So, due to some miracle of good luck, a pad fell out of my Hayes caliper, the system then readjusted and the pad post on the piston was ripped out. Naturally, the brake does not work so well. Here's the issue: for some reason, I had a spare piston service kit laying around but I cannot find it (DOH!!). I do, however, have a spare Hayes Mag G1 (current setup is a HFX-9 G2) setup laying around. I assume I can just use that piston. However, 2 things in the Hayes instructions bother me: they say that compressed air should be used to get the old pistons out and that the square seals should be replaced when disassembling the piston. Do I really need to do either of these and will my old piston work?
Hayes caliper/piston question
- Thread starter JRogers
- Start date
The pistons are the same for the G1 and G2 calipers. If your G1 caliper is old I would recommend replacing the square seal. On the compressed air part, it makes it easier to get the pistons out, but some people take the pads out and push on the lever to push the pads out with hydraulic pressure, but you may get brake fluid all over.
Erik,
Balle Racing
www.balleracing.com
Erik,
Balle Racing
www.balleracing.com
I recently had the same thing happen and did the same procedure. The compressed air makes things 10x easier, and less likely to damage other parts.
I did not replace the seal, but did replace the opposite piston to insure that the 2 pistons had equal resistance against the force of the brake fluid. This was to avoid having one piston move more than the other one.
It's a very easy procedure, and you shouldn't be afraid to do it. Be sure to keep the work area clean, and inspect all parts as you disassemble. Again, the compressed air helps a lot, but probably isn't necessary.
-Brad
PS - WTF is with the Hayes pads falling out?!?! Mine like to fall out whenever i take the wheels off, and one of the rear ones started to wiggle it's way out on a ride! I'm running EBC pads, and I think the clips they come with are JUNK!
I did not replace the seal, but did replace the opposite piston to insure that the 2 pistons had equal resistance against the force of the brake fluid. This was to avoid having one piston move more than the other one.
It's a very easy procedure, and you shouldn't be afraid to do it. Be sure to keep the work area clean, and inspect all parts as you disassemble. Again, the compressed air helps a lot, but probably isn't necessary.
-Brad
PS - WTF is with the Hayes pads falling out?!?! Mine like to fall out whenever i take the wheels off, and one of the rear ones started to wiggle it's way out on a ride! I'm running EBC pads, and I think the clips they come with are JUNK!
Thanks for the help. Yeah, EBC pads have cheesy clips. I was actually using Hayes pads, though. This is the first time anything like this has happened to me. At least I wasn't riding or anything.BRacing said: