# 04 Foreman Front Brake issue?



## RDs Neighbor

Does anyone know what would cause the front brake to lose pressure at the handle when applying them? We rode a few weeks ago in water and now the break does not engage until they handle is pulled about half way.

I snorkeled the bike, and was sure to bring all of the vents up, would water in the vent cause this. I read the manual and there is an adjustment, I just don't know how it would have gotten out.


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## brutus750i

is it drum ?get rid of em,go disk.i did an wow,stopping power.


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## Josh

Tends to happen to honda drums pretty often. I couldn't keep my front brakes on my rincon 650. The pressure system for the brakes is sealed? so water in it wont happen. If you pull off that drum you will find all kinds of mud and dirt on the inside. Just a bad design for a machine that will see bad conditions. If it was me and i was keeping the bike, I'd upgrade to disk brakes and be done. I had the cylinders leak on mine and it would loose it's pressure. It's air in the lines i'm sure though. Bleed them with the bleeder on the back side of the drums. Do it right or it will suck in more air and get worse.


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## IBBruin

Could the plunger inside the master cylinder be sticking? There should be a little play between the handle and the plunger. You should be able to feel the difference between the handle and the plunger. I've never owned a Honda but I've heard the brakes are bad about going out often.


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## whoolieshop

If you have drum brakes be prepared to clean / adjust them every single time you get in mud/water. If you look at the wheel there's an access hole in the side. Jack up the front of the wheeler and rotate the wheel until you see an adjuster, its round and has notches on it, you can turn the adjuster with a screwdriver.

There are TWO adjusters per wheel 180 degrees apart, be sure to adjust them the same number of turns or you'll never get them right. They have an arrow, on them turning toward the arrow tightens them.

The easiest way i've found is to turn the adjuster all the way (the way the arrow is pointing) in until the wheel wont turn, then back it out three clicks. You can fine tune from there.

Sealing the hole up with a plug or RTV helps a little but crap still gets in there.

The best thing to do is convert them to disk brakes, plan on spending about $300-350 for the kit.


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## rubiconrider

^x2. the mud and dirt in there chew the pads off real quick and then you dont have enought wheel cyl travel to apply the brakes. adjust em up and it will be fine for a few hours lol. my buddy just ordered a disk brake conversion kit of ebay for his 450 and it was $229 with 60$ shiping. but that was to ship to canada so it would likely be less for you guys down there. my rubicon has factory disk in the front and they work great.


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## eagleeye76

Friends have had same prob. Clean out drums and they were good to go.


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## JPs300

old thread but I was just thinking, "wait, what? hondas have brakes?????"


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## klapka

mines got disc brakes or you could start learning how to down shift lol


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## hp488

:haha:


JPs300 said:


> old thread but I was just thinking, "wait, what? hondas have brakes?????"


:agreed: I have better brakes on my 86 250 fourtrax then I do on my wife's 02 rubicon fix change fix change and they still suck.


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## JPs300

I've never even tried to fix the front drums on a honda; not worth the effort. I re-did my rear when I got it and never had trouble with it. New drum & shoes, along with all new seals, including the seals and packing on the cam bolt. 

As of yet since the build I haven't put anything on it for brakes. I ride slow so as to not spill my beer though, thus I can just use trees and such when needed.........lol. 

Seriously though, I picked up a 4 pot caliper off a street bike and I'm putting a single rear rotor on an inner cv cup. If I get the diffs where I trust them I'll probably put it on the yoke instead for added leverage.


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