you can make a home made dial indicator.
vice grips and hanger
get front tire off the ground
lock handle bars so when you spin front tire, the forks dont move.
make hanger and vise grips emulate what a dial indicator would do.
you just really need something that is stationary next to rotors while rotating the wheel.
youtube has videos on how to replace rotors
Well... i know.... i just zip tied my forks to my crash bars and checked them without removing a bolt but the service manual police don't want to hear it.
I replaced mine with Wilwood rotors from Summit Racing. Seems like it was about $150 shipped for both rotors. Several thousand miles so far and they function and look great.
Rotor bolts might be hard to remove, make sure your Torx bit is the correct size and fits tight into the bolt. Some cheap Torx bits do not and then it will strip out the splines on the bolt head and you will have a real problem. Also, have the bike on the ground and the bike in gear, or better yet someone holding the front brake, and loosen as many bolts as you can, then push the bike forward so the others are exposed then loosen them. Then raise you bike up and do the wheel removal.
If they do not loosen this way then after the wheel is removed, lay it flat and use an impact driver with a GOOD Torx bit that will not shatter and a hammer. The bolts may be in with red loctite.
I have the DNA polished stainless rotors and they work better than stock and have not warped yet.
I straighten mine nearly yearly with a dial indicator and a crescent wrench.
Second that!
One big problem people fail to do is clean their rotors every 500 miles. Easy to do with some rubbing alcohol. Put some on a clean lint free rag and wipe both sides, wait til you see what comes off.
Bugs get spattered onto the rotors from bouncing off the fork tubes creating a sticky mess on the rotors. As the brakes get used, the spots of goo on the rotors make them sticky at those points making hot spots on the rotors, hence warp-age. The hot spots also cause the brake fluid to boil if a lot of braking is being applied.
I use a dial caliper and a large crescent to re-true the rotors if this happens. Been doing this for years and zero problems.
Rotor bolts might be hard to remove, make sure your Torx bit is the correct size and fits tight into the bolt. Some cheap Torx bits do not and then it will strip out the splines on the bolt head and you will have a real problem. Also, have the bike on the ground and the bike in gear, or better yet someone holding the front brake, and loosen as many bolts as you can, then push the bike forward so the others are exposed then loosen them. Then raise you bike up and do the wheel removal.
If they do not loosen this way then after the wheel is removed, lay it flat and use an impact driver with a GOOD Torx bit that will not shatter and a hammer. The bolts may be in with red loctite.
I have the DNA polished stainless rotors and they work better than stock and have not warped yet.
I have found it makes it easier to remove the rotor bolts if you apply heat to them. I just stick a soldering iron to the bolt head for a couple of minutes, and they'll break free fairly easily.
One big problem people fail to do is clean their rotors every 500 miles. Easy to do with some rubbing alcohol. Put some on a clean lint free rag and wipe both sides, wait til you see what comes off.
Bugs get spattered onto the rotors from bouncing off the fork tubes creating a sticky mess on the rotors. As the brakes get used, the spots of goo on the rotors make them sticky at those points making hot spots on the rotors, hence warp-age. The hot spots also cause the brake fluid to boil if a lot of braking is being applied.
I use a dial caliper and a large crescent to re-true the rotors if this happens. Been doing this for years and zero problems.
So how / where do you mount the magnetic dial indicator base to check? Lower legs are aluminum, don't want to use front fender etc?
09-08-2016, 09:48 PM
