My wife has an 06 custom 1200. My son was attempting to pull her back tire off so that he could have it replaced. In doing so, he removed the rear caliper. He was not able to finish the project, and so, I replaced the rear tire, but, for the life of me, I can't figure out how the caliper goes back on. I have it in place, but, the one bolt that holds the caliper in place has a short thread with the rest of the length being a sort of pin. The bolt, because of the thread length, only screws into the caliper, and not the frame. So, it does not stay in place. When I extend the piston, it just pushs the caliper out from where the pin portion sits (in the frame). Anyone able to shed some light on this for me?

 

I don't know if this helps but, the caliper mounts to the bracket assembly and then the bracket mounts onto the swingarm, BEFORE you install the tire.

 

This is a floating caliper. The large pin in the front threads into the caliper itself...the smaller pin aft threads into the caliper bracket that slides on the swingarm.

Roll your tire's sidewall just past the caliper then position the axel spacers either side while wiggling the wheel into position for axel insertion.

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but, the tire is on the bike, and the caliper is in place on the rotor. There is one larger bolt on the caliper toward the front of the bike. That appears to be the only one that holds the caliper in place. The problem that I am having is that the bolt only has enough thread to go through the caliper. The rest of the bolt is a pin sitting in the bracket assembly. The back end of the caliper sits on a pit coming out from the assembly. Thus, it appears that I have to pins floating, and nothing holding the caliper to the assembly. I don't know if I am missing parts? Does anyone know where I can find an exploded view so that I can see what is supposed to be there?

 

Exploded Parts View

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You are not missing any parts...with the pins in place you are unable to pull the caliper off, right? Think about it...if the caliper was bolted to anything like you are thinking it would no longer have the ability to slide.

 

Do you skype? I just worked on my back calipers this weekend and took pictures of each detailed step. Not sure if yours is exactly the same. Mine is an 1980 but same concept. I pulled the caliper apart to change the torn gasket, replaced the bolts.
There are a lot more experienced Harley owners on this website but if you still need help holler!!

I looked at the parts diagram Charley posted, not even close to mine, but still same concept.

 

Thanks for the exploded and view and the advise guys. I see that my son tore off the rubber bushing on the back pin. That may have something to do with why the caliper keeps pushing away from the rotor. I also found the spring that was pulled out. Should be able to fix it from here. I'll try to fix it again on Friday.

 

Does anyone know how the spring ( part #11 on the exploded view) fits on the caliper? It appears to hang off from the bolt that holds the brake pads. Does it go between the brake pads, after the brake pads? I can't tell by the diagram.

 

It goes in before the pads. The pads "hook" onto the spring clip as they're slid into place.