reproduction caliper

[gargantua350]

Hello there.  A friend sold me a reproduction from caliper for rd350 for pretty cheap.  I needed a new one as mine was the original and rebuilt a few times. This one looks to be the same one in this ad on ebay.

When it came time to mount the caliper, there seemed to be interference as I tried to rotate the caliper back down on to the disc.  There must be something slightly different in the channel as the OEM doesn't have this problem.  I compared the two side by side and I can't see any noticeable difference.  I didn't measure with calipers yet but I wondering if anybody has seen this problem before.

thx



 

[2 Smoker]

Maybe your piston is not all the way depressed, I purchased one but have yet to use it on my RD 350 build.

[RDnuTZ]

there's a couple vendors selling these on Ebay I've been watching. Usually receive good feedback from buyers. Keep us posted on what you find out.

[jradnich]

I had the same problem on my RD400. I ended up removing the wheel, installing the caliper with the wheel off, then reinstalling the wheel and slipping the rotor between the pads.
If you look at the bridge between the 2 caliper halves, you can see it protrudes downward more than the OEM caliper. It could be trimmed with a die grinder. I just didn't want to grind on the caliper in case I had to return it.

[gargantua350]

Hello.  Thanks everybody on the suggestions.  Pulling the front wheel off first, bolting the brake caliper on to the forks and then putting the wheel back on while slipping the rotor between the pads worked great. In case anybody wanted to know.

Yes, my friend did purchase this from ebay and he went a different route on his brakes.  I suppose pulling the front wheel off is no big deal.  The new caliper is lighter and is made of different material.  It looks of great quality though.  I will get back to you guys as I will test it and see if it meets the performance standard.  thanks again. 

[Striker1423]

Hello.  Thanks everybody on the suggestions.  Pulling the front wheel off first, bolting the brake caliper on to the forks and then putting the wheel back on while slipping the rotor between the pads worked great. In case anybody wanted to know.

Yes, my friend did purchase this from ebay and he went a different route on his brakes.  I suppose pulling the front wheel off is no big deal.  The new caliper is lighter and is made of different material.  It looks of great quality though.  I will get back to you guys as I will test it and see if it meets the performance standard.  thanks again. 

I've had mine for years. Works just fine.

[RustyRD]

I have on of those calipers on my 350 it has been in place almost a year, no leaks and working as expected so far.

[2t Fan]

are the spares available for these kits ? OE rebuild kit is suitable ?

[oxford]

are the spares available for these kits ? OE rebuild kit is suitable ?

I'm not sure what interchanges or if all the aftermarket calipers are the same.

With that said, I have the aluminum aftermarket calipers on my bike and got aluminum pistons for them from 202Eric.  There was a difference in the pistons between an OEM caliper and the aftermarket ones.  Probably not much size wise but enough to make it a problem.

[gargantua350]

Hey Dudes,

Sorry for the late update but just wanted to let you guys know that the caliper performed flawlessly.  I went to a 13mm master but I think I will go back to 14mm.  Other than that, everything worked great.