Wondering if you guys could help me out?
I have some old Hayes Stroker Carbon hydraulic brakes - can't remember the date I bought them but was about 2 years ago. I had them off the bike lying up coiled, for a while now, and unsurprisingly the pistons have moved out. So I took the pads out and tried pushing the pistons back in with 8mm spanner - worked fine on one brake but the other seems to have a problem..
One piston would not come out very far at all, while the other was pumped all the way out. I think that is because of some corrosion or dirt so I have tried cleaning around the edges of the protruding bit and pushing back in. Now however, I cannot push the other side back in at all to start a bleed. Even with a levering action on the side of the surrounding housing it won't go in at all and I have now succeeded in chipping the top edge of one of the ceramic pistons.
I have tried giving it some real leverage force to push it back but it will just not go. So I thought of letting some fluid out the system and opened the bleed nipple a bit but even with it open I'm having the same resistance and no oil is even coming out. Could there be an air bubble trapped because the piston overextended? Otherwise I am lost as to what to do.
I was considering taking the caliper apart and sorting it, but do I have to take all the brake fluid out of the system first - and how do I do that? There are no details for that on the Hayes instructions..
Also anyone know if yo can get replacement pad retention springs - my pads are falling out also (a classic Hayes problem apparently). I don't want to buy a whole new set..
Thanks!
I have some old Hayes Stroker Carbon hydraulic brakes - can't remember the date I bought them but was about 2 years ago. I had them off the bike lying up coiled, for a while now, and unsurprisingly the pistons have moved out. So I took the pads out and tried pushing the pistons back in with 8mm spanner - worked fine on one brake but the other seems to have a problem..
One piston would not come out very far at all, while the other was pumped all the way out. I think that is because of some corrosion or dirt so I have tried cleaning around the edges of the protruding bit and pushing back in. Now however, I cannot push the other side back in at all to start a bleed. Even with a levering action on the side of the surrounding housing it won't go in at all and I have now succeeded in chipping the top edge of one of the ceramic pistons.
I have tried giving it some real leverage force to push it back but it will just not go. So I thought of letting some fluid out the system and opened the bleed nipple a bit but even with it open I'm having the same resistance and no oil is even coming out. Could there be an air bubble trapped because the piston overextended? Otherwise I am lost as to what to do.
I was considering taking the caliper apart and sorting it, but do I have to take all the brake fluid out of the system first - and how do I do that? There are no details for that on the Hayes instructions..
Also anyone know if yo can get replacement pad retention springs - my pads are falling out also (a classic Hayes problem apparently). I don't want to buy a whole new set..
Thanks!