Disassembling brake calipers?

[Festus]

I bought a cheap powder coating gun the other day and was thinking about doing my brake calipers. In all my years of working on cars, I've never taken a caliper apart. Pretty simple task or a real pain in the butt?

[Hppants]

I suppose you must disassemble them because the "baking" part of the powder coating might put those seals at temps that are too high?

Haven't opened up FJR calipers, but I've rebuilt a few automotive calipers and it's really simple. I would blow out the pistons with compressed air. From there removing and replacing the seals/sweepers is a piece of cake.

[Festus]

I suppose you must disassemble them because the "baking" part of the powder coating might put those seals at temps that are too high?

Yes, around 400-450 degrees.

Perfect, thanks for the explanation. Looks like a lot of seals! A ton for the front, with all the dual pistols. Should be a fun little project.

[gixxerjasen]

When you blow out the pistons, put a thin piece of wood in there. Thick enough that the pistons won't blow out entirely, because what happens is the piston with the least resistance will blow out leaving the others in place, then you'll have to put it back in and do it all over again.

If I, GixxerJasen, can pull them, take them apart, clean, rebuild, reassemble, install and bleed them all the night before a 4500 mile trip, you can do it with plenty of time set aside.



Keep an eye out for crappy Yamaha QC, this metal shaving was floating around inside my caliper.



If you are wondering about the reference for the photo with the circles, it's from another post about not losing those stupid seals. Read up here for more helpful info by the bungling GixxerJasen:
Click Here

Watch a few youtube videos on motorcycle caliper rebuilding and you can do it.

[Festus]

Looks like a great time to replace those too Jasen. It's about $75 in seals alone so might as well toss those on the list.

[blind squirrel]

Speaking of seals...


A vacationing penguin is driving his car through Arizona when he notices that the oil pressure light is on. He gets out to look and sees oil dripping out of the motor. He drives to the nearest town and stops at the first gas station.

After dropping the car off, the penguin goes for a walk around town. He sees an ice-cream shop and, being a penguin in Arizona, decides that something cold would really hit the spot. He gets a big dish of ice cream and sits down to eat. Having no hands he makes a real mess trying to eat with his flippers. After finishing his ice cream, he goes back to the gas station and asks the mechanic if he's found the problem. The mechanic looks up and says "It looks like you blew a seal."

"No no," the penguin replies, "it's just ice cream."

[FJRoss]

Looks like a great time to replace those too Jasen. It's about $75 in seals alone so might as well toss those on the list.

Remember that the left side is a set of eight seals under one part number. The right side is two different part numbers - four seals each...
Check the sides of the pistons for pitting, scratches or corrosion. Replace if they don't clean up well.