ABS Brake Maintenance

[Scrounger]

Was planning to remove my clutch bracket and master cylinder reservoir to have them chromed myself. Was looking in the service manual and it references a special HD tool and process to bleed the system when you open it up BEFORE the ABS manifold.

If you open the system after the ABS manifold you are fine and you can bleed it as you would any other brake system.

Question is, if you remove the reservoir on the bars, and refill the system you will most likely introduce air in the ABS manifold. Will it impact your braking if the ABS is not activated or just if the ABS brakes are activated.

My idea would be to replace the brackets on the bars, refill the system and them get it to a dealer for a complete ABS bleed with the little miracle tool that is referenced in the manual. No shade tree or jobber will have one since it has to connect to HD every so often to continue working and has a security card from what I'm told.

Other than that, anyone have any ideas on how to bleed an ABS bike if you get into the system before the ABS manifold.

 

[rancid]

firstly, i dont think its a good idea to get the m/cylinder chromed, it will probably end up destroyed. the system is bled like normal then using digi tech (dealer only software) the abs module is bled, digi tech cycles both solenoids of the abs module. without doing this there will still be air in the system and the brake wont work properly. this is done while connected to the computer so the dealer will bleed the system even if you have already done it.

 

[Scrounger]

Thanks Rancid, I'm not worried about the master cylinder being trashed, they have chromed many many of them. More concerned about if it can bleed enough to get it to the dealer or should it be on a trailer to get it to the dealer.

If you do a normal bleed, will the brakes function as normal until the ABS is activated?

ABS on previous bikes never had to have such a process. They were not HD so that is the big difference.

 

[Chopper]

Matthew you should not have any problem driving it to your dealer, just don't use the front brake and if ABS finds a problem it justs shuts off so you have standard brakes. Unless you own the chrome shop it's usually cheaper to buy something chrome then to have it chromed, has been my experience.

 

[Scrounger]

Chopper its less than a third to go with a place like Meclec in CA who does the chrome for Big Dog and other custom bike builder. Doing the fork lowers are $120. I think those are some pretty good prices compared the some of the OEM HD chrome bits. A bit more work for the owner, but the savings is pretty compelling.