Hole in the rear brake line
(4/13/2014) I meant this blog to be focused on the rides I take rather than the repairs I make, but it hasn’t worked out that way. As if to test my patience to its limit, I developed a pinhole-size leak in my rear brake line (see photo at right) April 3 or soon before. I noticed that my rear back pedal felt softer than normal and that I didn’t seem to be getting much braking action in the rear. When I got to my friend Mike’s house from the monthly HOG meeting, I checked the brake fluid level and it looked fine.
On my way home, with my wife on the back, the rear brake failed completely, as I was able to press the pedal all the way down with no perceptible pad pressure at the rear wheel. The next day, I inspected the fluid reservoir again and it looked sufficiently full, and the pads looked good too. I then crawled under the bike and inspected the line just behind the master brake cylinder. The protective cover had rotted, cracked, and mostly fallen away. I could see the thin metal tube. It looked a bit scraped up.
I reached up and pushed the pedal down with my right hand and got a small squirt of brake fluid in my face. I learned quickly that it doesn’t take much of a leak to reduce the brake fluid pressure below the functional threshold.
My friend Mike Russo was kind enough to go to the local Harley dealer and ask about a replacement brake line. They wanted $180. That’s too much for such a simple piece of hardware. (Refer to the photo at the end of this post to see what the old, stock line looked once off the bike.)
I went online and was able to locate a stainless steel braided line for $77 and change. (See photo at left.) The customer reviews for the vendor I chose, Riders Discount, were excellent, so I ordered one immediately. Sure enough, the new brake line arrived in four business days: I ordered it on a Sunday evening and it arrived on Thursday.
Installation took some patience but went well. The key is to start the mounting process in the middle with the brake light switch plate. Bolt it on but do not tighten it. Then fit the lines to the master cylinder and caliper. Bleeding the line was pretty straightforward, as described in the maintenance manual. Unfortunately, the brake light switch wouldn’t work. I’m still trying to figure out why. I’ll let you know how I get it working again. (I’ve already replaced the rear brake light switch once since buying the bike back in 2009. That time, it stayed in the on position, a more dangerous situation than having it off. At least in the current state, I can choose to activate the brake light by using the front brake lever.)
In addition to the problem of an unresponsive brake light switch, my engine was misfiring again yesterday on a 300+ mile ride to the coast and back. I am scheduled to take my sick machine to Jockey’s Cycle tomorrow for more analysis and tuning of the ThunderMax Engine Control Module (ECM) and adjustments to the Idle Air Control (IAC).
I’ll write about the ride to the coast in my next blog post.
Keep the shiny side up.
-The Long Rider (& motorcycle mechanic in training)
Michael A. Uhl
Reader Comments (1)
Despite some problems at least you had a good ride to the coast and back. Also it seems like the repairs you had to make were not to costly only $77. I don't know if riding is for me but it sure is something I will look into. http://www.thunderbirdhd.com/repair-your-harley-with-approved-technicians--service