Hayes Sole - pad not returning

daniel_b

Hello all,

firstly I know these are not well rated brakes, but they are on my bike, and have been fine for nearly 6 years, so at present am stuck with them.

Not had a lot of use recently, but was planning to go out tomorrow, but the rear wheel was not spinning very far at all, as it was rubbing on the disc.

I gather with these you have one fixed pad, and it only pushes from one side, and as far as I can tell the fixed pad is the one closest to the centre of the bike, if that makes sense, and the pushing pad pushes in fromt the outside onto the disc - I hope that makes sense.

Anyway, I tried the adjustment screw thing, but the pad moved not at all - I removed the wheel, and was able to push the pad gently back in, refitted the wheel, it span up beautifully, pulled the lever, and we're back to square one.

I'm assuming I will need to take this to my lbs for a service, as assume it is all gummed up inside or something, but just wondered if there was anything I can do tonight to enable me to go out tomorrow monring?

Cheers

Dan

supersonic

Remove pads and clean with water. Pull very gently on lever to expose a little of the piston - clean some more, push back. Repeat until moves freer.

daniel_b

supersonic wrote:

Remove pads and clean with water. Pull very gently on lever to expose a little of the piston - clean some more, push back. Repeat until moves freer.

SS you are a genius sir!

Never removed the pads before, but not a big deal, then I rinsed through the assembly with water, pushed the piston out a bit as you suggested, and rinsed it through again, a fair bit of cr@p came out.

Now the wheel spins, and the piston retracts, but I think the lever needs to be pulled a bit further than it should, but still works, so perhaps it will need a service at the lbs, but at least this way i can ride tomorrow morning!

Only downside is I have to run 8 miles in the afternoon.......

Thankyou!!

Dan

cooldad

You've managed 6 years without changing pads?

supersonic

It might need new pads, yes!

daniel_b

lol, the pads looked relatively intact actually, perhaps they still have life left in them!

All joking aside, most of my riding is XC, and as I have a road bike as well, and other commitments, I guess over those 6 years I have not done a huge amount of miles - plus the bike was in storage for one year.

But thankyou again SS, enjoyed a nice 20 mile xc route on a sunny sunday morning

I shall have a crack at adjustments later this week, to see if I can get the brake lever to a normal position, akin to the front, if not, then perhaps new pads are THE answer!

supersonic

If the piston is retracting more, it will mean more lever travel. They do auto adjust for pad wear (well that one does, thje other is static of course).

You can try 'advancing the pad' ie remove wheel and very gently press the lever to 'adjust' the pad out more. As above, never push too far!

Refit wheel and yiou should have less lever throw.

You wan't the static pad to be as close as possible without rubbing too.

Alternative readjust the whole caliper so the moving pad sits close to the rotor, then wind the other pad out.

daniel_b

Thanks for all those useful and accurate tips, much appreciated - will put these to use one evening this week, sounds like it should not be too much of an issue - fingers crossed.