I have a 2002 trx450fe and both front bakes dont work at all. I took the drums off and found that the wheel cylinders were very froze and I can not get them unstuck. The only thing I can think that I didnt do is heat them with a torch. Please help me because this is getting ridiculous. Does anyone have any ideas to get them unstuck?

Thanks in advance

Andy:icon_gd:

first...DO NOT HEAT THEM WITH A TORCH !!!..LOL..you will melt the seals on them !..lol. there is a rubber seal that goes around the wheel cylinder piston !!!!...now..i know this sounds like a hard job ?..but i'll try to make it simple for ya..continued :.....

 

before i sit here..and type another book on how to solve your problem...did you read the sticky on how to bleed your brakes ??????. this gives an indepth look as to how and why your brakes stick !...and how to get them working !.

 

Yes sir I have read your sticky post on the bleeding brakes. When I removed the drum from the brake housing, there was mud and solid rust on all of the wheel cylinders. The wheel cylinder pistons were froze in position. The adjustment cyl was also frozen. I need to get the pistons to move freely. I have bled the entire system and it is not strong enough to break them free (or the pistons are fully extended.). I have since removed the entire wheel cylinder and with vice grips and a vice been able to remove the adjusting screw. other than that they are stuck

 

read your other post..i explained to you ..on how to get them out.

 

and be veryyyyyyy careful how much you try to turn the star adjusting wheels !!!!..if you go to fast ?..they will heat up very quickly...and break off !!..the trick is to soak them with some wd-40..or whatever you use ?..and move the center part back and forth alittle at a time..and remember..one set of them is left hand threads !!. just clamp the star part up in a bench vise..clamp some vise grips on both ends of the brake shoe resting part..make sure you clamp the vise grips as to where they are not on the sides of the shoe resting area !!..if you clamp the vise grips on the sides ?..they will snap off !. clamp them from the shoe resting ends.

 

I've got a similar problem to the OP; seized brake cylinders. Now I plan to leave them soak in penetrating fluid for a while to see if that helps. Alternatively I'm going to fire up the heat torch and see if that helps. I realise that this will ruin the seals which might exist inside, but the question that I have is whether heating them will ruin any seals which aren't contained in this rebuild kit?
Honda TRX300FW TRX350 TRX400FW Brake Cylinder Rebuild Kit | eBay

Judging by the attached parts diagram, there aren't any internal seals?

Also are there any after-market brake cylinders available? I've priced up the cylinders with genuine Honda parts and work out at over 100GBP per wheel!

 

BB, I always use red diesel to soak things in that are stuck or sticky, I find it works better than WD40 and other penetrating fluids. Before getting your blow torch out, leave them soak for a week or so, then drop them in boiling water before you attempt to strip them. I've found this usually works well and saves your seals in the process.
Next step would be to clean up with some 1000 wet&dry then reassemble.

For parts try QuadBikesWales or QuadPartsDirect, they usually have reasonable quality alternatives at a fraction of OEM prices.

 

BB, I believe you got a 300 4wd , you could scrape the drums and go with a SuperATV or HighLifter disc conversion , very easy to install , about 2 hours labor , cost about $225 US , by the time you buy wheel cylinders , adjusters , shoes , seals , etc , you will at that easy , then when you need to do a brake pad replacement they cost about $25 and you can do it in about 45 minutes

 

Here is a pic for you BB" , this is a older SuperATv kit , the new kit on my wife's 300 is a little bit different , the rotor are drilled and the hub flange is aluminum instead of steel , Polaris 100 pads will fit in the calipers

 

@filefiles thanks for the info regarding a disc brake conversion. I hadn't planned to spend anywhere near that kind of money on the front brakes, if the brakes repair would cost me anywhere near that cost, I would go sans front brake!
@SamUK I've managed to unseize the pistons with a combination of the boiling and heat torch method

The calipers in the wood burner was pretty much a last resort as I had seriously heated them with the torch but they weren't budging. I had also knew that there were after market ones available.

The strange thing is the caliper / pistons was off a dirt bike that had been used relatively regularly, but weren't having it at all whilst the pistons off the quad looked like they hadn't been used in a decade unseized with only limited encouragement !

 

Awesome! How are the seals looking? If the bores (inside the cylinder) are corroded I always use light oil and wet & dry (Emory cloth) but only a very light abrasive, something like 800 or 1000 grit. Sometimes you can save them, somethimes corrosion takes its toll.

 

The seals look OK as does the inside of the cylinder, I briefly put the piston and seal back in the cylinder (lined with a brief amount of brake oil) and on one it took as much as I could manage to pull the piston back out by hand. So I've ordered an after-market piston and seal kit to see if that makes it operate a bit more smoothly. If not, I'm not spending any more money, so it is all going back together as is!