Rear brakes.

2000 vfr800. I'm going to change the rear brake pads tonight. Do I need to remove the caliper on this bike or can I just remove the brake caliper pin, swap pads, and away I go?

Thanks guys

 

The service manual shows the brake pad replacement being done with the caliper and wheel installed. You should push the caliper sideways (to the right of the bike) on its sliding mount to push the pistons back in first before removing the pad pin. Re-tighten the pad pin to 18N-m torque when you are done.

 

You can do without removing the caliper, but it would be a good time to remove it and inspect/clean it, especially if you haven't done it in a while.

 

Thanks guys While I'm on the topic, the reason why I'm changing the pads is because I feel like I really need to hammer down on the pedal to get any kind of stopping power. The pads look about 20% life left. Is this normal behavior for a vfr/bigger bike? I came from a ninja 250 lol and I'd sneeze on the read brake pedal and it would stop like all hell.

Thanks again.

 

This is one of the reasons I made mention of removing the caliber. Sometimes the calipers get really dirty and/or the pistons get "stuck". This was the case of my 5 Gen when I bought it. The PO didn't really do any maintenance on the brakes on it that I could tell. The clutch and brake fluid was the color of a strong cup of coffee! The two main Pistons of the rear caliper were nicked and the burred edge of the nick was causing the rubber seal to be stripped away and the rubber that was being shaved off was gumming up the pistons. So much in fact that the rear brake was almost completely useless.

I basically rebuilt the caliper and bled the brakes and all is well now. I can say that although the rear brakes can stop the bike without pulling the front brake lever, I have never had the rear brake lock up the rear wheel on me. It may take a quite a few more feet to stop us using the rear brake pedal, especially at freeway speeds, but it does a good job at surface street speeds. Sometimes I'll just use the rear pedal for a few stops and not even touch the front brake lever.

 

Thanks, I'll pull apart the caliper and check the fluids. Will I need to remove the back wheel to remove the caliper? lol I'm full of questions!

 

i would, you will have more room to work and brake fluid will not contact your rim then

 

Careful. If you pull apart the caliper be ready to not only catch the fluid, but then have to do the extensive brake bleeding process. It isn't hard to do, just a lot of bleed points to deal with, so it can be somewhat time consuming, at least if it's the first time you're doing it. ! I would just give the caliper a good cleaning if you're not prepared to bleed the system. And yes, removing the rear wheel helps, it also prevents brake fluid from getting on and possibly ruining the paint on rear wheel!

 

So should I just raise the bike on the center stand and remove the wheel? Or is that not safe?

 

that is safe to do

 

If you're overly concerned, once up on the center stand just chock the front wheel. To loosen the lug nuts, you'll either have to put the bike in gear and/or hold down the rear brake pedal to keep the wheel from spinning.

 

IT'S USUALLY BEST TO loosen heavily-torqued parts while the bike is on the side stand first.

 

Good point, I usually do what I suggested when the bike is on the side stand, just for added security.

 

LoL I think my center stand is messed. My rear tire is still burried in the ground. I'm going to have to dig under it so I can remove it tomorrow.

 

Indication that our bike may have been lowered...

 

Rock the bike away from you and kick a small piece of wood about 1 inch thick under the center stand, go to the other side and do the same under that leg and your wheel will be off the ground

 

That would be perfect cause stock, the rear tire is only about an inch off the ground. I am sure your bike has been lowered for whatever reason. Seems the engineers who designed this bike did not see the need for that.

If you are using an impact gun, you should be able to loosen the lug nuts even with the tire in the air with it in gear. Even in neutral andless the prevous person way over torqued them.

 

I don't think it got lowered because i'm 5'11 and when sitting on the bike, my feet are tip toed on each side lol. I'm thinking the gravel may have something to do with it. Like mentioned above, it only gives like an each for the rear tire. Well, the kickstand looks burried in the ground about an inch haha. But thanks for the tips. I'll bust out some wood to help with it. I'm just glad I managed to get it on the center stand considering i'm like 145lbs lol.