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The brake tub

Keep the brake stuff clean organized and in one place.
I'm almost done with the Gorilla Rack tubs. This brake tub I made up using the spare tub left over from combining the headlights and tail lights into one tub. The movers tossed the brake stuff into the gearcase tub, so I have to separate them again. Sportster_garage_brake-tub-19
Voila, the brake tub in final form. Lots of room for more stuff, but my goal here at Tranquility Base here in Florida is to get down to working machinery and no spare parts. I will keep you posted how that goes.asdf
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At the bottom I put an early model front brake cable with a nice chrome tube. Also a rear brake cable like on the 1975-6, and a front brake hydraulic line. I consider the rear brake cable death hardware. I have had nothing but trouble with them, whether the 1975-6 external cable or the 1977 internal one.
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You can make the older front master cylinders work, but the late-model master cylinder have bigger reservoirs and better levers. You can buy them cheap. These are destined for my 1977 and 1980 show bike. I have already replaced the master cylinder on my 1979. The 1977 has an old factory setup an the 1980 has the dreaded Arlen Ness master cylinder. The only brakes I can vouch for are GMA, since those are on my 1983 XR-1000 and it stops like it has retro-rockets.
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So help me, as little as you use the rear brake, I would make all my bikes mechanical if I could. Here are three rear brake rods, all different lengths, since there are at least two different length swingarms. Also and early brake pedal and spring. That is a good candidate for eBay.

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I know that you change the front sprocket when you replace the chain. I would like to say I do the rear sprocket too, but I usually just run it. You can buy a whole drum and sprocket assembly aftermarket. If you do want to rivet on the sprocket, here are two of them. Note the loose rivets in front. They fell our of the little bag. This is why I like plastic tubs instead of cardboard boxes. Those tiny parts can't leak out of a tub.

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Hard to see, but these are extra caliper parts for the fantastic GMA brakes on my 1983 XR-1000. Bill sold the business to a bunch of cats in LA, not sure if they have ruined the business but I can tell you the GMA stuff out of Omaha is just fantastic.

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Front and rear pads for my 1979 and 1980 bikes.
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I remove the Mickey Mouse pins on the 1978-83 dual front calipers. Then I install pieces of drill rod and use a set screw to hold them in the fork tubes. I have a reamer back-ground by Charlie Jackson so I can hog out the calipers so the drill rod fits perfectly. This stabilizes the calipers, stops them rattling and makes them stop much better. I will write up a detailed guide now that I live in beautiful Florida and have time to document these things.

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Here are two baggies full of rotor mounting bolts, a master cylinder cover, and I spy a rear lever in the right bag.
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Here is a couple of brake line pressure switches for the rear brake.
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There are two rebuild kit of the old-style master cylinders and a bag full of gaskets. If you do have one of these old front master cylinders, you need to buy a bag of 10 gaskets. They leak, the paper border disintegrates, and a tiny pin-hole appears right in the middle to channel water into the reservoir. Speaking of which, one school of thought advocates DOT-3 since it can absorb water and still work. With DOT-5 the water drop works its way to the caliper and corrodes the seal area. DOT-5 lubricates better, and is higher temperature, but I still prefer DOT-3, other than when it drips on the front fender and ruins the paint.		 border bar
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I have a couple rebuild kits for the 1974-77 front caliper.

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Here is Sportster brake tub all la-te-da and organized. Much better and now I can find things.
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The Arlen Ness rebuild kit goes in the garbage. 		border bar
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I have no idea why crankshaft gears were in this tub, I will put them in the right place. In back you can see some breather stuff. That should have gone into the gearcase tub, that where I will put them.

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Same deal for this Jim's Machining gearcase bushing and a couple gearcase dowel pins. They belong with the gearcase stuff.
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The rear chain oilers go in the oil tub I did earlier.

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The tach drive goes in the gearcase tub, the speedo drive went into the gauge tub.
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I like to chop my bikes of needless covers and stuff. Here are the bits of gearcase left over, and I will toss it into the gearcase tub.

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Voila, the brake tub in final form. Lots of room for more stuff, but my goal here at Tranquility Base here in Florida is to get down to working machinery and no spare parts. I will keep you posted how that goes.
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