Brake Lever Assembly

[HoustonEnfield]

I am having an issue with the brake lever returning to position to shut the break like off. A friend of mine looked at it and said that most brake levers have an adjustment nut on the brake cable at the lever. Can some one post a picture of a 2009 AVL brake lever so I can compare it to that on my Bullet Military?

[barenekd]

Usually the adjustment is on the switch. The nut that holds the switch on can be screwed in and out to make the adjustment.
Bare

[Vince]

     Since you are posting in the AVL section, I assume you have an Electra. These have a disc brake. There is no adjustment. If the brake is sticking you have a safety problem that must be addressed NOW! Sometimes the lever pivot gets gummy. Take off the lever, clean the pivot pin and the hole in the lever it goes through, lightly grease the pin and reassemble. If this does not fix the issue you have a caliper and/or master cylinder problem. You must take this to someone familiar with hydraulic brake systems for repair. It will involve dis-assembly of the system for cleaning. Depending on the extent of the repair you are looking at about 1 to 2 hours of shop labor.

[tooseevee]

     Since you are posting in the AVL section, I assume you have an Electra. These have a disc brake. There is no adjustment. If the brake is sticking you have a safety problem that must be addressed NOW! Sometimes the lever pivot gets gummy. Take off the lever, clean the pivot pin and the hole in the lever it goes through, lightly grease the pin and reassemble. If this does not fix the issue you have a caliper and/or master cylinder problem. You must take this to someone familiar with hydraulic brake systems for repair. It will involve dis-assembly of the system for cleaning. Depending on the extent of the repair you are looking at about 1 to 2 hours of shop labor.

            He doesn't have a brake problem. He has a brake light SWITCH problem. If you read his 1st post, you'll see he mentions his "break like" & I'm sure he meant brake light.

             I hope he's found the brake light switch by now. 

[tooseevee]

I am having an issue with the brake lever returning to position to shut the break like off. A friend of mine looked at it and said that most brake levers have an adjustment nut on the brake cable at the lever. Can some one post a picture of a 2009 AVL brake lever so I can compare it to that on my Bullet Military?

             Hello Houston,

             Have you found your brake light switch yet?

[barenekd]

Are you talking about the front or rear brake? Is the brake light staying on all the time? How do you know which one is activating it. Usually the rear brake is the one that needs adjusting. Have you looked at it? The switch is toward the rear of the brake pedal forward of the pivot. It's attached to to the pedal arm by a wire and spring. That's the one with the nut to turn to adjust the switch.
The front brake switch is in the master cylinder with a little button behind the brake lever that activates it. There is no adjustment on it, but the lever has to close the gap all the way. If that is is failing, you probably need a new master cylinder. I don't think there are any repair kits for these. If the lever isn't closing all the way, you should check your brake fluid level!
Bare

[DanB]

My front brake light switch died a long time ago. I just pulled it out and now apply rear and front at the same time to make sure the light shines.

It's not hard to replace, look for the small tabs on the switch housing once you slide it forward. Me... Just too lazy to replace. That switch is really a crap design.

[Vince]

     I did misunderstand. In that case hosing the lever pivot and switch with WD-40 should fix the problem.

[barenekd]

You might want to put some real oil on the pivot. Parts Cleaner-40 won't last long.
Let's see if we can ever put this to rest, WD-40 is not a lubricant! It cleans parts pretty well and will penetrate into some frozen parts. But as soon as the kerosene evaporates, it is gone. If you ant to lube something, use oil or graphite or Moly-D.
Bare

[LarsBloodbeard]

WD-40 does leave behind an oily residue, but not enough to be terribly useful.  And it tends to get sticky after a while.

For friction reduction in a spray-can I'm partial to silicone.  But just like WD-40, it's not a replacement for grease.  If you've got a sticky hinge or something, it does the trick though.

[Vince]

     Actually, the light duty properties can be an advantage. It is not prone to gumming up. Yes it will have to be renewed regularly. Grease and oil can hold particulate matter that cause a paste to form. The plunger on the switch would be better off with just WD. The pivot should have a dab of light duty grease. It will last longer than the WD, but require more work to clean and re-lube.

[LarsBloodbeard]

Back to the to the topic at hand... Here is my solution to my malfunctioning front brake light switch.   

If you take offense to using the wrong "lubricant" for the job, you'll probably really cringe at this, haha!

[barenekd]

Isn't his a disk brake?

[boggy]

My front brake light switch died a long time ago. I just pulled it out and now apply rear and front at the same time to make sure the light shines.

In Massachusetts both the hand and foot brake levers must activate the brake light independently to pass inspection.  Although I'll assume Mr. Houston is in a larger state.

[Arizoni]

Probably a less intrusive one?