Front brake system..

Hi all, on my 1970 FXWG I have no hydraulic pressure in the front brakes. I rebuilt the master cylinder and bled both calipers, still nothing.
All the connections seem tight, I am thinking maybe a caliper is sticking.
Are there any tricks to find out what my problem is???
Thanks guys!
TC
:gah:

Thanks Cowboy.
What would be the symptoms if one of the calipers was sticking??

If your not getting any hydraulic pressure at your disc brake caliper ,,it must be your master cylinder or line plugged feeding it...is the piston returning in your master cylinder?...there is a spring in mine that returns it...You said you bleed the brake ..did any fluid come out...And when you apply the brake,how did the front brake lever feel...was it spongy,and go all the way down,or did it stop b4 it got all the way to the end of it's travel.If you think your piston is stuck the brake lever should get "hard" when you apply the brake,and not use all of the travel,and the piston doesn't move in the caliper,...then I would say your piston is stuck...more info would help....

I bled brakes from calipers up using a hypodermic and tubing. Fluid came out into master so the lines are not clogged. The lever goes all the way in without any resistance at all, from full open to full stop. Yes the piston returns. no the lever does not get hard (but I do from time to time, hee hee) I know too much information.
It seems like there's a leak but I don't see any fluid dripping anywhere since I rebuilt the M/C. There was fluid leaking out of the back of the M/C near the lever, so I figured it was the seal inside, therefore the rebuild.
Could the pads just be worn so much that the caliper pistons travels full distance without engadging the rotors??

Sounds like your master cylinder is bad,might be scored in the cyinder,you installed new seals ......to see if your piston travel is too much ..you could try to plug the line running to the caliper and see if your brake lever gets hard...lol(the lever)...that would tell you whats bad...

Thanks Whacker, I will try that next. "you da man".
How do I plug up the lines nice and tight?

If you got a plug, or a cap...not sure what your thread size is,or a another fitting with the tube and crimped the tube,and screw it into the master cylinder that should work...

ok I think I have it figured out now. so if I cap it off before the calipers and the lever still bottoms out the Master is bad.
If the lever gets hard, hahaha, there's a leak in one of the fittings or pistons or the pads are really shot.
Sound right??
Thanks for your help...

Just make sure when you "cap" the line it is full of fluid,and there is no air in the line.,and if the lever goes all the way in it is the master cylinder...if it stays hard(women love that)lol..it is in your caliper,probally stuck piston...good luck ..Al

Thanks~!
Keep it hard and the shiney side up guys~!! Whaaaahoo!

It sounds like the M/C isn't bled right. Try unhooking the line from the M/c. Put a finger over the bolt hole, Squeeze the lever a few times. If it's working you should get fluid pushing out past your finger. It may take a few pumps this way to get the air out of the M/C. once you get fluid pumping that far, hook the line back up an bleed at the caliper by pumping the lever instead of with a syringe.

Thanks FXDX.
I had fluid only coming up thru the M/C from the caliper side with a syringe, could there still be air hiding in the M/C??

Find anything out yet Tommy.....I've used the vacuum pumps b4 to bleed brakes and I let gravity do it's thing too,and the manual way...but you need to make sure all the air is out of your system...

Not yet Whacker, I was busy last night removing the inner primary from my other bike.
I will let you know what it was and how I fixed when it gets done. I am gonna test the M/C first like you suggested. I am hoping there's air trapped in there. I forgot to bleed it properly when I rebuilt it. DUUHHH~! live and learn, right.
Thanks for you help.

At least when you get it done ..you can go for a ride...We got about 5 inches of snow on the ground,and it's around 20 degrees outside....

Sucks to be in your area. I went to Michigan once and it was so cold there was nobody outside after about 5 pm. Cold, overcast, dark, depressing to me. We can ride all year down here. I went to the beach on Christmas day one year. I have 2 bikes also so one is down I cruise on the other one.
Lots of fun. The heat gets to you sometimes tho. It gets around 100 degress plus the 98% humidity is killer.
Hang in there buddy it will warm up soon.
I live in NJ when I was a kid, moved outta there as soon as I graduated HS. Loven it in Florida.