went to the track this weekend and the brake was giving me problems, there was some burnt smell coming out of the caliper and the pedal was relatively soft.
I know this is a floating-rotor system but to me they’re dragging the rotor too much. Brake pads are almost new too they just have 1 or 2 sessions on them, brake fluid is motul rbf 600
if I spin the axle by hand, after disconnecting the water pump and removing engine chain, it comes to a stop pretty quickly and the caliper does make a slight noise (noticeable), bearings are on good shape too as they were replaced not too long ago.
on my older birel art the axle would spin up for hours, so there’s something wrong here, but since im learning all this stuff I don’t want to put my hands on there without having an idea. Any ideas?
Is it possible your axle is sliding or has moved to one side? That would explain what you’re experiencing. If I recall correctly the VEN11 is a floating rotor.
hey there bro, how would I check for axle movement? yeah it’s floating rotor but still, it smells and loses the initial bite (ie doesn’t lock the rears), pedal goes softer, etc.
If you look closely at the bearings you might see some evidence on the axle that it’s moved.
They won’t necessarily move easily from side to side, but on track it can drift one way, get stuck there and basically force the rotor into the pad on one side.
I think it’s worth undoing the axle collars and screws, recenter the axle.
Also make sure the rotor carrier itself is not loose on the axle.
Are brake pafs draging on both sides of the rotor or just one? If both sides you may need to check your brake system. Does the matset cylinder arm return all the way? If not it could be the cause. Next crack the bleeder at the caliper and see if the brakes release. It could be a bad flex hose or master cylinder
i think both, there’s no visible gap between the rotor and the pads. I know the clearance on floating rotor brake system is tight, but to me both of them are rubbing against it specially because it makes rubbing noise when i spin the axle by hand, it also comes to a halt rather quickly.
so i just went and checked the brake fluid, it was gray, not black but gray. The kart had new brake fluid supposedly since may this year, so it’s very new.
what does this color tells me? I just flushed the brake system, new fluid now, will run it and see what happens
I just decided to rebuild the whole braking system. caliper seals and master cylinder seals too.
However i cant remember where to put the steel washer lol…common sense tells me its “sandwiched” between the seal and the spring cap but im not sure, the red thing is where the spring would go
Another question though, do the axle bearing cassettes have certain installation side? I want to install one of them inverted cause otherwise its impossible to measure chassis height, the holes dont line up (the chassis rail with the cassette)
but im not sure if the races in the cassette have to face in a certain way
