1983 R65 rebuilding the brake pedal and the new pivot bolt is loose

1983 R65, I am rebuilding the brake pedal. The pivot bolt has a lot of lateral play inside the bushing. See attached picture from Max. #2 is a new M8x50 bolt and #4 is new bushing. The bushing fits nice in the brake pedal but the pivot bolt is loose in the bushing. Has anyone come across this problem? It makes for a sloppy brake lever. I think I might have to shim.

Max

If you have replaced all the bushings spacers and the bolt and have a problem, now would be a good time to contact Max to see if they can do something for you.

Everything should fit together and no, there shouldn't be any slop in the lever. It should move freely of course with a bit of grease in the bushing.

Hey, every once and awhile the wrong part or a bad batch of parts get into the market. Max, may not know or may and have taken steps to get a proper bushing.

Last thought is perhaps the lever itself is worn out inside? I don't know the shape of it when you took it off of the bike, is it the original lever? Was it ever greased? Was it seized up when you took it apart? A bushing rusted to the bolt could perhaps twist in the lever and round it out making a loose fit for the new bushing.

Good luck, let us know how you make out. St.

Since you said the bushing fit the lever nice and tight, then the ID of the bushing must be bigger than 8mm, maybe they sent you the wrong bushing. I would measure the ID and then contact MAX as they may have mixed stock.

I was thinking about this and decided to do the obvious, measure the old bushing and bolt. They are oem and didn't look they were ever removed, they were pretty rough. Cleaned them up with scotch-brite. Excel spread sheet for the numbers. Pretty darn close. I am going to shim the new bushing and install the brake lever.

Numbers

Argh, don't show me numbers! LOL, Sorry, I am brain dead when it comes to any kind of numbers. One of the reasons why I was never an engineer was I couldn't get past pre calculus, LOL.

Looks like you are on the right track for fixing the problem. Depending upon the new stock bushings size and your part, you may well have to make a bushing or find an OEM bushing. Micrometers are your friend in this case. When you get done, obviously the lever should function smoothly but without any play.

The brake levers are one of the parts a lot of people ignore to lubricate on a regular basis and road grit and corrosion can make a mess of them. Cheers, St.

For the metrically challenged he has about .050" (50 thou) of slop between the bolt and the bushing ID. I know what I would do but I have a small lathe....

talk about sloppy specs, the hole is 1mm too big and the bolt .25mm under. I checked for other oilite bushings seems the issue when looking at an 8mm ID is then the OD jumps over the 14 you need they are either too small or too big on the OD. Sleeving the bolt may be the answer, what do you plan to use?

Maybe going to something like this https://www.zoro.com/fabory-shoulder-screw-hex-socket-m8-125mm-pk5-m071111000035/i/G9898491/