sticky caliper ?

During a short ride yesterday, I noticed an unusual sound coming from the rear of the bike. It sounded like the brake pads were dragging on the rear disc. I put my hand to the disc and sure enough...the disc was hot to the touch. This was after a 15 minute ride in which I had not applied the rear brake. I pulled the bike in my garage and jacked the rear wheel off of the ground. I was able to spin the rear wheel by hand but did think that there was a slight drag. I believe that the caliper is supposed to "float" on it's mount. I was able to grip the caliper with my hand and move it slightly side to side. It seemed to be very free which is the way I believe it is supposed to be. I then reached with my other hand and applied the brake pedal. When I did that, I was unable to move the caliper which again, is the way I believe it is supposed to be. The brake itself seems fine when riding. I took a brief ride today. At first was unable to hear the sound but after a few minutes could hear the pads dragging on the disc and again, when I stopped the disc was hot to the touch.
Anyone else ever have this problem ? It seems to me that the caliper is not fully releasing. Is there something I can do to fix this myself ? Still under warranty but I do not want to make the 160 mile round trip to my dealer if there is a quick fix I can do myself.
Thanks in advance.

Gotta clean the pins and pistons really good and get all that grime out of there.

You can use a spray brake cleaner but it's going to miss a lot. Get in there with a good stiff nylon brush and shine it up.

Makes a HUGE difference.

You could even make this a PM (preventative maintenance), the rear pads are easier than the fronts to remove, it's easy to pop them out and clean it up really well and pop them back in.

Just be sure to pump that pedal when you put them back in or you'll be in for a surprise when you mash down to use them and nothing happens.

Might also want to make sure your booties aren't cracked.

thanks !!!!
Downloaded the manual. I appreciate your advice & help. I'll pull the caliper off & clean everything up.

When I first bought my Rocket in 2005 the first thing I noticed was that the rear disc was always hot to touch even with no brake activity.
I removed the pads and tied the brake lever up so I could not use it and went for a ride, after 20 miles stopped and felt the disc still the same, cut a long story short once I got rid of the cat box the rear disc did not heat up as nearly as much.
The cat box throws a tremendous amount of heat towards the rear of the bike.

scot in exile said:

When I first bought my Rocket in 2005 the first thing I noticed was that the rear disc was always hot to touch even with no brake activity.
I removed the pads and tied the brake lever up so I could not use it and went for a ride, after 20 miles stopped and felt the disc still the same, cut a long story short once I got rid of the cat box the rear disc did not heat up as nearly as much.
The cat box throws a tremendous amount of heat towards the rear of the bike.

Click to expand...

Cat converters do get hot. I set a hayfield on fire one time when I parked my Ford Pinto in it. But that's another story.....
I'm not sure but I've read somewhere that on the R3T the CAT is in the mufflers and switching to TOR's eliminates the CAT. Does anyone know if this is true ? I have TOR's on my R3T.
Plus, I can hear an odd noise which I believe is the pads dragging on the disc.
But thanks for the info.

yep the cat on the r3t is in the pipes.

I've noticed my rear disc has that dragging sound, mostly at low speeds. I had the same noise in my last two bikes (Yamaha and Honda). I think, but don't know for certain, that it might just be 'normal'. I've cleaned the rear brake with cleaner and it does seem to help. For a while.

Marcus, you say that the rear pads are easier to remove? The manual says to raise the rear, pull the spindle, remove the torque reaction bolt, and pull the caliper prior to getting to the pads. Are you doing something different?

I just replaced the fronts on the bike in about 10 min per side. Couldn't be easier. They pop right out the top after removing the retaining bolt and spring.

If you have found an easier way to do the rear, I'd like to know.

btw, thanks for changing the avatar.

Pull the two retaining clips on the single pin on the rear, slide the pin out and they practically fall off.

Manuals... who reads those?

I preach RTFM at work all the time so I try to practive what I preach.

Thanks for the tip. I was wondering if you could do that on the back.