True, you should never use normal grease or oil on brake rubbers. You use Lockheed red rubber grease, Castrol/Girling make one too, specially made not to swell the seals or contaminate the brake fluid.

 

he never said he used special red rubber grease. i have never heard of that?

 

Think the Lockheed grease is a British thing. Probably similar to the Pro Circuit fork seal grease we used at the shop.Good for all rubber parts plus I used it for caliper bracket slides and boots.

 

Not sure if you got the brake situation figured.. What i did on one of my machines was try to heat up the brake handle and bend it.. Unfortunately broke it but then just had a friend weld it up in the newer position. Then i drilled and tapped where the handle contacts the brake plunger and put a small screw in so it would start pushing the plunger sooner.. Worked great..

 

Just greased the slide pins.

 

On another forum, people were having luck with heating to 450 deg. and throwing in water to anneal the material (I don't think 450 and water would be enough, but there were a ton of people claiming it worked for them). Anyway, tried it and it did bend about 1/4", but then it snapped. I just went ahead and designed a whole new handle with a better profile, added a 1/2" to the length, and added a bigger "hook" on the end & cut it out with a waterjet. Works great now, he can easily reach and pull it.