Juicy 5 Question

[Rossage]

The rear Juicy 5 on my Yeti 575 has developed a shudder/vibration since I switched to a 180 mm rotor.All hardware is tight, rotor is clean, brake has tons of power (now). It just vibrates when I first pull the lever and if I pull the lever again it smoothes out. Let me know...
Later, Rossage

[mazer75]

Could it be that the break pads just need to break in a bit? Or the new rotor needs to develop a "surface"?

I just bought a bike with Juicy 7s, with 200mm front and 185mm rear. The first time out with the bike I got a bit of extra noise and vibe from the breaks, but by the end of my ride they were pretty quiet.

[dstepper]

Juicys can be way temperamental. Once they are set up the are great brakes. Here is a copy of old post to help you set them up....it works for me. Some of tips will pertain ignore the others.


[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Crucial Avid Juicy Seven Setup Tips.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Good thread everybody! Thanks for all the research and efforts by all those involved, even those who hate Juicy Sevens and love to pound me.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Topic: Most everyone is installing their Juicy Sevens wrong. [/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Avid doesn't help cuz their instructions leave out several important setup issues. One is a manufacturing pre-condition which I'll discuss first. The second in an almost universal setup blunder, even by a lot of LBS's... and they should know better. 'Castle'... pay attention, this will be on the test![/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Avid mistakenly designed the '05 - 160mm rotor rim to be an 1/8" too far from the axle. The 185mm rotor is about 1/16" off depending on the fork or bosses. This causes the pads to rub the top of the rotor arms and produce the famous 'turkey gobble' . It's not necessarily accompanied by a squeal - that's usually a separate setup problem, discussed last. Avid is fixing the rotor designs and that is why the last year's models are selling for $129 or less a wheel. [/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Our objective is to move the calipers outboard from the axle a tiny bit. The easy fix for the 160mm rotor is to slip TWO .04" thick washers (each a little thinner than a dime) on each bolt BETWEEN the supplied adaptor and the inner ball and cone combo. Four washers total. [/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Usually the 185mm rotor takes one washer for each bolt depending on the fork or bosses. Follow Avids instruction for the rest of the setup (plus my extra setup technique below). Don't squeeze the levers with no disc or spacer in the caliper. The hard fix is to grind off an 1/8" or aforesaid bottom of the pad.. some do this, but why bother with each new set of pads you put in ?!? [/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]The second setup issue. When you go to tighten down the loose cone and ball parts, spin the wheel VERY slowly WITH THE CRANKS --- NOT BY ROTATING THE WHEEL BACKWARDS. Slowly apply a little more force to the lever and very gently stop the wheel rotating, making sure you used the cranks for this! This slow rotation of the wheel/rotor in the correct direction the wheel naturally travels helps wiggle out the spaces in the ball and cones and align the parts correctly. Don't go too fast. While keeping the lever moderately engaged, go to each of the two bolts and tighten one a little, then the other and so on back and forth. It's kinda like the early XT linear V-brakes and the toe-in issues regarding squealing. Fractions of a millimeter make all the difference. [/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Okay here's the bad news, if you initially did the setup the wrong way or the way Avid advises and then rode your bike for a month or two, figuring to 'break 'em in and work out the squeals' you probably wore the pads unevenly. If so, toss 'em and start fresh cuz your old ones will make setup harder. Also, that's why your old setup sucked and you had bad modulation and noise. Constant squealing and grabbing tell me (when I'm on the trail) that someone did a bad setup on their Avids. I guarantee you'll love the results if you follow my simple tips. By the way, if it's wet, all disc brake squeal and squawk a little.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]X-factor levers? Who cares. If the Sevens are setup right you don't have to be ham-fisted with the levers; one forefinger will do the trick, even in the most dire circumstance. If you prefer, scratch up the smooth blade area under your fingerpad a little with rough sandpaper.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]You'll love the results if you follow my simple tips. Good modulation and powerful one-finger stops can be yours. Now, go grab some of those dirt cheap '05 Juicy Sevens before everyone figures this out.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Little known fact: Behind the lever blade, up near the brake body, is a small indentation --- your travel coffee mug's handle will hang there quite nicely while riding to the coffee shop.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[Rossage]

That describes the problem exactly. Off to the LBS in the am to get the .04 spacers.

[PacMan]

I saw all that awhile ago and decided to sell my Juicy's. It's more than a little ridiculous to have to jump through all the hoops just to get them to work the way they should out of the box.

I can't afford Hopes so I don't have any time on those. Just one more reason to stick with Shimano hydros.

In defense of Hayes, I've never had one problem with my Mags.