Life expectancy of Caliper

drummer

I got a 2003 Heritage with 98k miles....anyone know what the life expectancy is for a front brake caliper....?? The issue started like most,,,squealing...I followed all the tips on this forum. So now Ive resigned to the fact that I Got new rotor , new pads.. now im considering getting a whole new caliper...just because of the miles I got on it.

TQuentin1

Hmm. Unless something happened to it, it SHOULD outlast the bike. Get the HD Factory Service Manual for your bike (contact Gary12850 by pm if you need one) and rebuild the caliper. Easy to do. Then flush out the brake lines with new fluid (make sure you use the correct DOT # brake fluid), bleed it and you should be good to go.

TQ

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glider

I agree with TQ, proper maintenance plays a big part in it also.

Brake Caliper Maintenance - Harley Davidson Community

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gs34

Agreed. There is the possibility that there may be some wear of the pistons where they ride on the seal surfaces. This is something you sould inspect carefully when you rebuild the calipers.
If there is any scoreing of the pistons, from dirt & debris, or if you can feel any appreciable wear in the seal area, then the pistons should be replaced.

TQuentin1

Yeah, but at 100k miles I suggest just replacing the pistons and ALL the other wear items. You can buy the rebuild kit with or without, so I would just get the "with" kits. The caliper housing, unless you have mashed into something, should last longer than the bike will. Make sure you clean up the bolts and pins well, and apply some good light-weight lube to them on reassembly. All the "rubber" parts should be replaced. Probably that last time you will have to do all this on that bike (excluding pads of course), so do it all, and then just maintain as per the link Glider sent you.

TQ

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Lancer

Could this not be the pads vibrating? The fix for the rear brake squeal on the 08 touring bikes is to apply the anti squeal compound to the pads. The same blue stuff used to quiet squeal on your car disk brakes.

NEWHD74FAN

That blue stuff is really a gimmick or bandaid made to change resonance of vibration and cushion a loose fit between the pad(s) backing plate/shim and the caliper body (which should not exist if you have the proper kit).

An additional problem is it may act like a thermal insulator, limiting heat transfer. If HD/OEM service manual does not say to use it...DON'T.

Lancer

Check this link, it contains an HD service bulletin: Rear Brake Noise 08-09 Touring - Harley Davidson Community The fix for rear brake squeal on 08-09 touring is anti squeal paste.

NEWHD74FAN

Sorry, in this case...I remember early in my automotive repair days some brake kits came with the Permatex blue stuff, in which case we used it. But if pad kit did not come with it, we did not use it. There were some manufacturers who issued Service Bulletins not to use it (because the cooling issue)...so I'll punt

If the HD service bulletin says to use it for NOISE suppression for the specific model HD go for it...

Brake longevity is another issue...

drummer

Well I replaced the rotor, replaced the pads, cleaned up the caliper with brakeleen with the pucks extended out quite a bit but not out of the bores. everything looks good....everything is working fine after 4 hours of bleeding the brakes..!!! Now after 100 miles I got brake squeal again.....