24,000 mile service [page 2]
Tuesday, Nov 24 2015 [24,096 miles]
I waited for the rain to stop before making room in the garage to continue the service. I checked off most of the items on the list that don’t need a hot engine. The biggest job was flushing the brakes.
Before getting to the brakes I had to partially remove the side covers and figure out why I had both a long shoulder and short shoulder screw when I needed two short shoulder screws. I found where I’d used the wrong screw. The low screw on the grey side panel goes through a double thickness of plastic and needs the long shouldered screw. Maybe I’ll remember that for next time.
First the front brakes. I’ve a brake fluid tester and it indicated a 2% water content. I could get by with that (3% is the needs changing level) but I’ve got the time and flushing fluid is cheaper than fixing corroded ABS systems. Why two bottles? One is left over fluid from last change. I’ll not use it it in the brakes as it also has 2% water content. I will use it with a small brush to clean the pistons before retracting them into the caliper.
My system to depress the pistons doesn’t work on this bike as well as my last GS. Maybe it’s time to buy the appropriate tool. Yes, I removed that bit of lint on the edge of the brake reservoir before I filled it with fresh fluid to start the flush.
I wanted to remove the rear caliper to check that it slides easily. Can’t do that with the wheel on the bike. Well, maybe you can if the spokes are in exactly the right position. It was easier to remove the wheel.
The wheel screws are torked to 60 Nm. I don’t know how much extra torque is needed to break lose tightened screws. It shouldn’t have been enough to break my Torx socket, but that’s what happened. No knuckles were broken when the socket let go. I’ve got a few more T50 sockets, but this was the only one that fit the half-inch drive ratchet I was using. Grumble.
The rear brake pads are fine and the caliper slided easily. After cleaning the caliper pistons I put the pads back in the bike and again shimmed the pads to depress the pistons. Yep, I really do need to get the correct tool.
The brakes are bled. Tires have the proper amount of air. Lights work. Side stand and center stand work. Engine start supression works. The battery was charged yesterday. I’ll take the bike for a ride tomorrow to warm up engine oil and FD fluids before changing.