Resolved front brake issue

[wills]

I know many have complained about the mushy feeling of the front brake. My complaint is the excessive travel of the front brake lever until it engages.
I had the same problem on my VMax, but Yamaha had the brains to include an adjustable pin on the brake lever to increase the pressure on the piston. This gave me the ability to set the travel to where I like it.
My complaint on the 05 Sprint is it takes 50% travel on the lever to engage the brake...much too far. So I "adjusted" it. I just took a nylon spacer and ground it down, and placed it between the brake lever contact point to the piston. This increases the pressure and took 75% of the slack out! I pull the lever now and it engages much earlier. It was a bit of trial and error, I would grind a bit and place it in and check engagement as well as free wheel travel. I wanted to make sure the brake was not applying until I pulled the lever. It's a cheap but effective remedy.

[Stlakid]

Well, I've said this on the Daytona forum just latley....

This is NOT a good idea! For brake fluid to RETURN to the reservoir there is a return hole that is open ONLY when the piston has completely returned to the static position. By putting in a spacer, ANY spacer you will depress the piston slightly which in turn may remove some of the travel needed to get brake function. (because you are slightly depressing the brakes ALL the time) It also stops the brake fluid from recirculating in the system and you might as well remove the reservoir as it is no longer needed because the fluid is trapped in the line without any way to return. You will basically cook the small amount of fluid you have trapped in the line and caliper.
:hammer:

[ST]

Ditto.

[STman]

This is not doing anything different to what the span adjuster does. When yo let go of the lever it will return to its original position thus allowing the brake fluid to return as normal :???:

[Stlakid]

I just took a nylon spacer and ground it down, and placed it between the brake lever contact point to the piston. This increases the pressure and took 75% of the slack out! I pull the lever now and it engages much earlier. It was a bit of trial and error, I would grind a bit and place it in and check engagement as well as free wheel travel. I wanted to make sure the brake was not applying until I pulled the lever.

I'm not going to start a 'pissing contest' here, but you may want to re-read that section and especially the part about

I wanted to make sure the brake was not applying until I pulled the lever

That tells me the new setup IS depressing the brakes to reduce the travel needed for them to contact the rotors. THIS IS A BAD IDEA. PERIOD.
Nuff Said. :evil:

[wills]

It may not be the solution for all, but in my case it works. No you don't want constant pressure, but it was obvious in my case the pressure was not there. I was very careful to test and reduce the size of the spacer accordingly. The thickness is close to that of a washer, so it requires some careful effort.
Some talk , some do, make your choice. :wink:

[zore]

I think as long as the brake travel was consistant from day one, you probably wont have a problem. The problem with my 03 is that it wasn't consitant. It would start out good then after a week or 2 it would be like you explained. I ended up putting dual lines on it and the problem was solved. I also put no brake pads on it about 3000 miles ago and the lever hasn't moved much. I can still do the 2 finger braking which wasn't an option before.

[harryfotter]

Wills is on the right track. The piston in the master cylinder travels a certain distance before the fluid orifice is closed by the piston and then hydraulic pressure begins to develop. If this distance is excessive, then lever travel will be excessive before taking up the 'slack'. You can see this if you squeeze the lever with the reservoir cover off. There will be a squirt of fluid from the bottom of the reservoir as the lever is depressed until the hole is covered by the piston(trust me, don't try this as the fluid will blind you, at least ruin your paint!) If Wills' brakes are completely releasing, the hole is releasing fluid pressure back into the reservoir and shouldn't cause any problems. If his spacer is too thick, the brakes will be permanently on.

There might be other ways to achieve this, such as shims behind the piston, or a threaded adjuster between the lever and piston.