Motorcycle Brakes: Sight Glass Repair
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
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In this video we attempt to replace the irreplaceable. Commonly seen on older hydraulic brake or clutch master cylinders, is a failing sight glass window.
It took decades of sun baked torture to destroy the sight glass on your bike's brake cylinder...
And If yours looks anything like the one I show in this video.
It's a few brake lever squeezes away from ruining your day and could even become pretty dangerous out on the road.
With a little patience and some common tools you have laying around. You can champion this repair in just a few minutes.
Don't let that gross looking brake master sight glass be the ugliest part on your bike! REPLACE IT!
SIGHT GLASS SOURCE -- amzn.to/3sUPgXN
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Hey Cody, Just a heads up for next time.... These things are press fit into place, So given that you don't have a press, use the vise to press it into place. Then you won't have issues with crooked fits or hammer marks. Also, " Don't " put brake fluid on the seal prior to fitment. The final seal of any elastomer in a gland is equal to : The " initial squeeze + swell - compression-set ". In this case, the swell of the O-ring would have driven you bonkers, as the o-ring would have swelled up a bit and not laid flat in the gland and not sealed around the view-window. ( Compression-set is what happens to elastomers when they age and they get crumbly). In this case, It's initial squeeze + swell, and you want to avoid any swelling of the o-ring during assembly.
Great info. gave it a 👍.
FYI when i say vise .... that means vise and the socket to press the window in, .... right. :)
The vise was screaming to be used to squeeze it in with flat equal gradual pressure. Your smoke detector is also screaming to have the battery replaced lol.
😂
Hahahahaha
aahhh, I was wondering what that screech was. I thought maybe microphone feedback. But you have certainly explained the cause.
One of the bestest 12 minutes of time wasting... what a great tip young man. 4 on order for £8.
Thank you for this fantastic lesson.
The vice holding the caliper coulda-woulda pressed that in pretty easy I'm thinking!
Thanks for the vid. Never thought the sight glass could be serviced. Good to know 🤙
Great job Cody, once they are shot that is it. I clean plexiglass with Meg's PlastX glass with Ceriglass....thx.
Very cool! My ‘07 Shadow I got this year must have been stored indoors often, because among other things, the paint isn’t sun damaged, seat looks good, and this sight glass is perfectly clear. I will keep these parts in mind ever needed!
I did one of these a couple years ago for my '85 Shadow 700. I put some rubber grease on the o-ring and used a c-clamp and a dime over edge of the aluminum. At first I thought I had the wrong size glass because it was so tight. It took a little patience but the outcome was worth it.
I've replaced the sight glass in a master with the Amazon part that you are using. They work well! Used a C/clamp for installation. Great videos Cody.
Nice to learn : I had a hard time cleaning mine ... and would probably exchange then if i only knew !
This is by no way made of glass though. It is not PMMA (acrylic) nor polycarbonate either but rather PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate).
Epoxy glue should be also compatible in the event you needed some glueing.
Just a little trick : brake fluid is a pain and can ruin paint ... but it is VERY easy to clean. You just need plenty of water and a rag. It looks oily but is easely mixed with water (it is supposed to ABSORB moisture ... and it does !). So rincing ASAP is usualy a good cure for spilage .
However, beware soapy stuff : I had brake caliper gasket set destroyed by landry liquid : it swelled a lot (a lot LOT) while just left in the laudry liquide overnight
I pressed mine in with my vise jaws.
I found mine years ago on eBay, Chinese vendor. Took forever to get here...
Dremel makes 2 different brushes for cleaning areas like that. They are non-abrasive and will not remove host metal. Use one once and you will be hooked
you can't clean the inside glass because of the baffle
I have actually seen these on eBay for quite awhile and ended up ordering some last year but haven't got around to installing them yet so that was great to see how easy it was to replace because I was curious about that! Thanks for all the great content, as always Cody!
Nicely done!
With something like that would it be better to
use a hand press rather than tapping on it???
Just curious.
I do a lot of my own maintenance on my bike
but it's a 2018 so it's still in pretty good shape. 😁
Thanks for sharing and keep yourself safe!
Randy 😃👍❤🏍
Thanks Cody for this fix. 👍🏼
My 89 Honda VFR sight windows were that far gone I had no idea on how much fluid was left in either the brake or clutch reservoir. Watched your video, although I used AliExpress and were able to find the same items even cheaper. Purchased 5 for just under $6AUD.
