Stripped Screws & Spongy Breaks

[cynr1023]

Went to bear down on my breaks the other day and the lever went to full stop. never had that happen and never want to have it happen again. I also noticed quite a bit of movement in the break line as I squeezed the brake lever as well. I've never noticed this before, but I don't think I've ever looked for it, so I don't know if it was like that all the time.

When I attempted to removed the brake reservoir cover I stripped out the screws, any idea how to get them out short of jb welding a couple Philips head bits onto them and backing them out that way?

Also, how long before you should swap out brake cables? I'm thinking about now might be the right answer, or better yet about six weeks ago before they got spongy.

 

[FoothillRyder]

Scary stuff, losing your brakes. Stripping the screws in the reservoir isn't something I've heard of before, and I doubt JB'ing a head on a stuck screw would enable you to remove them. Try something called an EZ-Out, I'm sure there are plenty of references around.

Now... about these 'cables'? Are you talking about the brake lines? On a new generation ('01 and newer) Bonnie they're steel braided lines, and should never need to be replaced.

Do you know why the brakes failed?

 

[cynr1023]

I'll look around for the EZ-out and see what's up. When I went to unscrew the first one it just stripped right out, no fuss, like it was suppose to do that, felt like the metal was really soft.
and Yes, the brake lines. I know they're steel, I had looked into replacing them when I first got the bike and found out that there were steel braided lines already so never did it. I've not noticed any puddles of break fluid anywhere I park but one thing I didn't think to look at was the reservoir level. I can't look now, I'm 3 hours away from the bike until the end of the month. I'm trying to get ideas and possibly solutions so that as soon as I'm back I can get it back up and running.

 

[Bonniebret]

Have you checked the wear on your break pads? That will affect the amount of travel on the lever as well. When my rear brakes were worn out the level of brake fluid in the reservoir looked low. When I replaced the pads it wen back up to normal.

 

[Kirkus51]

Don't know if you'd just want to replace the whole assembly with a Thrux style reservoir or not. I know there's guy who have done that. They got tired of the stock Bonnie ones leaking.

 

[jphickory]

Have you checked the wear on your break pads? That will affect the amount of travel on the lever as well. When my rear brakes were worn out the level of brake fluid in the reservoir looked low. When I replaced the pads it wen back up to normal.

+one

 

[Twodogs]

If it is the thread that is stripped out of the resorvoir housing just go to any bolt shop and get a thread insert of the same size and pitch of the factory screw. To fit will require drilling an over size hole, tapping a thread and screwing the insert in. When was the last time you changed the fluid. Every two years is what you should be doing to avoid any condensation contamination. If this happens, when the fluid heats up under braking and the condensation will actually get hot and vaporise, causing the brakes to go spongy.

 

[RumRunner]

You can pick up an easy out at most hardware stores no problem. You'll want a center punch, and drill and you should be able to get the old screws out no problem. As far as the brakes go I'd start with the fluid, and go over the entire system.

Did they completely fail all together or were they just soft or what exactly happened?
When you say movement in the brake hose, is it just moving around or can you actually feel the hose wall itself expanding?

 

[pepper]

The countersunk fasteners on my '03 Bonnevilles front master cylinder cap have a 3/16 (.1875) shank diameter.

Use of an EZ-Out extractor requires that you drill a hole into the fastener head just large & deep enough for the extractor flutes to be tapped into and grip. You might find that when you drill the hole the C/S head just comes off and you don't need an extractor. Once you remove the master cylinder cap you can grip the remaining exposed fastener shank with small vice grips and turn it out.

You can also start with a smaller diameter drill and work your way up in size until you reach the diameter of the fastener shank.

 

[strokerlmt]

If the cables are not kinked they should be good to go. Check brake pads, if ok then take the cable off, clean everything, put NEW crush washers on, get a new check value bleeder from NewBonneville, cheap, new fluid, bleed all bubbles out and you should be good.
LMT
PS are you over seas ?????

 

[tooblekain]

Don't know if you'd just want to replace the whole assembly with a Thrux style reservoir or not. I know there's guy who have done that. They got tired of the stock Bonnie ones leaking.

Happen to know the guy's forum screename on here? Ive been researching to go about doing that. Tired of my 2007 Bonneville brake resevoir weeping

 

[dschief]

You can buy Thruxton "specimen cup" resevoirs on Ebay often for little money, I think I paid about $25 for one with the master cylinder and lever.
To take the screws out of the stock master cylinder resevoir, you need an impact driver with a phillips bit, a #2 I believe is the correct size. Just give it a good whack with a small hammer and they will turn right out. I don't even fuck with a screw driver on the damn things anymore. If you don't have an impact driver, buy one NOW!

 

[cynr1023]

ok, about to tackle the breaks. I've not had any problems with the breaks up to this point, I looked at them in December/January and they were still good and I haven't noticed any weeping around the reservoir. I hate the specimen cup so don't want to go in that direction. I don't understand, even on the high end bikes, KTM RC-8 and such they still have this shitty plastic cup, who does that?!

Twodog, it's not the threads that stripped, it's the phillips screw ends.

 

[rodburner]

If you have a Dremel,just cut a straight slot in the screw and use a flat tip screwdriver to get the thing out. Even if it cuts into the cap a bit,no big thing. Just wait for the screw to cool after slotting,so it doesn't expand and strip the head again.

 

[cynr1023]

This is what I started with:

used Rodburners suggestion (required the least amount of money) used my dremel and slotted the screws and used a flat tip. Opened up pretty easy after that. This is what I found:

my question is...there's suppose to be fluid inside the rubber gasket/boot thingy or under it?

 

[strokerlmt]

This is what I started with:

used Rodburners suggestion (required the least amount of money) used my dremel and slotted the screws and used a flat tip. Opened up pretty easy after that. This is what I found:

my question is...there's suppose to be fluid inside the rubber gasket/boot thingy or under it?

I believe the brake fluid should be below the rubber gasket and plastic bit. you probably need new bits.
LMT

 

[cynr1023]

I think the gasket got a little stretched, I was playing around with in and got it back to the shape it's suppose to be. Nobody here has freaking metric screws, not even the Napa store. I'll probably reuse the old ones, I've ordered one of the new covers from Brent over at newbonneville.com so when that comes in I'll replace it. Now to find my fluid and fill it up and bleed the brakes, checked the pads just to be sure and there's plenty of pad left.

 

[cynr1023]

Have completely fresh fluid running all the way through, bled the brakes, no joy. Looks like I'm going to need a new gasket or something, doesn't look like it's got a hole or anything in it, it's just not keeping any kind of pressure.

 

[rodburner]

Try pulling the lever back to the grip and zip tie or rubber band it there for a few hours or over night to force the air back up to the cup. There is ALWAYS air left in the Bonnie hose,no matter how hard you try.

 

[cynr1023]

Putting zip tie on now, thanks. I can't order any frickin' parts now, it's Sunday. Hope this works.