1988 TRX300FW, here's what it's doing.
When I first got it, the front brakes just really sucked. They would work weakly, but not where I thought they should be. So I cracked open the master cylinder and what I found was fluid that was as black as night. I sucked out the oil fluid and refilled with new. Worked the handle till it turned black again, rinse, repeat. Kept doing that till it stopped turning black. Then I bled the brakes, starting with the front left.
Once I changed the fluid, I got some new problems. Now if you hold them down, it will go solid at about 2/3 pull, then slowly sink to the handle after being solid for about 3-5 seconds. If your on a hill, you can stop it with the fronts fine, but once the handle starts sinking it will start rolling again. And lastly, after about 2-3 good uses, you have to give it 30 seconds to recover or it just sinks right to the handle without really doing much of anything. They will come back, but it's the same dance once they are back again.
I think the master cylinder is shot. It's allowing leak by. I'm thinking at this point of buying an aftermarket unit, and also a rebuild kit. I'll put the aftermarket unit on, and rebuild the stock unit in my spare time. I don't really expect an aftermarket unit to last like the stock one did, so once it starts failing I'll put my rebuilt stock unit back on. I'm thinking of doing it that way because I've ran into situations on older bikes where the stock MC units were just too worn to take a rebuild kit and work right. But it caused me to chase my tail for 6 months. An aftermarket should work out of the box for at least awhile, and that will 100% verify it's the MC. That way I won't be chasing gooses if the stock unit is just too worn internally.
Any thoughts?
And on these 4x4 models how the heck do you adjust the front brakes? Moving one wheel moves all four, and there is enough resistance trying to move the whole drive train how do you tell when they are "just engaged enough to drag". There is ALWAYS drag due to the drivetrain....?
When I first got it, the front brakes just really sucked. They would work weakly, but not where I thought they should be. So I cracked open the master cylinder and what I found was fluid that was as black as night. I sucked out the oil fluid and refilled with new. Worked the handle till it turned black again, rinse, repeat. Kept doing that till it stopped turning black. Then I bled the brakes, starting with the front left.
Once I changed the fluid, I got some new problems. Now if you hold them down, it will go solid at about 2/3 pull, then slowly sink to the handle after being solid for about 3-5 seconds. If your on a hill, you can stop it with the fronts fine, but once the handle starts sinking it will start rolling again. And lastly, after about 2-3 good uses, you have to give it 30 seconds to recover or it just sinks right to the handle without really doing much of anything. They will come back, but it's the same dance once they are back again.
I think the master cylinder is shot. It's allowing leak by. I'm thinking at this point of buying an aftermarket unit, and also a rebuild kit. I'll put the aftermarket unit on, and rebuild the stock unit in my spare time. I don't really expect an aftermarket unit to last like the stock one did, so once it starts failing I'll put my rebuilt stock unit back on. I'm thinking of doing it that way because I've ran into situations on older bikes where the stock MC units were just too worn to take a rebuild kit and work right. But it caused me to chase my tail for 6 months. An aftermarket should work out of the box for at least awhile, and that will 100% verify it's the MC. That way I won't be chasing gooses if the stock unit is just too worn internally.
Any thoughts?
And on these 4x4 models how the heck do you adjust the front brakes? Moving one wheel moves all four, and there is enough resistance trying to move the whole drive train how do you tell when they are "just engaged enough to drag". There is ALWAYS drag due to the drivetrain....?
