Rear Brake Dragging

Geargrinder

Joined
Jun 25, 2009
Messages
22
Location
Bulverde, TX
Bike
st1300
Hey Guys:
Hope you can help me with something. A couple of days ago I had a new tire put on the rear wheel. When I got home and unload my bike, I noticed that is was much more difficult to back it up to it's spot in the garage. Usually, I can sit on it and push it back into place, using my legs. Now it's much more difficult. ~Had to get off and push it back using my hip and legs. When I put the bike on the rear stand and gave the rear wheel a spin, it definitely has resistance, like the pads are dragging, (you can hear them drag on the disk). I'd say if you gave the tire a good spin it would spin 3/4 to 1 rotation before stopping. Any ideas?

Thanks
(2005 St130)
 
Geargrinder said:
I'd say if you gave the tire a good spin it would spin 3/4 to 1 rotation before stopping. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

The disc brakes will always be slightly dragging on the disc...a little bit of drag noise is normal. Also If you spun the wheel and got a full rotation out of it, I say normal! If it was really dragging, it wouldn't have spun.

But there are thing to check.. The easiest way to know if the brakes are dragging are temp. It's normal for them to get hot, but if you do a mile or two without using yr brakes ( or as little as possible ) you should be able to CAREFULLY touch all three and feel how hot they are... Normally my fronts are the same and the rear just a bit warmer.

Also, you may want to clean the rear brake area where the pads sit in and also the pad pin... include the pistons to make sure nothing is binding.


EDIT... is the profile of tire different? If lower it would take more force to raise the bike on the stand
 
+1 on the temp. 1 turn doesn't sound out of line.
*Maybe the smc stuck a little causing the rear to stay on and then slowly relaxed giving you 1 revolution when you checked it?
 
Do a search on breaks dragging in the forum and you will find a lot of discussion, usually involving the secondary cylinder on the left side of the front forks. That was the cause of mine dragging.

Paul
 
If the bike is hard to push there is definitely a problem. If the rear wheel was just off I would check that the rear brake pads were properly seated before checking anything else.
 
Well, I did just that. I removed the pads and made sure the caliber would slide left and right and made sure the caliber pin bolts weren't binding. Then reinstalled the pads. Just got back from a 2 hour ride, and everything appears much better. Thanks for all the helpful input!
 
Geargrinder said:
Well, I did just that. I removed the pads and made sure the caliber would slide left and right and made sure the caliber pin bolts weren't binding. Then reinstalled the pads. Just got back from a 2 hour ride, and everything appears much better. Thanks for all the helpful input!
Click to expand...

Did you clean the pistons? It's much easier with the wheel off as with the pads removed you can easily slid 1/2 the caliper off and get access to the 3 pistons... some torn strips of towel and / or toothbrush and you can clean any dirt on the pistons which may also cause some sticking... you definitely want to do that before installing NEW pads or any stuff on the pistons may mess with the seals.
 
Mellow said:
Did you clean the pistons?
Click to expand...


If you clean the pistons do not use brake cleaner. It will cause the seals to swell and the piston(s) to stick. And then you will eventually have a dragging brake again. DAMHIK. With the wheel removed you can extend the pistons just a bit more to get to the part of the pistons that is just protruding from the caliper which wil give you access to almost all the grunge on the pistons. For cleaning, brake fluid and a Q-tip works for me.
 
I had the same problem. I removed the rear tire to have it replace. Here is where I went wrong on the reinstall. When I removed the rear break the pad fell out and swung down and hung from the pin. When I replaced the breaks I did not put the pad closest to the wheel on the correct side of the metal retaining clip. I noticed the exact same drag you are talking about. Thought it would work it self out after a short ride. Come home no better. Took everything apart and figured it out instantly.
 
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