Front brake pads dragging after wheel installation

kennyp

I just put new rubber on my bike and after installing the front wheel it seems the right side pad is dragging quite a bit. The wheel turns 'relatively' smoothly but I can hear quite a bit of drag on the pad. The manual says you should be able to get a .7mm feeler gauge between the pads and the disc. I'm not able to do that on any of the front pads. I can't understand why you would have that much gap anyway. There is nothing I can think of mechanically that would pull the pads back from the disc that far when the brakes are released.
Has anyone else run into this after installing their wheel?
Also, I can't get the axle bolt to sit flush with the fork, like the manual says should happen. I hit it with a block of wood and still it protrudes about a sixteenth (the pinch bolts were loosened when I did this).
 
Thanks Black Magic. You're right. I just read another thread that discussed the dragging. I just can't imagine why I can't get that axle to flush up. I'm going to have to work on it some more tomorrow.
 
Did you put the collars back on their correct sides? The right hand collar (sitting on your bike) is bigger than the left hand side and if installed incorrectly can cause your problem.
 
I rode the bike to work today and the discs weren't heating up unless I used the brakes so the drag doesn't seem to be an issue.
Although, I will have to loosen the front axle components to try and get the left side of the axle to flush up.
 
I'm still running into problems. I loosened up the front axle and pinch bolts tonight to try to get the hex side of the axle flush with the fork. Ok, so no matter how hard I tapped on the axle or how much I tightened up the nut the axle would not flush up. But, what I found is that by pulling out on the left fork I can flush up the axle. BUT, when I do this the left caliper makes contact with the disc. So, I'm seriously doubting that the axle needs to be flush with the fork. I double-check that I have the collars in the right place. So, I loosened the left side pinch bolts and let the fork return to normal position, which gave me the proper spacing between the discs and calipers.
NEXT PROBLEM - when I tighten the axle nut the wheel binds up and doesn't want to turn. I'm not tightening it anywhere near the 58ft-lb spec. It's not the caliper that is binding up the wheel.
This has me frustratingly perplexed. I'm a system engineer with a BSEE. I should be able to do this!!!
I think I'm going to have to find someone who has run into this same situation in order to explain what I'm doing wrong.
Now I'm going to remove the whole daggon wheel again and start from scratch. I just hope I haven't damaged the bearings yet... HELP!
 
kennyp said:
I'm still running into problems. I loosened up the front axle and pinch bolts tonight to try to get the hex side of the axle flush with the fork. Ok, so no matter how hard I tapped on the axle or how much I tightened up the nut the axle would not flush up. But, what I found is that by pulling out on the left fork I can flush up the axle. BUT, when I do this the left caliper makes contact with the disc. So, I'm seriously doubting that the axle needs to be flush with the fork. I double-check that I have the collars in the right place. So, I loosened the left side pinch bolts and let the fork return to normal position, which gave me the proper spacing between the discs and calipers.
NEXT PROBLEM - when I tighten the axle nut the wheel binds up and doesn't want to turn. I'm not tightening it anywhere near the 58ft-lb spec. It's not the caliper that is binding up the wheel.
This has me frustratingly perplexed. I'm a system engineer with a BSEE. I should be able to do this!!!
I think I'm going to have to find someone who has run into this same situation in order to explain what I'm doing wrong.
Now I'm going to remove the whole daggon wheel again and start from scratch. I just hope I haven't damaged the bearings yet... HELP!
Click to expand...

Make sure you don't have the spacers back wards.
 
I just finished checking the collars (is this what you mean by 'spacers'?). I have the wider collar on the right side. The narrower on the left. I have the wider portion of each spacer facing outward, away from the wheel, towards the fork. The discs are lining up almost dead center with the caliper jaws so I think everything is where it's suppsed to be. One thing that seems a little strange is that when I push the axle in as far as it will go it pushes the left side collar into the wheel about a sixteenth of an in. Seems like it's collapsing the dust seal slightly. Maybe this is normal in order to provide a good dust seal.

