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Front wheel brake hoses tight when I lift

davidfb

davidfb

Member
Another one of my newbie questions, I just bought a J&S jack and notice when I lift my Fatboy the brake hoses are pretty tight once the front wheel is off the ground. Is this a problem? Has anyone else seen this. I do have ABS.

Thanks in advance
 
davidfb said:
Another one of my newbie questions, I just bought a J&S jack and notice when I lift my Fatboy the brake hoses are pretty tight once the front wheel is off the ground. Is this a problem? Has anyone else seen this. I do have ABS.

Thanks in advance
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Yes it can be a problem, Always be careful with stretching brake hoses,Especially when you have ABS
 
Would be safe to strap the front wheel to the front handle to limit front end travel or just buy longer brake hose.
 
dangerdan said:
Would be safe to strap the front wheel to the front handle to limit front end travel or just buy longer brake hose.
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That would work, if you used longer brake hoses use caution in how you route them so they do not bind or get pinched by crash bars pegs (FORWARD controls or rub on fenders:s
 
Are the bars O.E.?
Something does not sound correct. If the hoses are that tight lifting up then how would you turn bars with wheel off ground? Or is it just the brake hose to caliper from junction block. I would just remove calipers and put them in a heavy sock before lifting if that tight.
 
Very good points, not a good idea to stretch those brake hoses. Best to do as dbmg says, dismount the calipers, I put wood wedges in-between to keep the pads from closing and safety wire them out of the way (using an old sock is a good idea and yes I have even used duct tape) LOL!
 
What concerns me here is if your brake line is indeed tight when front wheel is unloaded, the same can happen while riding over a bump or something. With a portion of bad luck, you could have your brake line rupturing... NOT GOOD.
 
Is it an OEM brake line ? I'm thinking it must be attached to the lower tree (like some are) or seems you would be having slack problems turning ?

You might want to order a replacement, if yours is OEM (which would be almost incredible to imagine) then get a custom made one from your HD shop or a reseller.

Just hang the bike in the problem position and run some soft copper wire (like #10 or 12) from your Master Cylinder down thru the appropirate route (with needed slack) to the caliper hook up. Then measure the length of the wire, that's the length you need.
 
Take it back to the dealer and tell them about the problem, there's a possibility that the wrong lines could have been installed at the factory.
 
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