07 695 Front Brake rotor rubbing on caliper carrier

[motorad]

Anyone have any ideas on what would be causing the front rotors on my monster to sit like they are?  The one on the right side of the bike is starting to rub against the caliper, or caliper carrier i guess it would be.  It's hard to tell from the pictures but the pads seem like they have plenty left.  Bike doesn't even have 6k on it.

[Raux]

bolts on the calipers torqued correctly?

warped rotors?

just throwing ideas here til some more people ask more questions.

[stopintime]

Another theoretical theory:

the calipers on your bike are floating (to allow the inner pad to contact the rotors, even without pistons)
If the floating isn't working, seized, it might (?) push on the rotor permanently, pushing it into the caliper bracket.
A weak theory, because it would mean very hot/burning brakes an maybe a lot of noise....

There was another member having a similar issue, but of course I can't remeber his name or the solution.

[DarkStaR]

1) have you crashed? - If so, the fork may be bent or now misalligned.

2) Has the axle been removed lately (e.g. removed the front wheel)? - If so, upon re-instalation, the fork leg may not have been alligned/settled properly.

[motorad]

1) have you crashed? - If so, the fork may be bent or now misalligned.

2) Has the axle been removed lately (e.g. removed the front wheel)? - If so, upon re-instalation, the fork leg may not have been alligned/settled properly.

That makes sense.  I bought this bike as a salvage bike off of an autobody guy who did the repairs himself.  The damage was minor, but obviously enough to total the bike.  It was a low speed slide and the bike had to be fully inspected before registered.  Regardless I couldn't beat the price and it only had 300km on it.  

So what is the proper procedure for aligning the forks or making sure the forks are aligned?  I am experienced at wrenching and doing bodywork on cars but I am relatively new to bikes and figure it would be wise to ask before I do.


Also I have taken calipers off and checked the pads as well as the pistons.  The pads look fine and the pistons are moving freely.

[motorad]

Did I ask a stupid question? 

[uclabiker06]

How did the problem come to your attention?  Was it just visual inspection? Or something you could hear or feel?

[motorad]

I started to feel pulsing during lighter braking.  I just did a trip through the mountains and didn't notice visually or feel any problems.  Just since
I have been back it started pulsing and upon inspection that is what I saw.  Like I said above, I unbolted the calipers and checked the operation of the pistons as well as the pad thickness.  Both appear to be fine.

[corey]

I'm no pro... but if the forks aren't bent/misaligned, the calipers are functioning properly, the pads are good...
doesn't leave a whole lot of other avenues.

for me, I'd pull the axle and check it's straightness. If the axle is straight, really the only other thing that could be the problem is a bent rotor.

right?

EDIT:
Another theory. Upon looking at your photos again, it seems that your calipers are spaced too far apart. That is, the rotor offset looks like 1 or 2mm short from reaching out to the point where the calipers are expecting to be. My thought is that MAYBE... just MAYBE... you've got yourself a case of wrong axle/wrong spacers, and your forks are further apart at the bottom than the should be..

i dunno, it's a theory.

[DarkStaR]

This would be my plan of attack:

1) eye ball the frok legs down from the top - if it all looks straight...
2) disassemble the front end.
3) check as many parts as possible for straightness - if it all looks straight...
4) re-assemble front end "properly".

[BK_856er]

I just went out and looked at my spare set of M695 floating calipers.  Still scratching my head.  I've heard that some calipers used thin shims to properly center them over rotor (mine did not).  Seems like if it was crash damage your issue would only be on one side.  From your description the rotor is not actually contacting the carrier - that would be very bad.  Given the history, I second the advice to remove the front wheel/axle/calipers, inspect, and put back together with care.  If you pull the pin for the caliper and remove the pads you'll likely get a better idea of the carrier center in relation to the rotor.  Here's one procedure for balancing the front axle:



BK

[edit: on re-read I see that one of your rotors is actually rubbing the carrier - get this sorted out soon!]

[Monstermash]

What side of the bike it the tarmac when it was lowsided? How about a few photos of the bike from the front showing the forks and from the side showing the rotor/caliper?

[motorad]

I have taken the front end apart and I think the axel must be bent.  It looked a little bent but it might of been my eyes playing tricks so I tried to check the best I could in my garage with what I have.  After I decided to put it back in but upside down from the way I took it out.  This seemed to fix the problem without the rotors rubbing on the other side.  Does this mean there is only one way the axel can go in and it was wrong or does it mean something else is bent and the axel the other way cancels it out?

Here are some pics of it the other way around and extras that were asked for.





and another note.  I noticed before I took it apart that the space between the edge of the tire and the forks was greater on one side showing very obviously that the wheel was crooked.  Now the wheel space is the same as can be seen in the photo.

Do I leave it like this?  Or order another axel?

I really appreciate the help btw 

[DarkStaR]

Sometimes you can visually tell if an axle is bent by rolling it on a flat surface, and seeing if the gap between the axle and the flat surface fluctuates when it is rolling.  I was able to notice an axle that was bent approximately 0.5 mm this way. YMMV

[Howie]

I don't know what you did, but the axle only goes in one way, from the right side as you are sitting on the bike.  Doh nevermind, I just figure it out that you turned it 180^o.  Sounds like it is bent.  A couple of V blocks and a dial indicator will confirm that.