Grinding noise.

Wow what a trip so far left illinois Friday morning for Franklin, NC and we are still not there. Spent 5 hours on the side of road with a flat on one of the bikes trying to get a wrecker. Finally a guy with a pickup and trailer loaded it up for us and got us to a motel. I am having rearend issues of some sort. Makes a grinding noise every once in awhile and has a slight vibration. Cant find anything wrong. No metal shavings, no loose wheel bearings and nothing is getting hot. Now i have no back brakes and seems the quit about the same time as the noise started so in the morning i will pull the bag and pull the caliper and see what is going on. I just put new brake pads on 1 week ago. So far a trip from hell. Now in madisonville tn. So we will figure the other bikes tire issue and then tackle mine.

I have never owned a 2nd Gen so take that into consideration when reading my response here Rick. All of my "info" comes from a little experience with the first gens.. Sounds to me like your grind sound may very well be as a result of your recent brake job.. May look your caliper and new pads over very closely for any rub marks. Also look at the little metal keepers that hold the pads static - the ones that ride on top of the pads.

I am always amazed at how much crud will build up where the pads meet the caliper, I always take a fairly good sized flat file and clean up the surfaces where the brake pads themselves rest against the bottoms and sides of the caliper. I also check the new pad backings for excessive paint. Another thing I always do is hold the new pads upside down against the pistons and force the pistons out to just over the distance of the new pad surface with the brake pedal. Then I will take a strip of clean rag (have used a slice of my tee shirt if its an on the road service), put a small amount of brake fluid (or carb cleaner) on the rag, wrap it around the exposed piston so I can pinch the ends of the strip so the strip is now tight around the piston, rotate it back and forth to clean the pistons, then squeeze the pistons back in..

Another thing is making sure the washer that rides between the swing arm and the caliper mount is in the right place so the caliper is lined up correctly if you had removed the axle on pad replacement - you didnt happen to do the rear tire at the same time you replaced the brakes did you? A very very small amount of rotor contact any where on that caliper will make a LOT of scraping noises..

Sorry to hear about you folks road problems, hoping it all works out and it now turns into the best trip ever my friend!!

I am with cowpuc on this, sounds like a brake pad problem, could have lost the pin that holds pads in place and the pad has droped down and that is where your noise is coming from and has gotten stuck and wont let the caliper move. Just another thought.

You really cant check the wheel bearing unless you get the tire up off of the ground to get the weight of the bike off of it. When mine went out couldnt get any play untill I got it jacked up and got a bar under it to move it up and down.

Orlin you would think there would be some signs of heat ormetal shavings wouldn"t you. I have replaced the bearing before and you are correct about the movement.

+1 on the recent rear brake work being a likely source of your issues.

Well, maybe not the flat tire....

Orlin you would think there would be some signs of heat ormetal shavings wouldn"t you. I have replaced the bearing before and you are correct about the movement.

Rick when my wheel bearing went out there was no shavings, when I got the weight of it I had some side to side play, when I got the wheel off the bearing fell apart. Can't see that being a problem with the brake.

My puter was acting up yesterday and couldn't post to this and wasn'up to picking it up and "body slamming" the thing!!! I'm thinking it is something in the brakes also or hoping it is because that would be the simple fix. I'm thinking one of those keepers is out of wack some way. You aren't that far away Rick if I was up and running. I still got garage and tools and a extra bed.:Avatars_Gee_George:

If everything was fine with the bike before replacing the brakes a week ago, I would have to say your problem is with the brakes, but hey... this is only my thoughts and nobody cares what I think..