Road King Front Brakes Dragging

C

cocoli

New member
I just put new tires on the RK about a week ago. When pulling the wheels, I noticed that the front wheel didn't spin as freely as I felt it should. When I put the wheels back on, I pulled the pad pins and greased them thinking that the pads weren't retracting correctly. So I put about 300 miles on it and noticed that they were still making noise...almost squeaking by the end of my rides until I touch the lever, then it went away (braked applied). I put it up on the jack today and found that I really have to forcefully turn the wheel to get it to spin. The bike only has 6500 miles total on it.....it was new to me about 6 weeks ago. I know brakes drag just a little, but this is a bit much.

Could it be the pistons aren't retracting? Should they retract?

Any suggestions??

Thanks!!
 
either your caliper pistons have crud built up on them and not letting them retract, or somehow your rotor got tweaked when your wheel was off.
remove your calipers and clean up the pistons, if it still does it, put a dial indicator on your rotors and see how far out of round they may be.
That's where I would start anyway.
 
I have a 03 RK and I have noticed the front brake makes noise. If I just put the brake on just a little it stops. Im not sure what is going on with mine. I have very good hearing so sometimes I hear stuff that maybe other people would never notice. Dan
 
A warped or bent rotor can cause the drag. Try taking one caliper off at a time to narrow it to which side. Then pull that side and spin the wheel holding something like a screwdriver very close to the rotor (bracing it on a rag on the fork tube) - you should be able to easily see if it is bent. It it is bent, it's about $106 for a stock rotor.
 
Back
Top