[Closed] Avid Juicy 3...not working....advice needed!

Does the lever come close to the bars before you feel they are working?

Has this got worse?

When you squeeze the lever does it feel spongy?

Does the lever actually touch the bars when you pull it?

Any weird noises when you brake?

Might help us pin it down more accurately. Ncould be air in the system/oil leak. Could be stick piston. Could be contaminated discs/pads. More information will be good though.

if your pads had oil on them, so does your disc, and now your new pads also.

did you clean your disc when you changed your pads?

(hot water + washing up liquid + scrubbing with old pot brush + rinse with lots more hot water => works for me)

cheers mintman..ok well:

the lever does not come really close to the bars before working but much further than the back brake which was set up the same originally...and considerably more force is required on the front lever to acheive an ok level of braking.

It hasn't got worse for some time but it hasn't improved as a result of changing the pads.

It doesn't feel particularily spongey compared to the rear so i'd say no.

No weird braking noises.

The seals on my rear brake leak a little but ironically it works fine...the front shows no signs of leakage anywhere but doesn't work.

I think thats pretty much it...the only other thing is that the braking isn't progressive...its just really poor and then eventually under plenty of pulling on the break lever it improves very quickly (but still not as well as it should compared with original performance..for example, i can't pull an endo using the front brake anymore).

Hopefully thats better! cheers 🙂

Shakey

Pretty likely to need a bleed.

cheers ahwiles: yeah cleaned the disc with a brake disc cleaner so that should have been fine.

joolsburger: thought they might need bleeding but unsure whether the symptoms matched, thanks for the link bud 🙂

Usually if there is a bit of extra level travel but they still work well it can be worn pads ( I had to wind on my contact adjust earlier today for exactly this reason I use pads until they are really thin!) but if the power has gone completely it's either buggered pads or a bleed.

hmm...pads definately not worn thin...so it looks like a bleed is the logical next step. Thanks for your help 😉

check both pistons are moving freely

Not wishing to Hijack but I have juicy 3 ' s and still getting braking power but the lever is almost touching the bar . I have cable tied the levers over night which works but only for a day or so.

Do they need bled.?

Try adjusting the reach stanfree:

[url= http://www.sram.com/_media/techdocs/95.5013.109.000_A%20Juicy%203%205.pdf ]Page 8 step 7[/url]

stanfree: give them a bleed. Zip tieing the lever to the bar overnight moves the air to the top of the system giving the brake a sharper feel, hence if it works there is evidence that air is in the system which needs bleeding to get rid.

Iain

Hey TandemJeremy: cheers i'll have a look at them...

hmm perhaps i should try zip tieing my levers overnight aswell then if it indicates whether or not the brakes need a bleed...could help prevent unnecessary hassle and cost

Just bleed them.

I had to wind on my contact adjust earlier today

Do the Juicy 3's have a contact adjuster? Where and how?

Mine are as good as new really but I find there's a lot of lever travel before they start to bite well, I've adjusted the reach but they are out as far as feels comfortable, I'm used to Shimano brakes that bite quickly but these came on a new bike a few months ago?

I've got sevens not threes. Put them on two and a bit years ago never bled them, no problems with them ever and really powerful to boot. Must have got a good set!

jakey, if you can feel a 'bite' point, and it feels about the same as the back brake (which you say works), then it's unlikely bleeding will achieve anything.

i'm not a fan of aerosol disc cleaner - it's expensive, so you tend to be sparing in it's use; just giving your discs a quick squirt doesn't really do much to help as once it's evaporated, all the crap it lifted from the surface just settles back on the disc.

you need to use so much that you end up with a puddle on the floor. don't forget you need to shift all the muck that can build up in the many holes in the disc.

i don't think it'sa coincidence that the brakes on my singlespeed are as keen as mustard, the brakes on my expensive tart-bike are shocking. one of these bikes lives it's life covered in gritty mud, the other recieves hours of tlc, oil, grease and attention. i'll let you work out which is which...

ahwiles: the front brake doesn't bite as well as the rear, but i take your point...i'll try and give the disc a real gd cleaning then...

I think i can guess which bike is which..ah the irony 😉

i had same prob once with my old juicy 3 front brake,after changing pads and bleeding it it wasn't any better,i then put the disc in the dish washer to give it a good clean and it made a massive difference,might be worth a try.

I have a very similar sounding problem with my front brake.It however is a very new tech X2.
The back is fine but the front is complete rubbish,and like the original poster can only achieve mediocre braking when i pull very hard on the lever.
I thought about contaminated pads[are they really that delicate 😯 ]
So dutifully bought the disc cleaner stuff and first scrubbed the rotor,then gave it a bit of a sand[600W&D]The pads got sat on top of a brick and got seriously roasted with the blowlamp to burn off any solvent[mates a m/bike mechanic recommended this method cause most bikers are skint]
Result-Minor improvement 😯 🙄
They are a 2010 model fitted by the shop i bought them from,they shortened the hose and bled it.highly unlikely mistakes were made.
Im using a 165mm rotor
My other bike has a 185mm rotor on saints and is fine.[im new to the 165mm rotor game]i thought it could be that under 185 you get bollocks braking performance.
I should try them on my other bike with the 185mm to see if that is indeed the reason 😕
The fork that the tech is on is an alloy rigid fork,which only has provision for a 160-165mm rotor,or i would just fit a bigger rotor.
If that indeed is the problem

dyna ti

You only get a small % difference with the larger disc - x2 should be fine on the 165. Something is wrong. I suspect the pads (glazed or contaminated). Sand the pads down and then try again - rebedding them in.

cheers for the advice guys...i'll give it all a gd cleaning and assess from there. Happy trails 🙂

J

check both pistons are moving freely

Yep, I've had probs with a sticky piston in Juicy 3s before.