TG rear brakes

[Nauga Mok]

Anyone having premature rear brake failure? Have 2 friends with '10 TGs. One lost -- as in wore out, his rear brakes at 8,000 miles. Needed both pads & rotors reoplaced. Brakes are NOT covered by warantee!! $600 in parts at the dealership. After a LOT of b1+ching, the manager said they'd do the job for $100. OUCH!! Seems awfully short life for rear brakes. When we were doing the cams on the other TG over last weekend & had it up on the lift, I looked at the rear brakes on it, which also have 8,000 miles & the pads were nonexistant.

Not into the rotors yet, but scary close. We'll probably be replacing his rear brakes this weekend. Sure makes me glad I'm running a Roadsmith conversion! I have 18,000 miles since the conversion & still have LOTS of pad left.

NM

[lzski326]

Yep the brakes are worth a s--t. My first set made it 9000 miles. Then my second set I tryed to run them til they started to make a little noise, at 13000, big mistake. Had to replace both rear rotors and pads. I also ruined one caliper by doing that.
Larry

[screwball]

Changed the rear pads on my '09 at the 20,000 mile service. Dealer said I had some time left on them, but we were going on a long trip so I did it anyway. My guess is that since people don't have to put their food down anymore, they are tending to use the rear break pedal a lot more then they did with 2 wheels. Book says 70 / 30 front breaking.

Just my opinion

[1550vt]

This is a very old subject. Any interested party could probably perform a search function for "TG rear brake problems" and they can read on....and on....and on.....and on.

The usual fix is to yank-off the parking brake and get Lyndall pads. The dealer will just love to keep on selling pads and rotors for as long as he can.

[10rhrk]

First thing I did when my wife bought her 2010 SG Trike was yank the parking brake off. She put 20K miles on that Trike. The brakes still had good pads left when she traded it for her 2012. First thing I did to her 2012...guess what?

I personally let the engine do most of my braking. Anybody who's followed me through the twisties can tell you, they don't see my brake light's very much.

[msocko3]

This is a very old subject. Any interested party could probably perform a search function for "TG rear brake problems" and they can read on....and on....and on.....and on.

The usual fix is to yank-off the parking brake and get Lyndall pads. The dealer will just love to keep on selling pads and rotors for as long as he can.

The parking brake can be a pad eater.

[Bikerbozo]

Ditto on the parking brake. As of the last pad change, I adjusted my emergency brake all the way out and have left it unused (not that it ever worked great). Pads changed for 3rd time on my '10 TG 5000 miles ago last. will see at 25,000 checkup if it made any difference. My mechanic has erred on the side of caution and usually recommends replacing pads before they take out the calipers.

[1550vt]

All of us guys (and gals) that never had a parking brake have never missed it. The old bungee-cord, or big rubber-band on the brake lever works just fine and all you really have to do is be mindful of how you park your trike, just like you did your 2-wheeler. I don't know of any 2-wheeler that came with a parking brake.

The parking brake gadgetry on there now limits the options one has to go to a different caliper and pad, which would solve a lot of problems. There are thousands of trike kits running around out there with other brands of calipers and pads getting 20,000 plus miles out of a set. There is just no reason why one has to put-up with 8,000 miles or less from a set of brake pads.

[greyfang]

anyone have the part number for the Lyndall brake pads? I went to their website and didnt see anything for the tri glide. I,m right at 8500 miles now and need to get those wheels off and take a look.

[1550vt]

Reach up there and PM msocko3. The msocko boys know how to find them.

[screwball]

I'm a little lost. I don't understand removing the parking break to save pad wear. I can understand the break wear if someone forgot to release the break and rode around with it engaged, or if it was badly adjusted. I removed the set screw and replaced it with a thumb screw to make it easier to adjust. We haven't had a problem with either trike. We need ours because we have kind of a steep driveway. If we parked the scoots on the driveway in gear, the compression bleeds down and the bike starts rolling backward, and I don't want to leave wheel chocks sitting outside. I'm not trying to be an ass, I just don't understand this 'cure' for a premature break pad wear problem.

[1550vt]

screwball....don't worry....we're all asses on here.

Most folks do not know how to adjust the parking brake like you obviously do, or it requires frequent adjustment. The problem is that the parking brake drags and prematurely wears-out the pads, because it is mal-adjusted and they seem to leave the factory that way in many cases.

The cable attachment to the caliper to make the parking brake work requires the use of a caliper that has the PB feature....so folks are extremely limited in changing to a better caliper if they wanted to. One could find a much better caliper to bolt-up to the pattern on the caliper bracket, but hardly anyone makes another caliper that will fit which has the PB feature. You can spend a thousand bucks for a new TG brake system.....but it does not have the PB feature.

My advice to those that simply must have the parking brake (and in some countries it is required...not sure about states), just install a hydraulic line lock. They can be had off e-bay and then plumed into the rear brake line. To me....that would be much easier than constantly fooling with the old fashioned Rube Goldberg cable operated PB. JMHO.

[msocko3]

anyone have the part number for the Lyndall brake pads? I went to their website and didnt see anything for the tri glide. I,m right at 8500 miles now and need to get those wheels off and take a look.

The Lyndall part number is 7255, if you go down the page on their web site to the Dyna rear pads you'll find them. From what I've heard their working on pads for the 2011 - 12.

[cewhit1]

I just heard Harley now has a Service Bulletin out on the Tri-Glides rear brakes, but the won't tell unless the customer complains. They are replaceing the rotors with a new type compound rotor and pads. (Check it out)

[Oldmsocko]

Mine work fine with the Lyndall pads and I have removed the parking brake cable. When it was installed I never used it. Like 1550VT says, a bungee cord or a piece of Velcro wrapped around the front brake lever will do the trick if needed.

[10rhrk]

The reason I removed the Parking brake on my wife's 2010, she didn't like the looks of it and didn't use it. I think Harley could have done a better job when they engineered it. Looks mickey mouse to me! I never had a problem with the bike rolling when parked in gear??? Don't understand this one!

[Bruce]

just called the local stealer up here in plattsburgh this morning, they said they have not heard anything about a brake recall and they have not had any complaints of noisy brakes on the tri-glides ( thats the second time I've been told this by them -- is there a bulletin # available? )

I just heard Harley now has a Service Bulletin out on the Tri-Glides rear brakes, but the won't tell unless the customer complains. They are replaceing the rotors with a new type compound rotor and pads. (Check it out)

[greyfang]

The Lyndall part number is 7255, if you go down the page on their web site to the Dyna rear pads you'll find them. From what I've heard their working on pads for the 2011 - 12.

thanks Mike, I,ll check out the website again.

[greyfang]

just called the local stealer up here in plattsburgh this morning, they said they have not heard anything about a brake recall and they have not had any complaints of noisy brakes on the tri-glides ( thats the second time I've been told this by them -- is there a bulletin # available? )

no noisey rear brakes? thats kinda surprising. Mine chimes in about 90 % of the time.

[1550vt]

No "noisey" dealer. You go into some of them asking questions and it seems like you are trying to gain entry to Area 51. Most of them won't admit to anything, unless you force them into a corner they can't get out of and then they get irritated because they have to admit they do know about such things. It never ceases to amaze me. They seem to be the only people that will openly admit to being completely ignorant....when they have to. Some of them don't have to pretend.