Followed your instructions and installation went well. Overall very happy with the result. Thanks once again for this fix. 👍🏼🍺😊
Years back I replaced mine on the Nighthawk using a watch crystal. They're available in a variety of sizes, as you can imagine. I can look up the source if anybody wants. It was less than $10, I recall.
That's a super sweet idea. Did it just press in?
Nice find. Thanks for sharing Cody.
Cheers Cody. Just ordered a pack of those sight glasses from USA to UK. $20 inc tax and post. Thanks.
Woohoo! I'm redoing the seals & springs on master cylinder on my Honda ST1100 this weekend. Sight glass at the same time might be a good idea
Great vid, mine degraded today I was going jb weld it also , glad you mention the weld 😅 . The whole brake assembly £300 plus on a cfmoto quad. This a lot cheaper. 😂👏😁
Thanks Cody !!!
Thanks Cody for this easy fix/solution.
The Master Cylinder windows on my Honda 1989 VFR750 are like what you showed at the start. Just ordered some replacements like the ones shown in your video.
Do you have a video showing how to remove the Brake and Clutch cylinders for the complete novices like me?
Amazing, Cody!
this is something I definitely need to do thanks for showing this
HOWdy T-M-MD,
Thanks for the REPAIR Video
COOP
...
You da man Cody! Keep up the good work!!
Excellent Video Note: Coming from a machine shop background, I would bet the factory uses some type of press (probably specially built and dedicated) to insert the Sight Glass. The "press" action, versus the "hammer", would produce less damage to the ring.
Nice fix, if your bike needs it.
A crap looking sight glass would p me off.
Nice content didn't know you could change inspection glasses.
Thank you so much!! I subscribed!!❤❤❤
Great topic!
Next time try a C clamp and that socket
Almost like a "Freeze Plug"...cool.
Thanks for the video. My VMAX 1985 have a o ring grove in the middle not at the end. Is leaking a bit. Not sure if I can use a bit of ultra gray to fill the area or an o ring bigger to fill in.
Maby a little bit of grease on the parts before assembely would help.
I just purchased the 18 mm I think I had to replace the one in my 600 XT 1984
use your vice jaws & the socket to push it in?
Great vids mate. Informative and entertaining. Good on yer.
thanks cody.....
NBR O-rings are rated to 120 deg C. I would totally boil it for that little bit of extra clearence.
Are you from Maryland bro ?
Wat thus cause it to break is it the sun ?
Could you maybe tell me the float height spec for a 1988 Honda shadow vlx 600? Can't find it anywhere
Use some grease! Get it started then put a piece of wood/plastic over it. Then compress with the vise.
I did this hard job several times in order to be able to powder-coat the pump/reservoir housing. I always needed 2 attempts and glasses to be successful. My best method for now is to use Knipex parallel pliers.
ua-cam.com/video/tyzZzRUtOj4/v-deo.html
Hey man I have a 1981 Honda cx500 it won’t start if I were to make a video would u be able to help Honda where I live does not work on bikes it would really help thanks you so much just in case
What are the odds m8 .. i literally just bought a gl1200 yesterday, that will need two (clutch and front brake )
Today while il disassembleing the front to clean and fix choke cable i noticed the glasses were appoxied lol i missed it while checking the bike .
1.5 years later and the link is now broke (or more correctly Not Available at this time) sigh, but alternative items are listed above it...
Also didn't know these existed, thanks for sharing!
How much is it to replace a stater on a 1985 goldwing interstate
Thousand +
How 'bout placing wood on the vise jaws and just squeezing it in?
try a flat piece of wood works well
I would have pressed it in with a vise.
Wouldn't a large or a simple C clamp work?
Very likely!!
👍🏻
Use a c clamp next time to install it
Try freezing the glass next time
Small "C" clamp
Laowa 2x macro zoom you welcome
Aren't you using the term 'repair' a bit too loosely? The sight glass was smashed into pieces 😱
Cody, I tried to order a tee shirt using my credit card through PayPal as a guest but it won’t let me continue to payment after my email is entered.
Oh no!! I’ll look into this!
@@TheMotorcycleMD Let me know. 👍