Brembo Calipers

[Deye76]

What is the best way to get DOT 4 out of bagger Brembo calipers? Going to DOT 5 in them, for my FXR.

[speedzter]

What i did was fully dismantle, and clean with brake clean spray.
Dot 5 has worked fine.

[speedzter]

More reading:

http://harleytechtalk.com/htt/index.php?topic=89402.0

[Deye76]

How do you get the pistons out?

[Leed]

I used compressed air to pop them out.

[klammer76]

Deye,

When I did mine, I used two large paint stirs from Lowes. Tape together put in caliper and put air gun with rubber tip in the banjo hole. Give it a few hits of air. If all 4 won't come out, use a clamp to hold one side while hitting with air. That will free up the stubborn one. Push in the pucks, remove the clamp and hit w/air again. All 4 should pop out and lodge against the paint stirs. Remove the bolts, split the calipers, DO NOT lose the small round o-ring between the inner & outer caliper half's. I then pulled the pucks out by hand twisting slightly. I used denatured alcohol to clean everything, then hit it with electrical contact cleaner and blow gun to dry (every thing evaporates quickly anyway). Used paper towel soaked with denatured alcohol to wipe clean the square seals as well as the dust seals. Used a very thin smear of Sil-Glide to lube the seals and o-ring then reinstalled the pucks. Bolt back together and done. I did this procedure on both fronts and the rear. No issues. I did replace the brake lines as I didn't feel I could clean them properly.

I did the same with the master cylinders. Took apart, used rebuild kits and thoroughly cleaned the bodies with denatured alcohol. Keep the denatured alcohol away from the site glass as it will cloud it. You can get a new sight glass if needed.

In my opinion, you need to use the brembo master cylinders to get the best performance from the calipers. I could never get the oe Kelsey Hayes rear master cylinder to give good pedal with the Brembo rear. always had a lot of travel. It would stop but I just didn't like the travel and feel. I recently cut the mount off for the OE MC and mounted a Brembo rear MC. Pedal is way firm and works much better. This was all done on my 2002 FLH. DOT 5 works fine with this set up.

[klammer76]

This is one of the front calipers. I used a very small pick, smallest eye glass screw driver and wooden flat tooth pick to get the seals out of the caliper.

[Deye76]

Excellent reply Klammer 76, much appreciated. I have the proper MC and the lines are new, only have had DOT 5 in them. I had a piston hang up in the right caliper. I suspect all the DOT 4 was not purged from the bore(s).

[klammer76]

Excellent reply Klammer 76, much appreciated. I have the proper MC and the lines are new, only have had DOT 5 in them. I had a piston hang up in the right caliper. I suspect all the DOT 4 was not purged from the bore(s).

I had one hanging in the rear also, the caliper was very dirty. Isolated it as I described above with a clamp and paint stick and got it to come out. Cleaned all the pistons with tooth brush and brake clean and all was good. I have noticed that you should clean the calipers at tire changes just like the kelsey hayes models.

[Deye76]

Excellent reply Klammer 76, much appreciated. I have the proper MC and the lines are new, only have had DOT 5 in them. I had a piston hang up in the right caliper. I suspect all the DOT 4 was not purged from the bore(s).

I had one hanging in the rear also, the caliper was very dirty. Isolated it as I described above with a clamp and paint stick and got it to come out. Cleaned all the pistons with tooth brush and brake clean and all was good. I have noticed that you should clean the calipers at tire changes just like the kelsey hayes models.

Do you remove the pistons at each tire change?

[klammer76]

Excellent reply Klammer 76, much appreciated. I have the proper MC and the lines are new, only have had DOT 5 in them. I had a piston hang up in the right caliper. I suspect all the DOT 4 was not purged from the bore(s).

I had one hanging in the rear also, the caliper was very dirty. Isolated it as I described above with a clamp and paint stick and got it to come out. Cleaned all the pistons with tooth brush and brake clean and all was good. I have noticed that you should clean the calipers at tire changes just like the kelsey hayes models.

Do you remove the pistons at each tire change?

No. Just clean the pistons and caliper with a tooth brush and some contact or brake cleaner. Some use a shoe lace. Very quick and simple. Just kick the pistons out slightly with a pump of the pedal or lever. Pushback in enough to get the rotor back in. Mine got a little gummy on the rear due to dust etc and I had some of the hd paste on the rear of the pads to stop a pad squeel.

[Deye76]

 

[CarlosGGodfrog]

Two questions:
a) Who is the US distributer of Brembo Replacement parts,
b) Does anyone sell DOT 5 compatible seals for Brembo Calipers
Thanks

[klammer76]

Two questions:
a) Who is the US distributer of Brembo Replacement parts,
b) Does anyone sell DOT 5 compatible seals for Brembo Calipers
Thanks

a) Was QTM. They mysteriously stopped selling the seals in 2017 ("assuming" HD corporate may have had some type of contract with them? Who knows).
b) I have had no issues with DOT 5 and Brembo seals. Others here have also run the same set up. My understanding is they didn't use dot 5 with Brembo's due to abs not liking it, not the seals.

[turboprop]

The seals for the Harley/Brembo caliper are readily available from the aftermarket.

Outside of suppositions repeated over and over by internet experts in online forums, in what document does it say the Harley/Brembo seals are not compatible with DOT5?

[klammer76]

The seals for the Harley/Brembo caliper are readily available from the aftermarket.

