Can someone tell me how to change the front brakes on a Softtail Heritage.  I hear its easy but would like some input before I dig into it.

Hi Hwy,

It is really one of the simple maintainance routines to do, especially the front brakes (the rears are a little tougher).

 

The first thing I am going to tell you is the MOST IMPORTANT...

When you are working on your brakes, take your time, have a clean work area and clean hands (you don't want grease and dirt on your brakes) and check all your work twice!.  These are your BRAKES!!!  If you make a mistake the results will not be good!

 

First thing you need to do is get a set of brake sockets.  If you look at the hardware on the brakes you will notice the heads are an external star.  I don't recommend using standard hex sockets, even though you can probably find a size that will work.

 

1. Remove the bolts holding the brake assembly to the fork and slide the brake assembly over and off the disc.
2. Remove the two bolts that go all the way through the brakes from front to back.  These are actually pins with threaded ends, so after you have screwed the threads out all the way you need to twist the while pulling them out.
3. Remove the two brake pads.  They are different, so note which is the inner and which is the outer so you can put the new ones in correctly.
4. Clean the pins well and apply a thin layer of pin grease.
5. Now clean the grease off you hands BEFORE touching the new pads!
6. On the new pads check to see if the pins fit in the holes and move smoothly.  If they are really tight or bind, use a FINE piece of sandpaper rolled like a tube to clean out the HOLES. NEVER sand the pins.  If the pins are damaged, GET NEW ONES.
7. Slide the new brake pads in opposite of how you removed the originals.
8. Work the pins back throught by twisting and pushing and tighten.  You want these snug but be carefule not to strip them.
9. Slide the assembly back over the disc and replace the screws.  If the pads are too close together to go over the disc, you will need to compress the brake pistons.  You can do this by sliding in two pieces of cardboard (to protect the pad surfaces and then insert a large straight screwdriver and twisting until the pistons compress and the pads are far enough apart to fit over the disc.
10. Now do the brake on the other side (if you have dual front brakes).

Please be sure to test you brakes in a very controlled environment with no intersections or traffic.  Test them several times in gradual stops and hard stops.

 

Hope this helped.

 

If you a planning on doing regular work on yor bike, you need to go to the dealer and buy the Maintainance Manual for your specific model. This repair as well as everything else you would ever nedd to do from changin plugs to rebuilding the engine are in it. Even the top mechanics refer to the manual regularly.

Great explaination BailOut.

One reminder to HwyLvr and all who do your own brakes.

 

Be sure to clean your disc really good when you are done.  If you have any grease or dirt on the discs, it will embed in the new pads and stay there.

 

Thanks for the input. Gonna give it a try this weekend.

What about the rear brakes? How much different or harder?

The reason the rear brakes are harder is that on most bikes you don't remove the assembly to replace the brake pads.

 

This is much easier if you can get the bike on a lift since you will be working from the bottom.

 

Basically on the instructions above everything is the same except for step #1.  Since you will be doing this with on the bike, simply slide a paint scrapper inbetween the pad and the disc and gently pry the pad away from the disc outside and inside) before you remove the pins. There will be pressure from the calipers so just go slow.

 

Then do all the stuff above.  When you put the new pads in slip the outside pad in first and put the pins in just far enough to hold the pads in place.  Then slide the inside pad in and psut the pin through and tighten.

 

Good luck.

 

If you have any problems let me know.

Great stuff! I just changed the front brakes on my Harley and it was a breeze.

I know it's been forever since I've been here, but wanted to make sure I thanked you guys for the tips. The brake change was a breeze, and I have even showed a couple of friends how to change theirs.

I'm a bit lazy and I don't even pull the brake assembly off the bike. I just remove the pins and slide the pads out and back in. Kind of like you do the back brakes.

Are you changing the entire caliper of just the pads? Just curious...

Just something to interject here,,, before you go pushing your pads back away from the rotors make sure the level of brake fluid is low enough in the reservoir to not leak out on to the paint !! It will trash most paint jobs in a hurry !
If you have to remove any fluid I use a vet syringe, but be sure and clean it before use. Don't put the used fluid back in the reservoir when done , use new fluid. Be careful and don't take out more than necessary or you might be bleading your system !
Also if you have the cover off doing anything with the fluid replace the cover before you push back the pads so the fluid won't squirt out. When done use Dot 5 fluid.
Also if you use a brake cleaner spray don't get this on the paint either !
I just didn't see anything about this in the instructions, and I would hate to see an expensive paint job trashed !!
Work clean !! Ride safe !!