I have had a spongy front break lever concerns when I hit 16K miles. When you looked at the thickness of the pad before removal it looked fine. After removal you could see that the pads were wearing unevenly. The HD tech. said the calipers were operating correctly. As the new pads started to wear the lever was again spongy. I was never low on brake fluid. They then advised that the front master cylinder may be defective I rebuilt the master cylinder and used a vacuum brake bleeding system and did not gain any lever pressure. The master cylinder was working correctly per the instructions after the rebuild.
Another HD tech told me that they have had problems with the 03 bikes and cannot pinpoint the problem. They have rebuilt the master cylinder and had the same result. I now have 28K miles and replaced the pads again because there are wearing again uneven. I now have full lever again.
I watched the operation of the four pistons when I had the calipers off the bike. As you pump the lever the two pistons on the one side move equal then the two on the opposite side move but travel a less distance. Is this normal? Is there a pressure drop where the brake fliud is bridged to the other side. I do not want to throw money into new calipers if could end up with the same result.
Also do stainless steel brake lines increase pressure?
Help!
Two weeks later......Removed the calipers, freed up the stuck pistons, and then cleaned. My front brakes are like new. Haven't had brakes work this well in 4 years.

 

SS lines will help with the pressure. Did you clean the pistons as you were doing the pad swaps?

 

Get used to it...I've tried everything and anything. When I bought my bike (10,000miles), my mechanic went right to my front brake lever and squeezed. He said "yep, typical".

 

I have that EXACT same problem with my old '02 Ultra.

 

I have it on an '02 Road King Classic. Stays "fixed for about 1,000 miles then goes spongy.

 

If you were going to dump any money into the calipers, buy take-off Brembo's and do the conversion.

 

I have an 01 Classic with braided front lines it never gets spongy, my rear brake did though not all the time , changed rear brake line to braided now it is fine also, and yes the pistons do move differently on the opposite sides, however the two on the same side should move together

 

I think I recall an article on this in American Iron magazine last yr.I believe it had something to do with the size of the orifaces in the master cylinder.I think HD changed or modified it in the following yrs.

 

I wiped out the loose stuff. That is something I want to follow up with but need to see what brand of cleaning fluid would work best. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.

 

I am goint to try the stainless steel lines on the front. If it makes a difference I will let you know.
Thanks