So I received my seals for the rear brake of the 350, the problem I am trying to solve is that the brake squeals and rubs. Anyway removing one piston is relatively easy. You just remove the pads, and keep one piston completely in, and pump the brake, the pistons are about 3cms long, and a single piston should come out no problem. The first side I removed and then used a hook to remove the seals, the outside "dust" seal was slightly damaged, but the inner seal was in good condition.
While I was waiting for my seals to arrive (purchased at at WEMOTO cost 12 quid for the two sets), I wanted to remove the second piston, the only way I could think of was to put back the first one and pump it out, which is what I did. The second piston was in good condition as well as the seals.
Both pistons had small pitting in the chrome surface, which I (very lightly) sanded down so that there was nothing proud.I received the new seals, but they did not come with any red rubber grease - apparently this is the stuff to use to lubricate, the seals and pistons, anyway I didn't have any, and it doesn't seem to exist in my local shops, so I tried putting some teflon grease in some brake fluid and also some "Judy butter" grease in the brake fluid, I just wanted to see if the grease would dissolve or not.
The teflon grease dissolved. The judy butter (which is a mountain bike fork grease) didn't dissolve and remained greasy, so this is what I used to put the seals in.
Putting the pistons back in was hard work! Initially there was not enough space to get any kind of tool in there, but after much sweating and swearing I could get a bar of metal in to lever with. Again you have to be careful not to damage the pistons, and the technique that worked best was really to "walk" the pistons in, not pushing against the piston equally across its surface. Don't ask me why, but it definitely worked better by pushing and rocking the pistons in. Once the pistons are sufficiently in (about 1cm showing), you can just push and the piston will go in relatively easily. For the second piston I used the same technique.
The brake bled quite easily, I kept the bleed nipple in a high position to enable the air to escape easily.
I have managed to enter the VMA Postclassic 350 series for Ledenon with the 350, so I will be running the 350 and the RG500 the whole weekend! Should keep us busy esepcially as I will be doing some back to back races. I changed the gearbox sprocket back to a 16 on the 350, as Ledenon is a longer circuit than the planned Croix-en-Ternois. Hopefully as this is my "home" race, I should have some support, although the racing starts early - first race on Sunday morning at 8:30 - still it will be cooler at that time in the morning!
The only thing left to do this weekend is check the cab synchro of the RG and take a quick look at the plugs on the RD.
Speak to you soon.
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