Brake Failure WARNING!!!!

[Tigercat]

My wife and I were two hours into a planned seven day trip on our Stallions when approaching a "T" intersection my wife experienced a total brake failure. I was leading and had stopped at the intersection. She went "screaming" by me and make a 90 degree turn at about 35 MPH, coasted about 200 feet and stopped in a drive-way. We thank God there was no conflicting traffic. We were in a rural area. Note: she has only had the Stallion about three weeks and ridden less than 300 miles. She did a great job driving through this emergency.

The failure was caused by the jam nuts backing off the front caliper stabilizer rod on the ride side. The jam nuts had backed off enough that the rod departed the bike. When this occurred, either the departing rod or movement of the caliper severed the brake line and all pressure to the brakes was GONE! We were fortunate the failure was in a very rural area. We were headed for the Sierra's and Yosemite where the failure could have been VERY serious negotiating the mountain curves or in heavy traffic on an urban highway.

We checked the jam nuts on the left side and one had backed off all the way and the other was loose. Another failure waiting to happen. I checked the jam nuts on my Stallion and discovered that one out of the four was loose. From now on, pre-ride checks will always include the jams nuts as well as checking tire pressures and oil, etc.

I am posting this as a strong suggestion to check the tightness of the jam nuts on your caliper stabilizer rods!

 

[Gorilla]

Thank you for the information post. First anyone has mentioned that happening. Good thing to check. Surprised she didn't have rear brakes. The master cylinder has a divided system. Also I'm sure because she didn't have time to think of it but the emergency brake would of help slow her down. My wife had a similar incident that also ended well. Your lady did great under a bad situation. The repair should not be to bad.

 

[Ed Hobgood]

Glad to hear everything is OK now. Sounds like your wife keep her cool and got stopped without any serious damage. My Stallion is an 08 and the only time I had the nuts back off was after I took the front tire off and due to my mechanic (ME) not checking the nuts being tight. Good lesson to let everyone know about THANKS.

 

[Oldmsocko]

Certainly glad she is OK. That had to be a Charmin experience.

 

[trikervet]

Glad to hear that there were no injuries. Thanks for explaining everything in detail. We got a clear picture of the malfunction. Can't say that this is always the case.

 

[Markie]

Certainly glad she is OK. That had to be a Charmin experience.

... or certainly one of the times that "first you say it, then you do it!"

 

[Dean H]

Well, that was a wake-up call to do some checking. I did have to snug up a couple bolt in the front end, so all should be good now.

 

[rocket1lf]

Are you talking about the two rods that have the Heim joints on the ends? Mine are held on with fiber nuts and should not come loose. I have had them off to replace the Heim joints with ones with grease fittings and the front tire. I am glad that everything worked out OK and she was safe. Rick

 

[Tigercat]

Are you talking about the two rods that have the Heim joints on the ends? Mine are held on with fiber nuts and should not come loose. I have had them off to replace the Heim joints with ones with grease fittings and the front tire. I am glad that everything worked out OK and she was safe. Rick

The nuts that were the problem are the jam nuts at each end of the black rod that keep the caliper in place....it is an over-sized turn buckle. The jam nuts are there to keep the rod from rotating.

 

[rocket1lf]

Thanks, now I know which ones you're talking about. When I went to replace my heim joints, I had a heck of a time getting the old ones out, they were rusted in. At that time, I wouldn't have needed any jamb nuts. Now I'll need to check them every so often. Thx Rick