Hello everyone,

My father has not rode his 04 Dyna FXD Super Glide in 3 years and last week he brought up to me to have. The bike had no front brakes and i am in the process of trying to get the last piston out. It is compressed all the way in and can not grab it with anything.

I used compressed air to push the others out enough to be able to grab with vice grips. But this last one is driving me nuts. My master cylinder plunger and seals are shot so I can't use it to put pressure in the caliper. Have a master cylinder rebuild kit ordered already.

My question is this. I have a 1200 goldwing and was wanting to know if the banjo bolt from goldwing fits in the harley caliper could i use the goldwing master cylinder to try and push the last piston out? does anyone have experience with this?

I have already changed the oil and battery and bike runs fine but the brake is just giving me grief.

I looked online and found master cylinders anywhere from 46 dollars to 120 for a caliper. I will get that if i cant get last piston out to put a new rebuild kit in it.

Sorry for long post.
Thank you

 

rebuild both the m/c and the caliper. major safety issue not to be taken lightly.

rebuilds are super easy... or get a new(or new to you) one. flush them with denatured alcohol to clear out gunk and crap.

 

Sure. Hydraulic pressure is hydraulic pressure. Calipers don't give a damn where it comes from.

If you already have one piston out of the caliper you won't be able to pressurize it unless it you put it back. You'll also have to immobilize the free piston or it will just pop out instead of pushing the frozen one. A c-clamp and block of wood would do it.

The vice-grips on the pistons makes my skin crawl, tho. Make double sure you didn't deform or gouge the piston. You wouldn't want it to wedge in there and refuse to release on the road. after you clean up and hone everything, make sure the pistons slide freely in the bores throughout their full travel.

 

^^^ this, don't use any tools to pull out the pistons....

 

I just flushed a pair of calipers with denatured alcohol last night. I connected a brake line to it's normal location, and dropped the other end right into the can of alcohol. I have an air powered bleeder that sucks fluid through the bleeder screw which I used to pull a whole bunch of alcohol through the caliper. You might try doing something similar... enough alcohol might actually loosen up the cylinder if it's stuck due to gunk... Then replace the other cylinders and figure out a way to block all of them except the frozen one. Then try compressed air again through the banjo hole with the bleeder closed.

Yes, the Tokicos are on their way onto my Super Glide...

 

Thanks for the replies everyone, I also forgot to mention that i did already order the brake pads and piston and seals. I was not going to re use the pistons/seals. And i could wait for the MC rebuild kit to get here and see if i can build pressure for the caliper.

Thanks again guys for info
Chris

 

Put the other pistons back in, put a 1/2 piece of plywood in the middle and crank the air pressure up and let it sit for a bit. The other pistons will pop out against the plywood piece, but stay in place/sealed... or soak in some brake fluid overnight and try the above again.

 

I have replaced the plunger and spring and seals but yet the master cylinder just does not push any fluid out of the banjo bolt hole to even get to the brake line to get to the caliper... So confused, I even see the plunger going back and forth through the little hole.

So what can be wrong with the MC besides the plunger and seals?

Thank you for the help.
Chris

 

if you are rebuilding the caliper, grab, punch,cut, whatever need to be done to get that piston out. wreak it, who cares your putting new ones in, just as long as you don't damage anything else doing it. I had the same problem with mine. I used brute force, a lot of swearing, channel locks, pb blaster. and it come out. like I said as long as you don't damage anything else who cares what the old piston looks like

 

Hello Cvaria, sorry took so long to reply. I bought some denatured alcohol and wasn't sure how to use it. Do I need to take out the new plunger and seals from the MC before using it? And does it go thru the lines as well?

I also bought a vacuum bleeding system from Autozone. I hope this works.

Update: I took the plunger and seals out and have it soaking..both holes to be clear of any gunk, before i took it apart there was black stuff coming from the 2 holes after 30 minutes of lever action. maybe it was just so dirty.

Thank you
Chris