rear caliper slightly loose on xl650V

[benhur]

Hi, I am a newbie to motorbiking in general so forgive any stupidity....

I was washing the bike (proud owner!!) and realised that the rear caliper had a slight amount of play in the back/forward direction. it seemed to pivot slightly around the axle for 1mm or so. When I checked the fiche diagrams i understood that the axle goes through the carrier for the caliper, but then the caliper carrier slots into a tang/groove in the swingarm...the way it feels it is as if the play is coming from the carrier fitting slightly loosely in the swingarm tang. is this normal or is my swingarm tang too wide?

this is on a cold bike, so I dont know if the looseness will be taken up by expansion on a running bike. also the rear brake performs as it should, no noises, jolts, or delay in working.

the bolts fixing the caliper are all tight and true as far as I can check. (I do not possess a torque wrench....yet)

thanks for any advice

R.

[btbloke]

perfectly normal. If it was tight it would be a bugger to get off when servicing.

[benhur]

thanks for the reply

you see when you have no mechanical background what so ever, every small thing can be worrying...

I am doing the best i can to get to grips with the technical part of biking (ordered the service manual and started tinkering with checking levels etc)

but the fact remains that I am a wuss at all things mechanical...if only there was a big book on motorcycle maintanance you could learn off from

R.

[YEN_POWELL]

...if only there was a big book on motorcycle maintanance you could learn off from

R.

Haynes do a general workshop practice book which is quite good. Worth having a read.

[Lutin]

There's also the Haynes Motorcycle Maintenance TechBook, which might be what you're after.

[nicodeemus]

thanks for the links folks, as another noob i was thinking about buying something similar. the transalp haynes guide arrived the other day and a few things still quite incomprehensible to this novice.

i need to have a look at my rear brake also.. it was quite squeeky at the weekend.. is this normal?

[moon]

perfectly normal. If it was tight it would be a bugger to get off when servicing.

your supposed to service them???!!!


ooops!





I assumed the fore & aft movement was normal due to the necessity of having the sliding fixing to allow for chain tension adjustment.

[benhur]

thanks for the hints about the books guys...will look them up to but if there is someone willing to sell a second hand copy - i can listen...

Reuben

[btbloke]

your supposed to service them???!!!


ooops!





I assumed the fore & aft movement was normal due to the necessity of having the sliding fixing to allow for chain tension adjustment.

You have to adjust the chain??!!




















yep,spot on.

[AlanH]

As long as it's only the caliper moving on its mounts it's not a problem as btbloke says. If it's the caliper bracket itself that moves then the wheel spindle isn't done up tight enough.