2 days ago on my way home from work on my trusty steed, i noticed the front brake was getting very spongy.it felt quite bad. when i got home i thought i would be smart and bleed the front brake to start with and replace the fluid. well, that was the plan, and it was all down hill from there. long and short of it, i discovered 1 of the 2 pistons in the front caliper had ceased. the was the smaller of the two. managed to free it from the caliper eventually. it had a few score marks on it and i suspect the caliper has never been pulled apart since it left the factory 21 years ago looking at how dirty it was.any how, tried to run some 800 wet/dry paper round it to clean it up.wiped down pistons and put some brake fluid on them. put it all back together.managed to bleed brakes and get system up and running. thought....mmmmm.... need to buy a caliper rebuild kit cos i dunno how long this will last.parked it in shed at it was now 1am and need to goto work in a few hours.next morning, get out of bed, check brakes and now i have brake fluid pouring put from behind the brake pads where calipers are. oh well.had a chat to suzuki, ordered a brake caliper rebuild kit, part#59100-08131 price $78.33 should be here today with a bit of luck.i better start saving coins to do the rear as well, i have no doubt it has never been done in its life either. i will keep you all posted how it all goes.
wow!!! what a difference a rebuild kit makes. i dont think my front brake has worked this good since it left the factory. it now even has 2 dust seals per piston and not one.fancy that! the outer most seal was non-existant! FABULOUS!!! anyhow, the brake lever is hard as a rock now, and stops on a dime.awesome stuff. might start putting coins away now for sure to do the rear one as well :Thumbs_up:
2 x nice shiny silver pistons. my old ones were yellow and black with gouge marks and very much looking like they were the same ones it left the factory with 21 years ago 2 black plastic thingos i have no idea what they are called, but they live inside the pistons and press against the brake pad. 4 yes FOUR new piston seals!!! WOW!!! yes, thats right TWO seals per piston instead of just one like mine had...lol any wonder when i pressed on the brake lever yesterday morning brake fluid poured out the rear of the pistons you will find the part number i posted above in either of these parts listings http://www.scribd.com/collections/3961183/Suzuki-Across-GSX250F-Parts-Manual im stoked!
while im thinking about it, the small piston in the caliper is 27mm round, and the larger of the 2 is 34mm round
just a quick update, i have had the bike running with repaired front brake for 2 days now and wow...what a difference, im very very impressed with the stopping power now. before there wasnt much difference in braking power between front/rear, now theres a huge difference. im looking forward to rebuilding the rear caliper in the next few weeks and i will also throw a rebuild kit at the rear master cylinder as well just for good measure
Hi, I pulled my front caliper apart tonight as it decided to lock on while I was riding it home the other day. Found the pistons nice and gunked up and one of the seals no seated correctly. Figure its best replacing the parts like you have. BUT...did you replace the dust seals that are on the outer side of the caliper? Any idea how much these are? Cheers, Pok
You may be able to get them separately but when I rebuilt my caliper I think it was about $80 or something for the inner and outer seals and pistons. No point in just replacing one set of seals, do both sets at once.
I ended up finishing the job this morning. Got two new piston sets from the local parts supplier and fitted the new seals and pistons to both the front and rear calipers. Pulled them all apart and gave them a really good clean and put it all back together now. All working as it should Piston sets where $150 for both sets (so average of $75 per set). Only issue I found was the dust seals for the rear were the wrong size, the outer diameter was not big enough and as such would not seat properly. The old ones were in good condition so after a clean to get all the dirt off them they are back on. Will try and see if I can get the correct ones though. I checked the part numbers and I was sold the correct stuff so I am not sure what the story there is. So now my bike is back in action again.
Your brakes still fine? I need to try the reverse bleed with the syringe method. After cleaning up my pistons, removing old brake fuild and re-assembling I can't get them to hold any pressure. Must be air still in the caliper somewhere.
Used a 10mL syringe from chemist warehouse for $0.69 Pushed out a lot of air up into the master cylinder, worked beautifully. Bled and have pressure now.
So after getting pressure in the brakes I noticed there's a slight 'swoosh' or 'scrape' sound from the front wheel. I looked at the disc and it now has a slight shiny groove in the rotor. It appears as though the anti-rattle clips (part #7 on Fig.52 of the extra manual diagrams) and/or edge of the brake pad holder (part #8) are touching the disc instead of just the pad surfaces touching the disc... Anyone got a pic of the mounting bolts to make sure I'm using the right holes since there are multiple holes on the mounting bracket thing?
