250 ES Questions

[JGW3]

Hey guys I have a some questions for you. First, I just picked up a front brake assembly. The acuator is siezed in it currently so I put it to bed with a PB Blast bath. My question, is there someone that rebushes the housing on those or have any of you done this. My fear is that after I get it back free again it will have play and thus I will have some noisey brakes. Second, while I was at it I went ahead pulled the forks off with the thought of resealing them. I noticed some scoring on the chrome should I just smooth it out best I can with emory cloth or have you ever heard of anyone getting them rechromed. Lastly I have cannot get the axle out of the hub. Am I not hitting it hard enough or is there a trick to it? Just dont want to do more harm than good because I didnt know better.

Great site guys, and thanks in advance.

John

[Jason125m]

The brake actuator cams are known for seizing or sticking. Once you get it out, make sure you grease it up good. And no, it will not make your brakes make a noise. For the forks, I would just make sure there are no rough spots. Aslong as there is not a rough spot that can cut the seal, it will be fine. For the axle, use an impact gun. I've heard of people breaking the axle trying to use a ratchet to get it off. Impact should take it right off no problem. If i misread and and you have unscrewed the axle but cannot get the hub off, it should slide off with some force as far as I know... I've never had to take my es one off, but i have on other models. I will look into it for you in the morning.... off to bed.

[tri again]

I try the search key too, for stuck front axle.

Just bought one for parts where the aluminum casting broke wide open
like the axle seized into the aluminum.

I soak all mine once a month with liq wrench and when I tried to get one apart,
the threads did come loose but there's a sleeve coller type thing inside the hub
that froze to the axle itself. It's the spacer that sets the distance between the outer bearings
so you can torque the axle nice and tight and the 4 6mm stud / 10mm nuts actually do the holding of the axle to the forks, if that makes sense.

It DID manage to come apart enough to get the front wheel and axle off the forks
with a little spreading but going back together, I had to use a ratchet strap
to cinch the forks close together to get the first tiny bit of threads to bite.

Of course, the right way would have been to get the axle out and separated from the
coller/spacer/sleeve thing but didn't have the luxury of time so I just soaked and reassembled it.
to resume the fight another day.

So yeah, the axle can get stuck in the threads in the aluminum of the fork
and
the sleeve/coller internal spacer thing can get stuck to the axle.
and yes, better not to make it worse unless you have extra parts.

The brake 'cam' actuators, or the last 3 I've done seems like the assembly lube dried to a black paint type stuff.

Very easy to sand off, grease and reassemble altho one did take me almost 3 hrs to get apart.
They ride in a couple inches of the aluminum so slop or 'rebushing' almost can't be an issue.
They just get stuck and are very happy to get shined up and greased.

Fork seals?
I guess it's all about time and $.
I'd scotchbright or superfine polishing compound so it won't eat up new seals.
If the seals are cheap enough.
idk
I'm just an absolute minimalist. disabled and very little extra $ for anything so
I make stuff work however it can be done.

[JGW3]

Thanks guys. I will look at it again this evening. The spacer on the axle sounds like it might br my biggest rub right now I will give it a PB soak on the way out to work. Where is the best place to order a front tire?

[atctim]

From my experience, I can tell you - to get the actuator out, use heat. put the actuator end (the flat side) in a vice and heat it up with map gas real good. With it being in the vice, you can grab the housing (use gloves) and twist and pull while heating. Once out, wire wheel it and lube it up really good with grease or never-seize. be sure to clean all the rust out of the hole and you shouldn't have many problems moving forward.

Anytime you have steel frozen to aluminum, use heat (aluminum expands much faster than steel) and some tapping. Use a dead blow, and be careful not to break the aluminum, but use enough force to get your job done.