There is always something… Everything is put back together. Thought we were ready to ride. Before we left for Biketoberfest I noticed a leak up front. Thought it might be fork oil but it was brake fluid. The front brake caliper was leaking around the piston.

I have not rebuilt a caliper before. After a little bit of research it looked like a pretty simple task (and it is).

I picked up a front caliper rebuild kit at J&P Cycles while I was down in Daytona. I could have ordered it, but I was at the JP Cycles retail shop, the kit is small (so it would not take up much room in the saddlebags), so I picked one up while I was there.

I removed the the front brake caliper and disassembled it.

The Front Caliper Rebuild Piston and Seals Kit is in the bag to the left in the picture above. The old components (pictured to the right) which will be replaced are the seal, dust boot, piston, and the retaining ring.

Cleaned the caliper with brake cleaner. There was a lot of sludge in there.

Front brake pads are in pretty good shape so I just cleaned them up with some brake cleaner.

Soaked the seal in DOT 5 brake fluid, coated the new piston and inside the caliper with brake fluid as well. Replaced the seal, piston, dust boot, and retaining clip.

All this parts were included in the Front Caliper Rebuild Piston and Seals Kit.

Mounted the front caliper, bled the brakes, and all is well. No more leak.

The quality of this video is not great but it does provide a detailed explanation of rebuilding a brake caliper.

One thing in the video, he puts the dust boot on after installing the piston in the caliper. I installed the dust boot on the piston before installing it into the caliper. Once the piston and boot are installed I installed the new retaining clip.

Easy peasy lemon squeesy…