Brake bleeding question

[tic105]

2004 BCR with ABSectomy. I've bled my brakes several times and always found it a pain to get the front brake fluid level right since the reservoir is not level (even with the handlebars turned to the left).

I finally checked the manual and it says to loosen the clamp screw for the hand brake fitting and rotate until the reservoir is level. I just can't figure out where the clamp screw is - can someone please help?

Thanks - Tom

[BigDav]

I would like to know too.

I read that in the manual but there are no pictures of what screw they are taking about.

[JimGullen]

Greetings!

You have to remove the right switch plate to expose the MC mounting screw.

If you have handlebar mounted mirrors, you'll need to remove the right hand one to expose one of the screws. I think there are four in all. They're little so go slowly and carefully lest you drop one never to be seen again!

Hope that helps a little.

Best regards!

Jim

[Chris Canning]

No 6

[tic105]

Thanks for the info. So it looks like I remove the screw holding part 5 and the two screws holding part 3. This gets me to screw 6 that is the clamp. Do you really need to remove the little screw that is in the mirror mounting hole? I really don't even see that screw in the diagram.

[Groceryrun]

Tom :

If you ever get it loosened , can the whole assembly be clocked and then tighten ?
By clocking , I mean the lever seems to be at 4 o'clock - race bike reach.
I want to clock the whole assembly counter clockwise to around 3:30 - touring mode reach.

Are there any stubs or pins that have to be ground down in order to clock it or has the dealer set this up ergonomically for everyone already.

PS - if anything has to be ground down, I'm just going to leave it alone and live with it.

[BadToTheBown]

I'm going to apologize in advance for the simplicity of this answer but I'll offer it just the same. I usually put the bike on the kickstand and starting with the front straight, I turn it to the right until I get the reservoir into a decent state of level (it will not be perfectly level without doing what the manual says). I get the level happy with the sight glass, which means the outboard side fluid level is very near the lip but below it for the fluid displacement from the rubber part with the lid, say 1/8"-1/4" (please forgive the SAE units).

I also ty-wrap my brake lever back towards my grip for the night and then take it off in the morning. It's typically solid after that. You will need pump or vacuum bleed them before the ty-wrap. Just what I do and I'm not a BMW certified mechanic.

[tic105]

Originally Posted by Groceryrun

Tom :

If you ever get it loosened , can the whole assembly be clocked and then tighten ?
By clocking , I mean the lever seems to be at 4 o'clock - race bike reach.
I want to clock the whole assembly counter clockwise to around 3:30 - touring mode reach.

Are there any stubs or pins that have to be ground down in order to clock it or has the dealer set this up ergonomically for everyone already.

PS - if anything has to be ground down, I'm just going to leave it alone and live with it.

I'll be doing this pater this week and let you know

[Groceryrun]

tic105 :

Maybe there's more than one way to tackling this problem.
Before you unscrew the handle bar assembly -
If you are ergonomically happy with the clocking of the brake lever , then maybe you can ride the motorcycle onto a ramp or raise the front of the bike to change the reservoir pitch.
Right now the reservoir is pitched downward ( front of reservoir is lower than the back of the reservoir ).
If you raise the front of the entire motorcycle , the pitch should change.

WARNING :
IF YOU RIDE THE MOTORCYCLE ONTO A RAMP YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO REACH THE FLOOR WITH YOUR FEET. ALSO, THE SIDE KICKSTAND WILL NEED A SUPPORT.

[Chris Canning]

Originally Posted by BadToTheBown

I'm going to apologize in advance for the simplicity of this answer but I'll offer it just the same. I usually put the bike on the kickstand and starting with the front straight, I turn it to the right until I get the reservoir into a decent state of level (it will not be perfectly level without doing what the manual says). I get the level happy with the sight glass, which means the outboard side fluid level is very near the lip but below it for the fluid displacement from the rubber part with the lid, say 1/8"-1/4" (please forgive the SAE units).

I also ty-wrap my brake lever back towards my grip for the night and then take it off in the morning. It's typically solid after that. You will need pump or vacuum bleed them before the ty-wrap. Just what I do and I'm not a BMW certified mechanic.

Never used any other system apart from an elastic band over the bar and lever.

[tic105]

Well, I'm stumped. I removed part #3 in the diagram (2 screws), then part #5 (two screws - including that small screw in the mirror mounting hole) and finally the clamp screw (#6). The assembly was loose but would not turn.

I then removed the bar end weight and the whole assembly could slide back and forth on the bar but still it would not turn. I couldn't get the assembly all the way off since I have heated grips and the wire slack only let me go so far (throttle barrel about half way off the bar).

So I gave up, put everything back together and will try something else. Maybe one of the suggestions from Bad or Groceryrun.

[s-thing]

It must be stuck (I think I sprayed some wd-40 in there to get it free?). Go easy so you don't chop/break the heated grips wires. I just did a bleed a few weeks back. When #6 was loose, the grip assembly rotate freely. Also, no index pins on mine. The controls can be rotated and tightened in any location.

[tic105]

Originally Posted by s-thing

It must be stuck (I think I sprayed some wd-40 in there to get it free?). Go easy so you don't chop/break the heated grips wires. I just did a bleed a few weeks back. When #6 was loose, the grip assembly rotate freely. Also, no index pins on mine. The controls can be rotated and tightened in any location.

A-Thing - it did not feel stuck as I could rotate the unit but only by a few millimeters and it slid freely back and forth on the bar - felt like hard stops as if there was some pins. What year is your bike? Maybe setup different for different years?

[sgoodwin]

My '99 doesn't allow rotation either, I assume it's to keep from cutting the wire for the heated grips. I prefer my lever a little lower but it's good enough where it is so I didn't bother ripping it apart to see what was keeping it from moving.

[s-thing]

Tic105,
I have an '01 with the high mounted grips so maybe here is a difference. Good luck!
-Jim

[brentw1]

its not the heated grip wires,
fyi if you want to remove the grips extract the contacts from the shells and pull the wires
with the pins through the bars,
the high bars will rotate.
but I just put it on the center stand and rotate the bars until i get the best fill

[sgoodwin]

Not sure what you're trying to say about the fact the levers don't rotate. What exactly limits the rotation if it's not to prevent cutting the wires.