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Front brake locking & need high fender!

Started by The Yeti, December 01, 2008, 09:34:28 AM

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The Yeti

Went out to Farmingdale with Flexlarson and Fringefan's sister the day before Thanksgiving. We had a pretty good time, although I spent most of my time trying to dig out of mud pits and then digging wet mud/clay out of my front fender!

Here's a pick from Flex of me stuck in a mud hole:



Had to eventually take my front fender off in order to keep the front wheel moving. After removing and reinstalling the right front brake caliper, the claiper kept locking up on me at random. We thought we had it, so I took off at a pretty good clip trying to clear my tires of mud, when the front tire locked up big time and I went down pretty hard at about 25mph:



We removed the right caliper at this point and wired it up to my front crash bar so I could ride it home...was no more lock-ups after that.

I haven't had time, and the weather hasn't cooperated, so I haven't even cleaned up the bike yet to see what could possibly be causing the caliper to lock up. Coulda been that we wired the brake line to the frame after we removed the fender and when the suspension flexed it was pulling on the brake line...dunno. Any ideas, Hank?? Would NOT want that caliper to lock up on the highway.  :o

Oh yeah, the high fender is now next up on the farkle list!  ;D
"You want me to ride up THAT?!"

Dustin

Looks like fun except for the front wheel locking up. Yea that would be bad having it lock up going down the highway at 65.

With all that mud and stuff maybe the caliper wasn't able to float causing the lock up.

fringefan

Should of been there when we went to collect the DR you guys left out there that night. If it was not for Yeti's GPS we might not have ever found that thing. If not knowing where it was, no moon light, and the 30+ mph winds where bad enough then getting the jeep stuck in a ravine with nothing to wench to really hit the spot. I almost forgot about running out of gas twice on the drive back into town and my father in law helping keep up morale by telling us non of our ideas would work. All in all I had a good time going to pick up the DR.

The Yeti

Yeah, Brain said it was quite an ordeal...sorry I couldn't be there to help.   :(
"You want me to ride up THAT?!"

Hank

Isn't that an odd feeling having your front wheel lock!?   You just have time to realize what happened then you're lying on your face.

I'm not sure why your caliper would lock, but Dustin has a good guess.   

Looks like an interesting ride.  Sounds like retrieving the DR was a real treat too!

The Yeti

Got the bike cleaned up and put back together this Sunday, pretty sure I figured out what was locking the front wheel after we removed the fender....

When we first took off the fender, Brian wired up the right hand brake line to the frame, in theory to keep it away from the wheel. But, when the suspension flexed, the brake line was getting caught on the front knobs, locking the wheel! After I figured this out, I was quite suprised that the brake line had that much strength...hell, I was doing at least 25mph when the brake line stopped the front wheel dead!! I'd think the brake line would snap way before that....nice strong connections on the KTM apparently!   ;D
"You want me to ride up THAT?!"

Hank

When my fender mounts broke and it locked the wheel it was the right to left cross over brake line that took the entire load too.   Yup.. I was surprised they were that tough too.  I'm glad they are though.. 400 miles home w/ no front brake would have sucked  :'(