When the wheel spins is the collar supposed to spin with it? When I loosen the axle bolt to where the wheel will spin freely the left side collar spins with the wheel. The right side collar doesn't...
 
kennyp said:
I just finished checking the collars (is this what you mean by 'spacers'?). I have the wider collar on the right side. The narrower on the left. I have the wider portion of each spacer facing outward, away from the wheel, towards the fork. The discs are lining up almost dead center with the caliper jaws so I think everything is where it's suppsed to be. One thing that seems a little strange is that when I push the axle in as far as it will go it pushes the left side collar into the wheel about a sixteenth of an in. Seems like it's collapsing the dust seal slightly. Maybe this is normal in order to provide a good dust seal.

When the wheel spins is the collar supposed to spin with it? When I loosen the axle bolt to where the wheel will spin freely the left side collar spins with the wheel. The right side collar doesn't...
Click to expand...

Sounds right. Take a look at this hope it helps.
 
Thanks. I had taken a look at that earlier and it seemed to indicate my setup is right. I'm baffled. Tightening the axle bolt to 58ft-lbs is really squeezing the dust seals tightly. I just don't feel comfortable riding the bike when the wheel won't turn more freely. I don't expect it to spin like a bicycle wheel but I'd think I could get it to spin a few turns before stopping. I think I'll drop by the local dealer and have them take a look at it. Embarassing.

By the way, I see you're in Texas. My first job out of college was for Bulter Telecommunications out of Irving Texas. They flew me into DFW then gave me a brand new F150 extended cab filled with a bunch of test equipment and I travelled the U.S. for a year and a half turning up fiber optic networks for MCI. I was in Richardson several times a year for training. Loved it.
 
Kenny,

you've definitely got a problem somewhere. I haven't had my ST long enough to have removed the front wheel for anything yet, but from looking at the service manual & my 1300 parked in the garage, I may be able to give you a couple of ideas or things to check. For starters, I verified that the outer collars do not rotate with the wheel. One thing comes to mind here, and that's the possibility that the spacer inside the wheel hub that the axle goes through, which fits between the left & right wheel bearings (item 9 in the parts list in Chuck's message, referred to as the "distance collar" in the SM) may have dropped out from between the bearings after the wheel was removed, if there's enough room inside the wheel hub for that to happen. I can't picture how the wheel hub design could permit that to happen, but if it dioes you could certainly put things in a bind when attempting to torque the axle bolt. Are you sure the spacer is properly positioned so the axle goes through it when you install the axle into the assembly? One thing you might consider trying before you damage one or both wheel bearings (if it isn't too late) would be to remove the wheel again and see if you can assemble the axle through all 3 spacers (including the one inside the hub) and the axle nut onto the wheel and torque the nut down securely with the wheel off the bike. Someone out there who's had the front wheel off for a tire change a few times should be able to tell us if this would work. Unless there's something that I'm overlooking in the shop manual, it appears to me that this would be one way to check it out, and the axle should rotate freely when assembled and torqued down, without any bearing roughness, etc. (you'll feel some resistance from the drag introduced by the dust seals). If it does, then at least you would know that the source of your problem is something in the fork/brake caliper assembly. (Obviously, you'll need to remove the axle & outer spacers to reinstall the wheel onto the bike.)

Hope these ideas will help steer you in the right direction.

Good luck.

Don
 
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I think BlackMagic has hit it. My left side collar may be in reversed. I think the longer cylinder of the collar goes to the inside. I'm going to go check it out. This has to be the problem. I hope by tightening the thing down wrong I didn't damage (smash) the dust seals. All the diagrams I've seem to show the longer cylinder facing outwards...
 
Yeah, that was it. The left side collar was turned the wrong way. I don't know why I just didn't try that last night. I think I was thinking that if I turned the collar around it was going to throw off my wheel centering whick was dead on when the collar was in backwards.
I feel like an idiot but it was a good lesson. Thanks to all for your helpful comments. I'm glad to be part of this community.
 
kennyp said:
Yeah, that was it. The left side collar was turned the wrong way. I don't know why I just didn't try that last night. I think I was thinking that if I turned the collar around it was going to throw off my wheel centering whick was dead on when the collar was in backwards.
I feel like an idiot but it was a good lesson. Thanks to all for your helpful comments. I'm glad to be part of this community.
Click to expand...


Great Glad you got it resolved. Glad I was able to assist in some manner. Now GO RIDE.:mcrider:
 
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