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I am having trouble with my rear brakes on my 82 GL1100 and any help is appreciated. I was in stop and go traffic one day when my rear caliper froze up. It got hot enough to melt my saddle bags. I purchased a rebuild kit for the master cylinder and the rear caliper and replaced all the replacement parts in each unit but still have the same freezing up problem. If I pump the brakes they freeze up. I can release them by opening the line between the master cylinder and caliper therefore proving that the caliper is ok. Since I have replaced all the critical parts of the master cylinder I am at a loss as to what to do next.
Any help is apprecated.
Thanks,
Jim

Hey Jim welcome to Naked Goldwings ...sorry about your brakes freezing up on ya ...someone will be along in a bit to help you out for sure ...lots of great folks here with lots of helping advice... again welcome ..stay safe and ride naked ... i do.

Are you sure that everything is clean and moving freely? Including the pivot pin on the brake lever? just ideas......<smiling>

Q

Sounds like the relief hole in the master cylinder is blocked.

This is a tiny hole that goes between the bore & the reservoir to allow the pressure in the brake line to be relieved when the lever is released.
If it is blocked the pressure is increased every time you apply the brakes, but it cannot de-pressurize when the brake is released so the brake drags. When the brake drags the caliper heats up, and when the caliper heats up the fluid in it tries to expand, which makes the brake drag more and heat up more.

If you look in the bottom of the reservoir you will see 2 little holes a couple of mm deep. There should be smaller holes in their bottoms that go through to the bore. I'm betting that the smaller of them will look like it was never drilled out. This hole is really tiny in the first place and any contamination in the brake fluid can cause it to fill in.

It can usually be cleared with the point of a sewing needle, but I recommend taking the piston & rubber bits out of the bore first and cleaning it out thoroughly afterward - the piece of debris could seriously reduce the life of the seals.

And speaking of contaminated brake fluid, have you read this?
Why you should switch to Stainless Braided Brake Lines

If you still have rubber lines, you are just wasting your time & money working on your brakes.

Here's a picture of what Bob
does a good job of explaining:
(it's for an earlier model but basicly the same thing)
It's a tiny tiny hole at the bottom of that recess at the left


Take a look at this thread

Best regards
and WELCOME to the forum
Octane

Lastly but not leastly, make sure the calipers aren't loaded with crud... Problem is, you really should completely flush you brakes once a year, at least (well, thats my opinion).. As time goes by condensation builds in the system and things turn to crud...
Whe I bought my '82, I rebuilt the rear caliper and found that they were totally and completely loaded with crud.. Simply removing the pistons exposed them to enough water contaminated D.O.T. 3 the o-rings swelled up really quick... A nice thing to have on hand for your yearly 'Git 'Er Ready is D.O.T. 3 test strips... Best to know how they are...
Just remember that when you get a used bike, many people just ride em, and don't lift a finger towrads maintainance...