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Broke A Bleeder


alan bechard
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So going along in the shop tonight, wrapping my bike up after having done two kids bikes swingarms, brakes etc this past week, in the home stretch, swingarm back on, throw the wheel in, thinking about this, looking at that, throw the wrench up on the bleeder and snap, shear it right off..........

Drive across town (30 minutes each way for you guys on the wrong side of the pond) to grab a spare caliper from Doug,,,,,, Pick it up, look at it, and realize the older calipers did their bleeder different! Dooohhhhhhhhh

OK, driving home, think they look similar to the baby MX ones, call my buddy, hey, got a bleeder laying on the bench? Think so, come on by,,,,,, Pull out the spare cobra calipers..... dohhhhh, they are different.... well, that KTM 65 has the wheel off, take a gander, looks the same, take that one for a couple days till I can get a new one,,,, Youth camp Sunday after all,, I am cooking with gas now....

Get home, go to pull broke bleeder, no sweat hole in the middle already,,,, great, easy out here we come, damn thing won't budge! Ok, little left hand drill action, open it up, little heat from the operation bigger ez out,,,,,,, Still wont budge,,,, God, this is getting serious,,, OK, break out the heavy artillery,,, Baby mig to the rescue,,, Pop a nice little bead on there,,, Sweet, give myself high five, yep,,, I am the man, gonna whip this thing tonight,,, Bead shears off the top,,, OK, this thing is really stuck, weld another bead on,,,, Shears off, another, shears off,,,,, another ah,,, ok, there that got it spinning nice, and a plug comes out from the drilled out hole inside the bleeder (bleeder still in caliper) What the Crap is this? Start over,,, same deal, realize that they have made the dang bleeder out of some unobtanium alloy that mild steel is not sticking too,,,, Back to the left hand bits, open it up a bit, then realize, I will never know when I hit bottom, as it is tapered and tight on the bottom, and if I mar the seating face it is junk,,,,,,, Be REAL careful at this point, open it up, can't pick the threads clean, open it up some more,,,,, ok, lets tap it, can't pick up the top thread to get started.....

Ahhh to heck with it, 10:30 at night, time to let that one sit and look at it with fresh eyes in the morning....

So, just how much is a new caliper for an 03 Sherco? ;)

I bet I know tomorrow :beer:

Some days, the mechanic gods smile, and somedays not!

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He Al

I had the exact same problem on my 02 Pro, a clutch banjo bolt with a bleeder will work :beer: If the bleeder screw is not leaking leave it alone, put the banjo bolt in. I rode my for over a year with it setup that way ;)

See you later in the week!

Steve

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CRAP! I did not think of that one! I got it out finally, drill, tap, drill, tap, easy out the last 1/8" or so, and yep, touched the seat area and the new one will not seal..................... Came in here because I am aggravated and did not even think about a banjo bolt with bleeder in it....

Oh well, new one will be to me at TTC Monday night.

Fix this one and have a spare I reckon. I was thinking of the repair kits, they use 1/8" pipe insert but Your way is probably going to be a lot cleaner.

Have to get that headed my way as well. Break out the Tig and weld the hole closed....... What are my odds that the caliper will weld nice after being dunked in brake fluid for several years? guess we find out, it sure is not worth much at the moment.

Really is the beauty of the BB. Wish I had read it an hour sooner!

See you in a couple days or so.

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I found that solution by accident, I tried everything else first. Sometimes the fix is right in front of you but you have to do it the hard way!

Dean's going to be back isn't he? It wouldn't be the same with out him there!

Steve ;)

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A tip to remove a sheared nipple or something similar is to remove the handle off a small square file which should have 3 or 4 sides. Then drive the handle end into the open hole. The sharp edges of the file dig into the inner of the nipple and then use a spanner to turn the file shank. It will just undo ;)

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Not on this one Atom, I keep about 6 different styles of easy outs as some work better then others in certain situations, then every now and then, you just come across the one that is a butt whooper.

Going to the Airport in an hour to pick up Dean from Germany. Man my kids got it rough...... ;)

Be at TTC tomorrow evening.

One day later in life, I hope they realize how good they have it.

Dean was standing around after a Trials Class over in Germany last week and the instructors were talking about the great riders of our time, and then the great teachers, and Ryan Young, and his video came up, and Dean say's, yeah, that's my Minder and trainer.........

Matthias (my brother in law) says it got really quiet......

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the Cactus juice by the Way Mark, A big thanks! Although all the Texas crowd now look at me like a man possessed,,,, I kept asking who from Texas was BR :thumbup: Everyone kept thinking and thinking, then Friday or Saturday, Brian shows up, and says I got something for you from Mark :D

I owe you one somewhere along the way.

Now I need to fix this caliper so I can put it on Dean's new bike with the new style swingarm!

Going to try a bleeder repair kit first, then if it comes to it, weld it shut and use the clutch banjo bolt as steve suggested.

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Well, not home yet, but installed a bleeder repair fitting. $5 from O'rielly Auto parts and the 1/8" pipe fitting had enough room. Wall thickness may not make aviation standards but should be fine. Think I will switch Dean's bike over to the 03 swingarm and use that caliper so that will give us all the same brake sets.

Looks like it will work just fine, do not see any clearance issues yet, and felt like it pulled down nice.

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