning because the pistons were coated with crud.

[squiggy]

If there is a lot of crap built up on the sides of the pistons, you may want to take the calipers off and remove the pistons and clean them. You don't want to push all that crap back into the caliper. I just changed my fronts last week and ended up taking both calipers apart to give them a good cleaning because the pistons were coated with crud.

Do an inspection. You don't want the crud to slid back over the seal because it may scour the seal and now you have a leaking brake caliper.

[scottynoface]

Yup, clean the calipers while you have them off.

Open the bleeder and use a C clamp like they said. Should compress and shoot fluid out the bleeder.

[cybrnathan]

Well I got one side in (the far side), the side closest to me is about 1/2 way in. I tried everything mentioned above. I think I'm going to bite the bullet, take the fairings off, drain the brake fluid, remove the caliper, clean everything, reassemble (hopefully with the new pads in place), put in new fluid and bleed. Why couldn't Suzuki put the rear master cylinder someplace easy to get to like Kawasaki did with this ZX-6R??? http://motorcyclewallpaper.blogspot....nja-zx-6r.html

[scottynoface]

Well I got one side in (the far side), the side closest to me is about 1/2 way in. I tried everything mentioned above. I think I'm going to bite the bullet, take the fairings off, drain the brake fluid, remove the caliper, clean everything, reassemble (hopefully with the new pads in place), put in new fluid and bleed. Why couldn't Suzuki put the rear master cylinder someplace easy to get to like Kawasaki did with this ZX-6R??? http://motorcyclewallpaper.blogspot....nja-zx-6r.html

I don't know what your experience with the 6R is, but my 03 rear fluid reservoir is a PITA to work with. It's right there under the subframe, but really hard to actually get to without getting brake fluid everywhere.

[cybrnathan]

I removed most of the fairing bolts and moved the right fairing just enough so I could get to the master cylinder top and removed it. Once I did that the pistons spread like butter


I have rear brakes