s Brembo Caliper help needed please... R65LS

[Justin B.]

Chris, that's what I was wondering about hence my question to him about putting a bolt through the mounting hole to see how much slop there was.  But, that doesn't explain to me the different sizes.  I suppose that the parts diagram could be wrong about the orientation and they are actually supposed to be inserted from behind.  That would make sense for the assortment, maybe a different thickness to the "brim" to help center the caliper?  Hopefully Melena can find somebody around their shop that might know...

[its_only_me]

Ok then, managed to catch a bit of daylight today when I got in from work, so I will try to answer those questions above...

1. the mounting bolts are the same for both left and right side.

2. the mounting holes in the caliper are bigger on the r/h side (but the top hat bush is not the same width as the caliper, so I feel the caliper has been made with a bigger hole on purpose?)

3. I think the diagram shown above is wrong, and the spacer goes in between the slider and caliper. (I will explain this below)

3a. I think the different sizes are due to the thickness of the rim of the spacer used to centralise the caliper to the rotor (I will explain this below)

Right then, if you look at the image below, you will see the spacer (A) mounted on the outside as shown in the diagram above,  but you will also see that with the brake shoes in place there is a gap between caliper and slider (B) and with the bolts done up hand tight I am unable to turn the front wheel.



If I then move the spacers to the inside between the caliper and slider, again with the bolts hand tight, I can then run the wheel through with no rubbing against the brakes. This is why I feel the spacers go on the inside, and also why they are available in different thicknesses.

[Bob_Roller]

May I suggest that you post this on Boxerworks.com, there is a larger group of knowledge there, and I believe that the Brembo calipers were used on a variety of BMW bikes, airheads and early K- series as well.

[Justin B.]

Kevin, I think that you have nailed it and it's the only reason I can think of to have 5 different bushings and parts diagrams have been wrong before.    I went outside and looked at my wife's '84 and without taking it apart I can't see any bushings at all, but her bike is a single disc on the left and you indicated this bushing appears to be used on the right caliper.  The brakes on the '82 LS were disassembled when I got it so who knows on that one...  

[its_only_me]

Well it looks as though we can draw a line under this one, as my findings have been confirmed by a poster at Boxerworks.com So thanks for all the help offered.

[Semper Gumby]

Hi Kevin,

That is what I did with mine.  I didn't know there was a problem with the diagram.  Somehow I just figured it out.

TTFN,

[nhmaf]

I've had mine apart several times, but honestly cannot remember the exact orientation - will check in
the morning and report back   (mine is the '82 LS)...

-Mike

[nhmaf]

OK, I had to go to the store to get batteries for my digital camera, and now my login for my photo site is
messed up....
BUT, indeed, on my 82 LS there are spacers on the right hand side (Brembo calipers) and the wider
part goes between the caliper and the mounting boss on the fork slider.  The left hand caliper appears
that it may / may not have a bushing in there, but if it does, it is paper thin and it appear that the back of the
caliper is mounted flush against the mounting boss on the left slider.   With these setup in this manner,
the rotor are perfectly centered between the pads.   So, I guess that there are differences between
left and right side brembo calipers' mounting hardware to ensure that things are properly aligned.
The probably needed the different thickness bushings to accomodate the LS wheels. snowflakes wheels, and
the different single and dual rotor setups, do you think ?

If you still need to see photos, I'll try to sign up for a new photo website account if I can't get this one working....
(grumble grumble)