Journey 28th March 2015 - Tentative fix, seals issue

A tentative diagnosis drive around.

Today : Cloudy

Conditions : Wet, a few light showers

Temp : 11°

Journey : Just around a bit

Distance: 2.5 miles





So, where to start. Hmmmm.. Firstly, decided that there was no reason that I could see not to change the seals in situ. The rear cylinder is just a tube basically. So went with that approach. Wheel off for the duration of the repair and up on axle stands for safety. Body is jacked up a bit extra for better access.

Whipped out the piston, seals spring etc...

Clearly a loss of brake fluid, but no issues with re-bleeding as necessary, so wasn't concerned about that.

So all components out and get them cleaned up. Wipe out the cylinder at the same time.

So far so good, but then hit a problem. The replacement seals are smaller. They just fall through the cylinder and this photo clearly shows the difference:

On the flip side, the original seals seemed in very good condition. There was no obvious deterioration. Just a build up of residue.

So, the tentative aspect of this post is that I cleaned everything up, lubed with a bit of brake fluid and re-assembled. Bled the system and braked hard a few times.

Took the wheel drum back off, no apparent leakage. Do it again. Same.

So put everything back together and had a small drive around. Seems fine. Assumption at the moment is that there was enough sludge around the seals preventing the fluid pressure from acting as it should to flare out the seals to get a perfect seal. Cleaning out that muck may just have been all that was needed. Need to be extremely careful of course. Have asked about the seals kit from the supplier and fully expect to get a replacement set that I will fit. But for now, will keep a VERY close eye on things and take it VERY easy!