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07-16-2009, 02:20 PM | #1 |
uncomfortably numb
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: JOH-JAH!
Moto: WR250R & Bonneville
Posts: 409
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Brake line washers: safe to reuse?
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Last edited by Triple; 08-24-2009 at 10:25 AM.. |
07-16-2009, 02:21 PM | #2 | |
Hold mah beer!
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: 80 Miles South of Moto Heaven
Moto: 08 R1200GS
Posts: 23,268
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I'd replace them. It's just a washer, cheap and easy.
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07-17-2009, 10:13 PM | #3 |
Trip's Assistant
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Imported from Detroit
Moto: 2009 HD Street Classic
Posts: 12,149
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Do you mean the copper washers?
Can re-use, as long as it looks good. You can buy new ones at the auto store. You can also retemper them by hitting them with a torch. Can't remember why but it does something to them. For banjo bolts in brake systems they aren't just regular washers. They are copper. Regular washer would leak like a siv. |
07-17-2009, 10:23 PM | #4 | ||
Moto GP Star
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 14,556
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Now that's the definitive answer gentlemen! Oh and I've reused them and I'm on the 4th oil change with my drain plug washer as well. Quote:
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07-17-2009, 11:11 PM | #5 |
yellow don't corner well
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Kansas City, KS
Moto: 06 ZX10R
Posts: 1,243
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I've got a stack of rear tires about 6 foot tall from people like that. most of them still have nipples on them.
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07-17-2009, 11:31 PM | #6 |
Moto GP Star
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07-18-2009, 12:48 AM | #7 | |
DILLIGAF?
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Austin, Texas, USA, Earth, Sol, Western Spiral Arm, Milky Way
Moto: 1993 K75SA
Posts: 483
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No, as a matter of fact, I don't. I am a guy who has rebuilt three motorcycles, one down to splitting the cases and installing new main and con-rod bearings. I do hold several certifications from BMW Motorrad (worked at a shop for a while, a while ago), and have worked on my own vehicles since I was able to drive (legally). In the matter of brake line crush washers - ask yourself a simple question: Is it worth injury or death (to say nothing of resulting damage to your bike) to have brake system failure for the want and use of $0.10-0.65 parts? You've just spent $50-250 on new brake lines, bought new race-spec brake fluid (or just generic DOT whatever), can you really say that you couldn't find the money for new sealing washers for the banjo bolt fittings? Really? Motorcycle shops don't patch tires anymore due to liability issues, not real technical function issues. Some techs just hate the job in general anyways. Relating to oil drain/fill plugs' sealing rings/washers, if you don't mind an occasional leak / total oil loss from your engines (i.e. when the sealing ring fails and the drain plug vibrates out as a result), and really want to save that $0.25-1.00 per oil change, go right ahead. I'd bet that there isn't a single motorcyclist that can't manage to allocate their discretionary spending such that they can always afford new sealing rings/washers for their maintenance. Then again, WTF do I know about maintenance anyways...
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07-18-2009, 09:02 AM | #8 |
Nowhere Man
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 558
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Like many things we do or don't do, it is up to the person doing the work, especially on his or her own bike to make the decision. If you have new washers there and feel the need to replace them, then by all means do it. Would I let not having new ones in my garage on Friday night keep me from finishing a job and going riding or racing for the weekend? Put everything on hold until I can get to a bike shop and order the correct washers, nope, but again that is just me. Our own experiences usually dictate how we react to these things and it is neither right or wrong. The first shop manager that I worked for summed it up nicely. He said, during a conversation similar to this, "There are always at least 4 ways to do something, your way, my way, the right way and the wrong way". The phrase is much more accurate than it seems.
Our own experience determines how we feel about this type of question or in the absence of that, what we have read, or been told by someone whos opinion we respect. Or we have a situation arise that forces us to change our opinion. As far a experience, I have mine and you have yours. I have ridden for 41 years and messed up some stuff. I am (was) a certified MC mechanic with a degree from AMI which is now Wyotech in Daytona. Worked as a mechanic in a Kawasaki shop and for a while in a Yamaha shop. Did a short stint as a shop manager for a Kaw shop, built 8 or 10 bikes from the bare frame up, built, maintained and rode drag bikes for 3 years, built, tuned,maintained and rode roadrace bikes for 5 years and have always done all my own maintenance on all of my street bikes and I reuse them. In the past 41 years, I have had exactly zero failures of copper sealing washers, so my experience says to me, if it looks good, it is. Yours may say something else. Go with what you know until you need to change. Very few things in this world are really YES-NO or BLACK-WHITE. When you think about it carefully, almost everything is MAYBE-GRAY. |
07-18-2009, 11:02 AM | #9 | |
Moto GP Star
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07-18-2009, 08:20 AM | #10 | |
restorer of the original
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Zionsville,PA
Moto: '93 ZR1100 &'73 Kawasaki H1 500
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Jeff |
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