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leedham

leedham

Member
Hey Gang,

Has anyone ever come across this problem? I'm putting Harley stock '08 and up front calipers on my bike. I have an '02. I changed the rotors to the newer type '08 and up style. Now it should be a "bolt on" but the problem I'm having is that the caliper doesn't "center" directly over the rotor. If I add an .060" thick washer between the caliper and the mounting boss on the lower leg, it centers fine. I know Performance Machine has a caliper shim kit for their applications, I'm just wondering if this is common on stock Harley calipers( or if this is even considered safe, adding shims ) If anyone would like to offer any input, it would be appreciated. Thanks
 
I don't know if this will help but back in the '70s I had a metric bike that the front forks were left and right. They had an offset for the calipers and you could not interchange them. I don't know if Harley ever did this. Does your left lower fork have the clamp setup on the bottom?
 
leedham said:
Hey Gang,

Has anyone ever come across this problem? I'm putting Harley stock '08 and up front calipers on my bike. I have an '02. I changed the rotors to the newer type '08 and up style. Now it should be a "bolt on" but the problem I'm having is that the caliper doesn't "center" directly over the rotor. If I add an .060" thick washer between the caliper and the mounting boss on the lower leg, it centers fine. I know Performance Machine has a caliper shim kit for their applications, I'm just wondering if this is common on stock Harley calipers( or if this is even considered safe, adding shims ) If anyone would like to offer any input, it would be appreciated. Thanks
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This is the left lower leg
 

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I believe the forks are different from a 02 to a 08 and as the older forks may not be able to be set up with the dual 08 Brembo calipers for the front ends are very different....
As to concern dealing with brakes, brakes need to be a 100% with any modification made. I would be concerned with the braking force of the Brembos in relationship to what variance there might be by lengthing the bolts.
 
I think dbmg has answered your question concerning fitment. My thought would be to change out the lower legs for the 08 models. I do have a question about the 02 master cyl. Was there a change from 02 to 08 to allow the master cyl. to work with the Brembo calipers?
 
HDDon said:
I think dbmg has answered your question concerning fitment. My thought would be to change out the lower legs for the 08 models. I do have a question about the 02 master cyl. Was there a change from 02 to 08 to allow the master cyl. to work with the Brembo calipers?
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Very good and important point HDDon. The Brembos have more pistons than old style calipers and without the matching caliper the upgrade may end up less than the older brakes abilty...
 
I just found this in a thread about '08 Harley Brembo brake retro fit.....This is one of the most critical parts of the installation -- centering the calipers over the discs. Brembo provides spacing shims with the kit to make the job easier. Each package contains two 0.020-inch and two 0.030-inch shims per caliper. All three of our calipers required the thicker shims, but make sure you check your caliper alignment, rather than just dropping in the thicker ones because we needed them. This step is very important for proper and safe brake function.
 
I have shimmed calipers and discs many times, you shouldn't have any problem. I believe Harley even sells disc rotor shims for when rotors are turned or worn.
 
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