I managed to change the brake pads!
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 3:04 pm
I am proud to say that i successfully changed the brake pads on my tmax today 
I was a bit scared of doing it not only because they are quite important to get it right or you have no brakes, but also because i messed up my first time when i tried on the burgman some years ago.
This time thought i didn't forget to open the oil reservoir caps first before pushing the pistons it, and it was a piece of cake!
I checked the rears but they were all fine, so i only did the front ones.
It took almost half of my day though because the bloody pins that held the two pieces of the caliper together were rounded off over many years and it was such a hassle to get them off. What were yamaha thinking when they designed those to be taken off by allen keys, i have no idea.
By the time i managed to get them off, they were damaged even worse. so i called up my local yamaha dealer and asked if they had replacements. The parts guy said he never heard anyone changing those, as they never get worn like that. He said why did you take them off, you just needed to take the pad bolts off and not unassemble the whole caliper. I told him that there were no bolts that held the pads and the pads had grooves which was held by this caliper body, which needed taking off...
Only then he referred to his computer and realised that on MK1 design, the bolts were actually taken off when changing the pads
He then checked the stock and said there were 3 in stock to my luck. I quickly went there and grabbed two off of him, and realised that yamaha became wiser and changed the design of the bolts to be normal hex ones instead of allen key ones. Good on you yammy.
I ordered a couple more and i'll change the rears while i'm at it, because i know they will eventually round off too.
They were also kind to smear some copper grease on the bolts for me (the red stuff on the pictures, so no, i wasn't bleeding) which saved me another 6-8 quid from buying a big pack of it.
Here is how the old bolt looks like:
And here are the new ones in place:
I also gave the tmax an oil+filter change, so i'm all ready for next week's blast in lake district!
Oh and by managing the brake pad change myself, i saved about £50-£55 over labour costs, so i'll treat myself to some ice cream
I was a bit scared of doing it not only because they are quite important to get it right or you have no brakes, but also because i messed up my first time when i tried on the burgman some years ago.
This time thought i didn't forget to open the oil reservoir caps first before pushing the pistons it, and it was a piece of cake!
I checked the rears but they were all fine, so i only did the front ones.
It took almost half of my day though because the bloody pins that held the two pieces of the caliper together were rounded off over many years and it was such a hassle to get them off. What were yamaha thinking when they designed those to be taken off by allen keys, i have no idea.
By the time i managed to get them off, they were damaged even worse. so i called up my local yamaha dealer and asked if they had replacements. The parts guy said he never heard anyone changing those, as they never get worn like that. He said why did you take them off, you just needed to take the pad bolts off and not unassemble the whole caliper. I told him that there were no bolts that held the pads and the pads had grooves which was held by this caliper body, which needed taking off...
Only then he referred to his computer and realised that on MK1 design, the bolts were actually taken off when changing the pads
He then checked the stock and said there were 3 in stock to my luck. I quickly went there and grabbed two off of him, and realised that yamaha became wiser and changed the design of the bolts to be normal hex ones instead of allen key ones. Good on you yammy.
I ordered a couple more and i'll change the rears while i'm at it, because i know they will eventually round off too.
They were also kind to smear some copper grease on the bolts for me (the red stuff on the pictures, so no, i wasn't bleeding) which saved me another 6-8 quid from buying a big pack of it.
Here is how the old bolt looks like:
And here are the new ones in place:
I also gave the tmax an oil+filter change, so i'm all ready for next week's blast in lake district!
Oh and by managing the brake pad change myself, i saved about £50-£55 over labour costs, so i'll treat myself to some ice cream