Outside of suppositions repeated over and over by internet experts in online forums, in what document does it say the Harley/Brembo seals are not compatible with DOT5?

Who are you directing this statement at?

[Deye76]

The seals for the Harley/Brembo caliper are readily available from the aftermarket.

Outside of suppositions repeated over and over by internet experts in online forums, in what document does it say the Harley/Brembo seals are not compatible with DOT5?

Who are you directing this statement at?

The claim is in the above link. I heard it from a Harley dealer tech too. No surprise there LOL.

[FSG]

Outside of suppositions repeated over and over by internet experts in online forums, in what document does it say the Harley/Brembo seals are not compatible with DOT5?

Believe it or not it's actually in Brembos own documentation.

[klammer76]

Outside of suppositions repeated over and over by internet experts in online forums, in what document does it say the Harley/Brembo seals are not compatible with DOT5?

Believe it or not it's actually in Brembos own documentation.

[turboprop]

Outside of suppositions repeated over and over by internet experts in online forums, in what document does it say the Harley/Brembo seals are not compatible with DOT5?

Believe it or not it's actually in Brembos own documentation.

Those same documents used to also say synthetic oil was not good for their engines. <rolls eyes>

[FSG]

Outside of suppositions repeated over and over by internet experts in online forums, in what document does it say the Harley/Brembo seals are not compatible with DOT5?

Believe it or not it's actually in Brembos own documentation.

Those same documents used to also say synthetic oil was not good for their engines. <rolls eyes>

<rolls eyes> all you like,

I said "Brembos own documentation" NOT Harley Davidson Documentation and last I looked Brembo made Brake Components not engines, but if they do make engines feel free to correct me and post a link. 

Links to the documentation to which I refer have been posted many times by myself over the past 3, 4, 5, 6 or more years, you may have missed them if so the search function works quite well.

[turboprop]

Outside of suppositions repeated over and over by internet experts in online forums, in what document does it say the Harley/Brembo seals are not compatible with DOT5?

Believe it or not it's actually in Brembos own documentation.

Those same documents used to also say synthetic oil was not good for their engines. <rolls eyes>

<rolls eyes> all you like,

I said "Brembos own documentation" NOT Harley Davidson Documentation and last I looked Brembo made Brake Components not engines, but if they do make engines feel free to correct me and post a link. 

Links to the documentation to which I refer have been posted many times by myself over the past 3, 4, 5, 6 or more years, you may have missed them if so the search function works quite well.

Don't those documents use non-definitive words like may or could vs absolutes like will or does?

I dont believe it and have seen otherwise countless times. 

[Heinz]

If Brembo's own documentation states that dot 5 is not compatible I'm not one to put my life on the line and say otherwise. Not compatible are pretty strong words. Even if it said not recommended I still wouldn't take a chance.

[klammer76]

Outside of suppositions repeated over and over by internet experts in online forums, in what document does it say the Harley/Brembo seals are not compatible with DOT5?

Believe it or not it's actually in Brembos own documentation.

Those same documents used to also say synthetic oil was not good for their engines. <rolls eyes>

<rolls eyes> all you like,

I said "Brembos own documentation" NOT Harley Davidson Documentation and last I looked Brembo made Brake Components not engines, but if they do make engines feel free to correct me and post a link. 

Links to the documentation to which I refer have been posted many times by myself over the past 3, 4, 5, 6 or more years, you may have missed them if so the search function works quite well.

Don't those documents use non-definitive words like may or could vs absolutes like will or does?

I dont believe it and have seen otherwise countless times.

You asked the question of what document says that Harley/Brembo seals are not compatible with Dot5. FSG answered the question of where it was said. I have run dot5 in my Brembo set up for 3 years with no issues except for pressure to the rear caliper. That is rectified now with the Brembo rear master cylinder being used. FSG uses dot 5 in his Brembo set up also and his information was the reason I also went forward with using it. Several others here that have Brembos adapted also use dot 5 including you if I recall correctly from when I was asking questions back in 2016. So, in short, many of us don't believe it either.

It was an fair question asked by a member that has been answered. Information provided to make a reasonable decision as to which way they want to go.

[Heinz]

This may have been discussed in other posts but what about the non compatibility with ABS brake systems? This is a quote from collision.alldata.com: Silicone also has slightly different physical properties and compressibility, making it unsuitable for ABS systems calibrated to work with DOT 3 or 4 brake fluid.

[klammer76]

This may have been discussed in other posts but what about the non compatibility with ABS brake systems? This is a quote from collision.alldata.com: Silicone also has slightly different physical properties and compressibility, making it unsuitable for ABS systems calibrated to work with DOT 3 or 4 brake fluid.

That was my understanding of why HD didn't use dot 5 with the brembo's as they couldn't get ABS to function properly when using dot 5. I "read that some where" and was also told the same thing by a dealer that I worked for years ago. I don't have an official notarized statement from Harley Davidson attesting to that though just to be clear.

Harley introduced Brembos on the bagger models in 2008 if I recall correctly. Don't know what year on the V-Rods. I do not recall if they switched the bagger line back to DOT 4 prior to the brembo's when still using the older brakes.

I think dot 4 is probably better but with expensive paint jobs etc, dot 5 is insurance and has worked fine for me. With any brake fluid, I think the biggest problems arise from not changing it every couple of years.

[Ohio HD]

That's the way their documentation reads, no DOT 5 in ABS applications.



http://www.cyclebrakes.com/html/brembo_tech_info.html