Harley Brakes - Sportster Rear Pad Replacement

Now we're gonna take a look at replacing or servicing the rear caliper pads. I'm gonna start safety glasses because of the compressed air. I'm gonna put a clean towel under the caliper body spray. A little parts cleaner down into the caliper body. I'm gonna clean it out good with compressed air. The reason for this is that the spring clip in the caliper body never gets removed. You only replace one brake pad at a time on this style caliper. First thing I'm gonna do is remove the rear master cylinder reservoir cap. This is gonna allow the fluid to return back to the reservoir. And for me to keep an eye on the fluid level as I compress the piston on the rear caliper. Once the caliper, the pistons retracted, the caliper will slide in and out freely. You'll note I'm getting a little bit of fluid with the piston retracted into the caliper body. Allusion the plug on the slide pin bolt. I'll use the five millimeter allen and loosen the slide pin bolt. At this point. You want to un thread the slide pin bolt, but you don't want to remove it completely from the caliper body. You wanna be able to slide that pin out just enough to remove the rear innermost pad. If I were going to reuse and service these pads, I would just hit him quickly with a file on the sharp edges. I would clean them with parts cleaner, let them air dry. I'm not gonna reuse the factory pads. Instead I'm gonna install Lindell's racing style pads. Note that they are directional, there is an inner and an outer and that the tab must locate into the spring clip. I'll slide the innermost pad back up in to the caliper body. I'll hold it in with my hand at this point, I'll remove the rest of the pin with the five millimeter allen. That'll allow the forward most pad to be taken up and out of the caliper body. This is the outer pad. I can take it up and out. I'm still holding the inner pad with my hand. I like to use it all. Just slide it through that holds the inner pad in place while I'm either servicing or replacing the brake pad at this point, I'll hold the inner pad again. I'll remove the ore and I'll slide the outermost pad into the caliper body, making sure it engages into the spring clip with it in the spring clip. I'm gonna just reinstall the five millimeter slide pin. I'm still holding the inner pad. I wanna put just a touch of E DI on the threads and thread it right back into the caliper body. This again is an area where depending on environment, you may wanna grease the slide pin. But if you're in very dusty conditions, you may find your service in your brakes more than you have to because of the grease on the slide pin, the anti seize you should always use that keeps the slide pin from seizing into the caliper body. At this point with the five millimeter slide pin, reinstalled in the caliper and tightened hand tight. I'm gonna torque it with the inch pounds torque wrench to 100 and 73 inch pounds with that torch. I'm gonna reinstall the outer plug. I like to use a screwdriver and thread it in, make sure it's started correctly. And then I'm also going to retort that plug to 25 inch pounds once that's torqued in place. I wanna slide the caliper body. Make sure both the pads are in the correct locations in the spring clip. I wanna slide the body back and forth. Make sure it's working correctly on the sliding mechanism. I want to check my fluid level if it's a quarter inch to the top of the master cylinder reservoir. That's correct. I'm gonna put the cap back down. Marco pumped the rear brake pedal again, 345 times whatever it takes to get a nice pedal feel on the rear caliper, making sure that the piston and the pads are contacting the rotor correctly. Once the caliper is pumped back up, I'll recheck my fluid level. If the level is correct, I can just tighten my cap down. You don't want to over tighten this cap. It's only plastic. If for some reason, the fluid level was still low, I would add a little bit more and cap it off. If you feel there's enough mileage on your 0.5 brake fluid, which this model uses. you would want to either bleed the brakes or replace the fluid. That's about what it takes to replace rear brake pads on the new style sportster calipers.