a recent addition to my home made tools, an old nipple soldered to a ball inflation adaptor. Allows me to extract the brake pistons using low air pressure without massacring them with piston pliers, also gives an accurate value of pressure required to activate pistons.
I'm made a couple of camchain tensioner winder/holders. First one was steel and worked well, second one was ally (all I had to hand) and work at a pinch but easy to bend. Not work not buying one but if you find you need one on the day it's easy enough. Dimensions on this thread... https://www.1000rr.net/threads/manual-cam-chain-tensioner.243321/ Not really a special tool as such but you can pressurise the cooling system to look for leaks without running the bike up with an inner tube. You just cut it opposite the valve, tie a tight knot in one end, slip the other end over the rad filler neck and hold it in place with a cable tie. Pump up the tube a bit and you'll see the leak without the water evaporating or burning yourself.
Wired a normally-closed push button across a plug to be that damn diagnostic plug that you're supposed to insert/remove.
that's true, I use a combo of a piston spreader and nine volt battery (just happens to be the correct shim size) to work on one piston at a time. Clean, lube and replace each piston with brake fluid until they are all super easy to move. Then use the piston pliers to remove, at this point you should be able to remove with very little force.
hopefully this will give you a better idea of my setup (excuse the manky calipers, they're my spares when the good ones are being serviced!)
The way I do it; split the caliper, put each half in a plastic bag, and with my thumb holding the smaller piston (lower one) in place, put my air line onto the hole that commons the two halves. The one that has a small Oring. The big piston will fly out. Then, I kept the hose from removing the air intake flapper assembly, and using a piece of the hose apply air to the hole feeding the smaller piston inside the caliper half. You need to grind the hose end to a point to slip into the hole and hold in place with your thumb. You need to fit the bleed nipple and banjo to seal the outer half. Once done it it's easy.
2008+ are monoblocks so can be a pain to service, if I upgrade they would be split. been talking to @raphael about his Hels, there’s nothing not to like!
Will a grease nipple and grease gun do the same job? ,,,,, its how we pump plant tracks to get the correct tension It's like a hydraulic system but with grease and more controllable
Not special but very useful,,,,,,,,,,, nocked it up a few years ago during my dinner break ,you can see where I got the idea And these for perfect wheel alinement
I guess so but unless you are using air it would be pretty messy when that piston pops out! Unless the nipple fixes to the caliper it can get fiddly with only one pair of hands
Yes it would be messy , its just another way if you don't have a compressor. Never tried it myself but you can get grease nipples in different size and threads Once blew out a hydraulic ram out of the cylinder with air , fecking thing shot across the workshop floor my boss was NOT laughing
This is may not apply to other years but the 04-07 swingarm bolt's hexagonal, on the off side, is a bastard size. To torque the lock ring on the pivot bolt you need to be able to stop the bolt turning in the frame's threads. It measures 19.25mmAF on all my 07s. The answer is to grind down a 20mm hex adaptor. Tricky to keep concentric with equal sides. The Honda manual doesn't specify a particular tool, just to hold the hex still while torquing the lock ring. To torque the lock ring you need a tagged dog-tooth socket, £147 from Honda. Someone on the net sells a copy for £22 and it works great, once deburred of sharp edges!
Not good , one unit out have measured from swing arm pivot to axle and all is good . The marks on the 918 I have are spot on
Wow, I'd have lost that bet. How did you measure to the swingarm? I've got a couple of long verniers.
Centre of swing arm pivot point to centre of axle bolt both sides with a tape or long steel ruler, Not as good as straight edges though Some use the chain alignment tool but I think it more important to have the wheels in line , with the wheels inline the chain will look after itself .I got the idea of steel edges from Performance Bike, (Michael Rutters mechanic Alec Tague sets up his race bike in the same way doesn't trust axle marks) I've gone on a bit there Everyone has their own way
