Have a 03 Trail Boss with a weak rear brake. Stops fine using hand brake (probably just using the front brakes) but the rear brake using the foot pedal is almost non-existent. Fluid reservoir is full. Anyone have any ideas. Prefer the folks in the field before hauling it 70 miles to the dealer.

 

You MUST use a mity vac or some sort of vaccum pump on the bleader. Then you can open the resevior and work the pedal. Often times air will get in the master cyl. This method is the only way we've found to remove it.

Just keep a close eye on the fluid level when doing this.

 

Thats the way to do it I tryed to bleed mine the normal way and im convinced it can't be done. you can either suck the fuild through with a mighty vac or reverse bleed it by forceing fuild through the bleeder up to the master putting some fuild in a squeezable bottle with a little hose will work just make sure you close the bleeder before letting go of the bottle. you can watch the air bubbles comeing out of the master. it'll take quite a bit to get all the air out. mine has worked great ever since.
Good luck

Jeff

 

Hi The front brake lever is also the rear break lever....one lever on the bars works all your brakes. the rear is just a back up. Even if you fix the problem it will likely reoccur again in the near future.

 

are you sure that if you open the bleader and then pump the peddle and then close the bleader and relase the peddle, and then open it aging and press it back down......ect, that dose not work. if not i am suprised !! but then again i have only done it on vehicals, but there are basicly the same idea only in small scale. you need two people for this to go well.

 

Had the same problem with my Blazer. It has to be bled from the reservoir on the handlebars also. The dealer said rear brake is just back up, don't use it to slide in corners. Been doing that on my 00 Boss for three years and haven't had a problem. Have seen kits to seperate the two and make the rear brake work like a rear brake should. I think the kit was around 130 dollars. When it went out on the Blazer (twice) the pedal went all the way down and felt like it didn't have any pressure. Thought I had air in lines, but bled just the rear and there was no air present. When I opened the brake line to bleed it, I was expecting air and a littel fluid to come out. It shot fluid over my shoulder and down the front of my shirt. Just one of those things that's funnier when it happens to someone else. Bled both front and back and it works fine. I guess that's just the simple fix.

 

You most likely need new rear break pads. They don't last long in the back I had the same problem.

 

well that is posible that the break pads are worn out, but its a 03, im runing a 02 sportsman and have lots of breakpad left, and there is over 200 hours on it. sounds like air in the line.

 

Ya but the trail boss has an open rear break its not under a tire. When you go through muck rear break gets draged right through, the mud acts like sand paper and weres the pads down real fast. My frist pair of brake pads lasted 1 month.

 

Ya i guess you are guite right about that. man that's got to suck in some ways !! but i guess that pads are to to expensive, and the rear break is easy to get to.