Rear Brake Sticking

[krisv]

Hi All,

My rear brake is sticking. The pads are quite new (done in October) and I don't use the rear brakes much.. The pedal feels stiff and does not seem to have sufficient travel.. The pedal sometimes does not return back and had to lift it up manually. It does seem to have a bit of muck in there due to all the mud on the road. Any suggestion on what to do to? Is it a complete caliper rebuild, or would a good clean/scrubbing without stripping the calipers suffice?

BTW, what do you use to clean the inside of the calipers??

Any advice from past experience appreciated.

Cheers,

Kris

[PhotoRex]

I had this not long ago and it just needed a really good clean on the brake lever pivot point (where the spring is) - it collects a lot of road crud and stops it returning the brake lever correctly.  I took the entire thing apart (peg, pedal, spring etc) and gave it a good clean, now I keep an eye on it and make sure its lubricated every few weeks in the winter.

[frez]

Pedal off, grease the pivot, job done. It will probably need doing once a year depending on how much you use it. Some people tap a grease nipple into the housing to make it a simpler job.

[krisv]

Thanks fellas.. Will give it a go and let you know what happens..

Cheers,

Kris

[krisv]

Chaps, you were right on.. it is the brake pedal.

now the stupid question. how do I get the piston rod out of the pivot join? without taking it out, it seems difficult to remove the spring.. Some monkey seems to have tightened one of the master cylinder screws to the f***. so it is starting to round off. Cheers for you help..

Kris

[greywolf]

Separate the rod at the lever by removing parts 11,12 and 13.

[krisv]

Thanks GW. Thought it was a riveted joint.

[vstroman]

Just having the same issue, had cleaned the caliper etc and couldn't understand why the back brake was dragging,I need to strip it down and clean and grease it, hope it's not too difficult.

[Rusty Nuts]

Easy job.Had to do it a couple of times in 7 years. Watch for the spring round the pivot, it's quite strong. Some people have drilled and fitted grease nipples to save re doing it. The gear change, on the other hand - or foot- just gets sloppier and baggier with age and use.

[Mep]

My pedal was sticking too some time ago and needed to be removed and cleaned / greased.

[Lfc4life1976]

Was it an easy fix? I am not the most technically minded, but willing to learn to keep my beast on the road

[Brockett]

Can you get at it with spray on lubricant ? Maybe give it a squirt of WD40 to work it loose and then a squirt of proper lubricant.