Hello Paso750 and fellow Paso-freaks,
Very good point to mention this. Old brake lines are neglected very often and that’s dangerous. However, I would recommend taking it much further than only replacing the brake lines and go for a full overhaul of your brake system instead. I did this a few months ago on my 1986 Paso 750 when I fully serviced the bike after having neglected it for a few years. I’ll write some reports soon on the other works that have been done.
Here are my experiences with the brakes, which might be helpful for people planning to do the same. It took me quite some time to find all the right parts as not everything from the parts catalogue is available anymore, but it was certainly worth the effort.
1.) Brake calipers
- also the seals in the brake calipers get old and cracked and need to be replaced
- pistons can be damaged due to corrosion. I experienced this when I took apart my brake calipers. On one piston a bit of the coating was damaged, causing the seal not to seal properly anymore. Luckily, I had a replacement piston in perfect condition.
- Removing the bolts which hold together the two caliper halves can be a pain in the arse as galvanic corrosion causes them to get severely stuck in the aluminium housings. I had them removed by an overhaul company as they have the proper tools for this.
- the Brembo gasket replacement sets can be easily ordered (I ordered mine via Stein-Dinse). Check the parts catalogue for the right article number. No problem for the front calipers, as those sets fully fit. For the rear caliper there’s the problem that there is no dedicated replacement set available anymore. Therefore, I used a set for the front brakes and re-used the four original 8 mm bolts which were still in good condition. The front calipers are assembled with two 10 mm bolts, which are in the replacement set. On top of that the rear caliper contains two small o-rings instead of only one in the front calipers. This second o-ring is not included in the replacement set. I mounted an EPDM70 o-ring (= ethylene propylene rubber, which is resistant against DOT 4 and DOT 3 brake fluids) with measurements (Inner diameter ring x diameter o-ring material itself) 6,75 mm x 1,78 mm.
- I thoroughly cleaned the calipers and pistons, before mounting the fresh seals following the instructions
- re-assembly of the calipers halves: I put a bit of aluminium anti-seize on the bolts before tightening them with the right torque.
2.) Brake lines
- As a replacement for the original brake lines I picked stainless steel HEL Performance brake lines in black. They have two different sets in their product line for our Paso’s. I took ‘HBF0956’ as optically those come relatively close to the original ones (Further I also replaced the clutch line with the HBC0956)
- The new brake lines are made by your local HEL dealer. Mine (Sparks-online in Echt, the Netherlands) first made them according to measurements they have in their computer. Unfortunately, some of the brake lines turned out to be a bit too long. I then visited Sparks’ workshop and took the original brake lines with me. The very next day the brake lines were adapted to the right length. Very good service of Ronald from Sparks-online. I’ll certainly go back to him for future projects.
3.) Front master pump
- Gasket replacement sets can be bought and replaced easily
- The set is being held in the pump housing with an external circlip, making replacement easy. The clutch master cylinder is quite a different story! There’s no circlip there, but a sort of hemispherical steel ring which must be punched into the housing to keep the piston and its seal in their position. Really a monstrous construction if you don’t have the proper tools for this. I tried it without them, but I failed. So, I had to sacrifice a brand new gasket replacement set in order to find out it’s better to go to a Brembo specialist to have them replace the piston and seal.
4.) Rear master pump
- Another good reason for going for a full overhaul of your brake system. See the rubber o-ring in the masterpump housing being cracked after many years (see pictures below)
- Original replacement master pumps (PS 12) are not available anymore, but I found a very good alternative for a reasonable price (see the PS 11 on this page:
https://www.ducatipaddy.com/page29.html )
5.) Brake discs
- The inner diameters of the brake discs are galvanized or nickel plated (??). After many years this ‘golden look’ is gone and rust is all that remains. I looked for a company, which could redo the plating for me, but I didn’t find anyone. For this reason, I decided to clean the discs and paint the inner diameter with black heat resistant paint which I still had from repainting my mufflers. Not original, but it looks tidy again.
- the mounting bolts for the brake discs are available via your Ducati dealer
If anyone needs more detailed info about availability of certain parts then send me a PM. I documented everything and I’m happy to help in keeping our Paso’s on the road.