With a little over 40,000 miles on the clock it seemed like a good time to inspect the brake pads. The timing was good because one of the four fronts was down past the wear lines. The rest still had the line but the depth was just enough to catch with a fingernail.
Rockies Gold is coming up which means about 1300 miles each way plus four days of riding the mountain roads aroud Montrose, Colorado.
No use trying to squeeze any more miles out these pads.
To get the ball rolling, I consulted the trusty Clymer manual to see if there was any tips that would make life easier. There wasn't. One suggestion was to push the caliper housing inwards to shove the pucks back out of the way before removing the old pads. I tried this. It would have been easier to push a '57 Buick up Lombard Street.
I opted for plan B. Put away the manual and pull out the pin holding the pads in place. The pads dropped out without assistance as soon as the pin cleared. The micrometer showed only .05" at the thinnest part of the pad and .1" at the thickest remaining part. According to the book, minimum service thickness is .14".
The next challenge was to push in the brake pistons or pucks to make room for the new pads. Three pucks/pistons on each side. On the left side I was able to get the middle one to move with finger pressure. The upper and lower had to be convinced with a flat bladed screwdriver. All three on the right side had to be pushed in with a tool.
By the way, if you plan to do this job here are some of my tips:
- Take off the front brake reservoir cover
- Wrap the right handlebar area in plastic to catch any overflow
- Check the fluid level in the reservoir after pushing in each puck
- Only do one side at a time to avoid pushing too much fluid back into the reservoir
- When pushing in the pucks, do not pry against the disc
Anyway, the only hard part of the job was pushing in the pistons. Once they are out of the way, put the inboard pad in place, then the outboard pad, grease up the retaining pin and put it back together.
I did the left side first and before tackling the other side I squeezed the front brake to reseat the pistons against the new pads. This allows the brake fuid in the reservoir to go back down so you have room to do the right side. It is even more important to keep an eye on the reservoir level as you do the second side. You have raised the pre-existing level by putting in thicker pads on the first side.
The rear brake pads are still pretty thick so I'll probably wait to change them at 80,000 miles.
The only thing left to do was a test ride. I squeezed the front brake until it was hard and hit the street. Everything was great until I decided to stop fast and used both brakes. I forgot all about the linked brake stuff and of course the rear pedal went to the bottom. A couple of quick pumps and it is back. I am pretty light on the rear brake unless I really need it and from the looks of the pads, that is what is expected by the engineers. The left side was only slightly more worn than the right.
If you have a goldwing and have 40K on it, I'd suggest taking a look at those pads. And the link I included is the cheapest OEM set I could find. Good luck.
