Blockage in calliper

gatsby

gatsby

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Hi Everyone,
I have been pulling my hair out for 3 day trying to get a front brake working. New seals and SS pistons. Assembled, disassembled 3 times, and installed and removed 3 times.

The inside piston won’t move, and I’m convinced this passageway is blocked. Has anyone faced this issue before? The calliper is of unknown history from my parts bin. Any tricks to clear blockage, or just use another calliper?

Cheers,
Gatsby
Blockage in calliper
 
Thats the inside, it looks.
That hole leads to the other puck space.
there are 2 on that side. the inlet and that one.
Brake cleaner and compressed air is what i have used.
 
gatsby said:
Hi Everyone,
I have been pulling my hair out for 3 day trying to get a front brake working. New seals and SS pistons. Assembled, disassembled 3 times, and installed and removed 3 times.

The inside piston won’t move, and I’m convinced this passageway is blocked. Has anyone faced this issue before? The calliper is of unknown history from my parts bin. Any tricks to clear blockage, or just use another calliper?

Cheers,
Gatsby View attachment 117895
Click to expand...
A wire that's been cut on a 45 degree with side cutters. When rotated, has a drilling effect for sludge, corrosion
 
gatsby said:
Hi Everyone,
I have been pulling my hair out for 3 day trying to get a front brake working. New seals and SS pistons. Assembled, disassembled 3 times, and installed and removed 3 times.

The inside piston won’t move, and I’m convinced this passageway is blocked. Has anyone faced this issue before? The calliper is of unknown history from my parts bin. Any tricks to clear blockage, or just use another calliper?

Cheers,
Gatsby View attachment 117895
Click to expand...
If you remove the bled screw, you can see the passage to the inner chamber. Run a wire though it.

Norton calipers are notoriously hard to bleed because the aid must come out the passage the fluid is going in for the inner puck. If using normal bleeding procedures, it will take around 100 pumps.

I have seen calipers where the passage to the inner chamber was drilled slightly short and the passage was barely open.
 
My favorite method is to put a grease fitting on the fluid line connection of the caliper and use the hydraulic power of the grease to push the blockage out..... Clearly, if one puck moves and not the other one, you have to put a clamp over the side that moves so it doesn't blow out of it's cylinder, but clamping the side that moves will transfer all the hydraulic force into the port to the other cylinder in the caliper... It works well. I was just given a caliper from someone who gave up on a "stuck" puck on one side. I had it out in 20 minutes... That included finding a grease fitting in my parts bin to use....

You put the grease fitting on the caliper and pump the grease gun. The pucks will move once the grease has filled the passages...
 
If you do use grease (automotive not brake grease) , clean all traces of grease after as grease will swell the all brake rubber seals.
Dennis
 
marshg246 said:
If you remove the bled screw, you can see the passage to the inner chamber. Run a wire though it.

Norton calipers are notoriously hard to bleed because the aid must come out the passage the fluid is going in for the inner puck. If using normal bleeding procedures, it will take around 100 pumps.

I have seen calipers where the passage to the inner chamber was drilled slightly short and the passage was barely open.
Click to expand...
I will try this wire trick! This one sure is being a bugger.
 
If the puck has been pushed all the way in it is reluctant to fill with fluid. If you can get it to budge then it might start working like it should. I usually use air (gently) to push out the pucks.
 
DennisMo said:
If you do use grease (automotive not brake grease) , clean all traces of grease after as grease will swell the all brake rubber seals.
Dennis
Click to expand...
Should be " OK " if you use " brake grease " which is designed for the brake fluid and the rubber seals
 
Greg - your wire trick worked! I did let some Seafom Deep Creep work overnight, and then I grabbed some light gage stainless steel cable I have left over from keeping the seagulls off the roof of my house. After a few pokes, the wire popped through, and the blockage was pushed out. I then frayed one end of the cable, and fed the cable through the hole a few times. I currently have some Deep Creep doing its thing for a few hours, before I repeat the process and then clean with brake cleaner.

Thanks to all who have replied, and Happy New Year!

Gatsby
IMG_9793.jpeg
IMG_9792.jpeg
 
gatsby said:
Greg - your wire trick worked! I did let some Seafom Deep Creep work overnight, and then I grabbed some light gage stainless steel cable I have left over from keeping the seagulls off the roof of my house. After a few pokes, the wire popped through, and the blockage was pushed out. I then frayed one end of the cable, and fed the cable through the hole a few times. I currently have some Deep Creep doing its thing for a few hours, before I repeat the process and then clean with brake cleaner.

Thanks to all who have replied, and Happy New Year!

Gatsby
View attachment 117902View attachment 117903
Click to expand...
Also check the passage between the outer chamber and the bleed screw.
 
Ive used a trick on utube to good result....place two sockets of sufficient size to occupy enough space in the puck cavity so that placing a socket extension square end can just fit in as well. Now twist the extension with a ratchet, whih will jam everything tight in puck...should start to turn. Continue twisting while pulling out and it should come with. There is some risk to puck being damaged if severely stuck, but i never had this happen and had spare fresh pucks to install anyway.
 
My calliper is now all cleaned and buttoned up with new seals. My new Don Pender MC is functioning flawlessly! Vacuum bleeder certainly makes the install faster. What a great feeling to finally feel the brake when I pull the lever!
Thanks again to all,
Gatsby
 
This is the way I do it :

I use an M3.25 (1/8th") long drill bit. It slightly enlarges the passageways, which will aid bleeding. Just run it slowly in a battery drill.

First run it through the inlet and the rear passageway, then put a thin piece of wire into the rear one, and run the drill through the crossover until you feel the drill hit the thin wire, and stop. (the wire will avoid you drilling too deep, going across the rear passageway, and creating a dead (unbleadable) airspace).

Then thoroughly flush them all through with brake cleaner.
 


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