Evil vindictive little bastards (AKA piston dust seals)

[Yorkshire Geek]

How in the name of all that's holy are you supposed to get these fiddly little bastards into the fucking caliper? Fit one side, spoing goes the other and pops out! Round and round the cycle goes, get one half fitted and the other half of the cunting little shit is sticking up! It's enough to drive a man round the fucking bend! Insane I tell you!

*ahem*

Now that's out of my system, anyone got any tips for fitting a dust seal with great big man hands?

[Commuter_Tim]

I rebuild my calipers with red rubber grease.
Sticky as fuck, so just jam my finger in there and rub around the circumference of the ring a couple of times and shes good to go.

You buying pattern seals by any chance?
I bought some shit ones that were wonky from the getgo.
Also had others damaged in transit and ended up the same.
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The above post is most likely nonsensical.

I ride a Bandit 600... badly.

[Yorkshire Geek]

I'm using Ate brake grease but same principle, however running my finger round doesn't seem to be doing the job. Checked they match the old ones for size and they do, but after an hour of frustration and pulling my hair out it seemed like time to regroup.

[Itchy]

I've actually found the outer dust seals to be optional.

I never put them back in on my XJ, my NTV1 or NTV2, CB500, Fazer or two of my CBRs. Granted I do strip my brakes and rebuild them every few months so the issue of crud getting in is much less of a problem.
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Islander]

Red rubber grease on the seal, press one side into the groove and run your finger round to press the rest in. If you can't get two fingers in then use something smooth and plastic to hold the seal in place while you press the rest in. The last little bit is slightly more awkward but again, just lift it into the cylinder and press it into place.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Are these the basic seals, or the bellows like ones that go into a groove on the piston as well?

All the best

Katy
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Yorkshire Geek]

No groove on the piston so presumably basic.

[redeem ouzzer]

Don't bother fitting them. Just pack the groove with rubber grease once a year. I can stop my 400 with two fingers anywhere now i've thrown the godforsaken things away.
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Be a REAL MAN!

[Fisty]

[andym]

[kramdra]

Refitting seals is by far the easiest part of calliper reassembly.

Red grease turns to shit and makes pistons stick. Instead I reassemble with brake fluid, no grease.

Not having dust seals will significantly reduce the service interval and life of the fluid seals, in my opinion, but im still on the originals at 82k.

[Itchy]

[redeem ouzzer]

[Islander]

[kramdra]

[mudcow007]

Yep i struggled with using red grease, ended up just using brake fluid instead

[Yorkshire Geek]

So the real answer turned out to be "return thee to thy dictionary and look up the meaning of clean".

The old seals have probably been in there since the world was young, there was enough cracked on crud that even brake part cleaner and a toothbrush couldn't shift that it was making just enough difference to make it impossible to get the seal to seat.

Ended up taking one of my angled picks to the groove and scraping 21 years of crap out then cleaning with brake part cleaner again. This time they went in in 2 minutes each, caliper now back in one piece and ready to go back on the bike!

[kramdra]

I use match sticks to scrape the seal groves, as it wont scratch. Im about to do mine and I dont have any matches left, got to walk to shop

[Kickstart]

Hi

Brake seals will likely expand when exposed to brake cleaner for any length of time. I totally wrecked a set when I absent mindedly left them soaking in brake cleaner for an hour or so.

All the best

Katy
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

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