Rear Tire Dragging

Old Glory

Old Glory

Joined
May 25, 2007
Messages
9
Location
Huntsville, Alabama
Bike
ST1300
Once upon a time, when the ST was up on the center stand, the rear wheel would turn quietly, now there is a dragging noise, that sounds like brake pads. Is this within normal range? I took the bike for a long ride and there was no apparent problem. I should have, but didn't, feel the rear hub after the ride to see if it was abnormally hot.

John-
 
That's exactly the symptom. It's a light drag - the way one used to adjust shoe pads on a car. I was curious since this is a new "feature".

John-
 
John, how thick are the pads? If well worn, the pucks are well out of the caliper. Might be time for new pads. Be sure to clean the pucks before pushing them back in. Good time to change the fluid, too. If the bike has +50K, time to rebuild the caliper with new seals, clean the grooves behind the seals, too. There's a step-by-step on Mike Martin's web site.

Keep us poSTed.
 
John correctly addresses the manual adjustment of drum brakes on old cars. Hefty springs retract the brake shoes so they do not contact the drum after bedding-in. But disk brake pads do not retract. The caliper pistons are pulled back just a whisker by the rubber piston seal to relieve any pressure, but the brake pad just sits there, kissing the disk. So it sometimes makes a little noise as the disk spins but there shouldn't be any drag.

pete
"In pie is truth."
 
It seems to me there is some dragging. If I give the wheel a hefty spin, it will turn maybe half a rev. The dragging sound is minor. The bike only has about 12 K miles. The bike is an '04 and wasn't ridden much in the first two years (2400 miles) when I bought it in '06. I had the brake fluid changed out last year. I'll check the brake pad thickness tonight. I recently had it in for 8K service (with 10K on the clock) and hopefully the brakes were checked, but I'll take another look. Thanks for the info.

John-
 
Just went down to the garage an gave my 04 rear wheel a spin...
Good spin , got about 1 1/2 turns on the wheel and of course the SLIGHT drag of brake noise.
I've replaced my rear pads with oem's already at 14k(?) cause I felt the rear disc was warmer than should be and it might be dragging a bit to much... the old pads were 1/2 gone and I clean off the pistons before pushing them back in.

Now the disc does stay much cooler than before and there is less drag.

So, If it were me, either replace pads while apart and clean pistons before pushing back in OR drop the wheel and put a spacer in where the disc goes to expose a bit more of pistons ... clean and reinstall all.
 
Old Glory said:
It seems to me there is some dragging. If I give the wheel a hefty spin, it will turn maybe half a rev. The dragging sound is minor.
John-
Click to expand...

Don't forget you also have drag from the rear end and the drive shaft and the layshaft in the tranny. The rear wheel can/will never spin as freely as the front.

As another has also correctly observed: Caliper pistons can become corroded from the continuous extension due to pad wear. The corrosion minimizes piston retraction, causing more pad drag on the rotor, poor fuel mileage, overheated brake fluid, more rapid tread wear, draining of your bank account, and maybe even total erasure of Drive C: :rolleyes:

'Geezer
 
Finally did the check. Plenty of brake pads left. A hard spin turns the wheel one rev, so not dragging too badly. Still need to check out the caliper pistons.
Thanks for the suggestions.

John-
 
I had the same symptoms on my 2005, plus the rear brake disc got too hot to touch when riding. My problem was that the Secondary Master Cylinder (aka the SMC) needed replacement. Thank you extended warranty.

My dealer (and others on this site) have suggested that this is not uncommon for older ST1300s, and the new version of the SMC has an extra drain hole to prevent water and dirt from building up.
 
glevar said:
I had the same symptoms on my 2005, plus the rear brake disc got too hot to touch when riding.
Click to expand...

LOL

I really try to avoid touching my brake discs when I'm riding so I wouldn't know how hot they get.

<ducking>
 
Ha Ha.

My first indication was the occasional whiff of hot brake after a longer ride. Then some testing showed that a ride of about 5 miles got the disk so hot it would almost burn me.

dteel said:
LOL

I really try to avoid touching my brake discs when I'm riding so I wouldn't know how hot they get.

<ducking>
Click to expand...
Posted via Mobile Device
 
This weekend looks like a great time to ride - and I have a new LD Spencer seat upgrade to check out. I'll give the brake disc the finger burning test. Better to find this out now then on the road to Moonshine.

John-
 
I'm not in the habit of touching my rotors during a ride nor do I normally try to spin my back wheel by hand when the bike is up on the center stand,

but a month ago my bike was up on the center stand and I started it after confirming it was in neutral, and I noticed the rear wheel was slowly turning. I easily stopped it from spinning with my foot, but when I took my shoe off of the tire it started spinning again. In Neutral ( ?).


Today I had my bike up on the center stand in neutral engine off, as I examine my rear tire for a nail in it. I found the object (it was a drywall screw) and I removed it.

I noticed that turning the wheel in the normal direction of travel was silent, but if I rotated the back wheel the other way it made a slight grinding noise.
FURTHERMORE,
I realized that I couldn't "spin" the back wheel by hand to the extent that it would continue moving after I took my hand off of it.
I could only make it roll while I pushed on it I couldn't get it to spin even a quarter or half a turn once my hand came off the rubber .

What else can I do to diagnose this problem --or is it not really a problem at all?

EDITED TO CORRECT above:
I can get the back wheel to spin 1/4 to 1/3 of a turn, by hand. That is, the wheel will continue to rotate that much after I have removed my hand from it.

Which is a definite problem : I am told that the back wheel should spin more than one full rotation, almost 2, when you give it a good shove with your hand.
PS: These wheel free-spin tests were all done "cold." The other day I tried to do the spin test while I was pulled over in a parking lot in the middle of a 30 mile ride and I failed to get the bike up on the center stand, and it dropped.
Oops.
 
Last edited:
After a good ride come to a stop using front and rear brake. Put the bike up on the center stand and start the engine with the gearbox in neutral. The rear wheel should begin to slowly rotate on its own - it's normal. If it doesn't the rear brake is dragging and the cause must be determined.

On the center stand press or carefully lever the caliper to the right so as to separate the brake pads from the brake rotor. Make sure the inboard and outboard pads are not touching the brake rotor. Start the engine and with gearbox in neutral it is entirely normal for the rear wheel to slowly rotate. If you stop it by dragging your hand on the tire (no brake) it should begin to spin again when released. Not spinning slowly and evenly is a likely indicator of a worn or failing U-joint.
 
gunsmoker said:
So? My owners manual and service manual were printed in 2006.
Should I disregard that information just because it's as old as the bike is?
Click to expand...
I think Larry did not realize you are having a new problem and just posted it in an old similar thread.
 
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