Here is a a little tech tip about Brake Caliper reassembly for the 04 and up owners. Might save a DIYer from having to buy new calipers.

CLICK HERE TO OPEN TECH TIP (http://xlforum.net/hddocs/tt/tt20040510.pdf)

( Requires Adobe Reader available for free at www.adobe.com )

Cool. Thanks for the heads-up, Bert.

Saved it to file, thanks!

Kim

Even though I have and 04 I've seen the new brakes and may need this in the future. Thanks again Bert. :)

Yikes, that's scary! I'm sticking this in my maintenance manual.

Where did you find that, anyway?

Thanks Bert! :)

I experienced this mistake on my wife's 2005 after I had removed the caliper & wheel to install a chrome sprocket cover. The dealer pointed out this same shop bulletin and asked me to buy a new caliper for $180. I told him no and I corrected the minor cross threading with a M12x1.25 sparkplug tap for a $5 cost. The result was a correctly aligned pin again.

Thankyou Bert.
That'll save me some fuss in the future :)

man i could've used that accouple days ago . . . i wound up yankin my rear wheel off just to get that bracket off so i could fit the pads in, i was afraid i would spend more time monkeyin around with the pads than if i just did the whole pain in the ass ordeal to pull my wheel off . . . so i did . . . anyway, preciate that, so i'll for sure be saving this file.

brock

I had the same minor cross thread problem after removing the rear wheel on a 06 1200L. Every time I applied the brake the caliper would cock to the side giving me no pedal. Took it apart several times but everything looked ok. The caliper didn't look like it was cross-threaded. Had no pedal with the caliper bolt installed but a good pedal with the bolt out. Fixed the problem by loosely installing the caliper bolt so the treads barely touched, than having someone apply the brakes while I tightened the bolt.

Thanks burt

: Mike

.:usa2 <powmia :usa2

Thank You.

Going to print this and stick it in the book.

:luvsport :xlrocks

this is great info! However, correct me if im wrong, you can change pads without removing the calipers. Thats what i did when i changed mine. I understand you may need to remove the caliper for other reasons and this would be great info. just questioning removing while changing pads.

Thanks for the heads up.

If the threads are really stripped you can always repair them with a Helicoil kit. These are available from fastenal for about $15, a long shot from $180 for a new caliper! Don't stealers suck, like they have never heard of a helicoil.

If the threads are really stripped you can always repair them with a Helicoil kit. These are available from fastenal for about $15, a long shot from $180 for a new caliper! Don't stealers suck, like they have never heard of a helicoil.


Nice I work for Fastenal :)

Whatever you do...don't take off the rear caliper!

I took it off and after 3 hours of taking it off and on, trying to figure it out, I cross threaded my pin bolt. I used a m10x1.25 tap (I know it's supposed to be m12x1.25) and cleaned up the thread by hand and thankfully the bolt finally went in. Got the pads lined up, tightened it all up and voila! I have brakes again!

It could have been a bigger mess if I didn't read this thread. Thank you for all the info guys! :banana

also remember that when your just replacing the pads, you dont have to take off the caliper just the "break pad pin" and you will need to use a #5 allen wrench. Not everything is American on a Harley.

My '06 883R was in for repair after I got slammed my a Mercedes (4k in damage). Anyways the caliper was fine, had always been fine, and was not damaged in the wreck (right side was smashed). They had the wheel off to replace the rear sprocket though. When I got it back my rear braking was nearly non-existent. I had alot of lever travel and nearly had to stand on it to lock up the back wheel. I took it back to them, the took it back apart, and told me that it had been mis-tapped and purposfully cross threaded at the factory to get it to work, and that now they could not re-cross thread it and could only thread it properly in the mis tapped hole.:smoke:smoke:smoke:censor:censor:censor. My only recourse was to purchase a new rear caliper assy. for $185, and they would kindly replace it for no charge.... so nice of them. I was a tad hot so I limped it home (less than 2 miles), and considered attempting to re-tap myself, or maybe Heli-Coil it. I decided to give the MoCo a call and was connected to one of their advanced customer reps. I explained what the dealer had told me, and what I believed to be a much more likely scenario (They prolly stripped it reinstalling and didn't want to own up to it). He agreed with me, but told me he need to talk to the dealer first, and would get back to me. After a few days of silence I called back. The rep was on the phone with another customer at the time so I left a message for him to call me back. Within 2 hrs I got a call, not from the rep, but from the dealer. They said "Guess what, The MoCo has decided to cover your caliper "under warranty" (which had expired nearly 2 yrs ago). Sadly they would not just give me the part to install myself, so I had to let them do the work:geek:geek:frownthre. It all worked out, and was done correctly but sheesh, what a runaround.

I just want to say Thank You to both Bert and tristinator for your tips.
I had my caliper off because I removed the wheels for tires so I changed the brakes.
I had a trouble with not getting a hard pedal.
Well my first set of new pads I bent the tap while compressing because the bottom tab was not set propelry and I must of cross threaded slightly. Didn't feel that bad going in. I pieced it together after installing the rear wheel. It was easier to install out of the way.
Anyway I could not get a hard pedal no matter how many times I bled it. I went to Sears and bought a vacum tranfer kit for $60.00. A nice one(metal)
That bled the brakes just fine by itself but still no hard pedal.
I was going nuts staying up till 4 AM then going to work at 6.
Well last night again at 3 am I read this thread,
This morning I removed the pin to have a Hard pedal!
I kept the hard pedal applied and bent over and reinserted the pin slowly and tightened srill hard and it worked!
Thank you so much for making my day. Time to ride with brakes.