I was dumb and squeezed the brake lever with the drum off (never touched a brake on anything before in my life), how in the world to I get the drum back on? I've tried everything I can think of but it just wont go back on.

 

Try adjusting the cylinders back in. If this has been done or won't work crack the bleeder on the back of the plate and squeeze the shoes back equally with both hands. Remember to close the bleeder again before touching the brake lever again. This is not the end of the world, we all learn somehow [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

One of the cylinders is actually seized up. I will open the bleeder just so I can get it back together until the parts come in.

 

Glad you found the problem, sorry you have the problem. Good luck with the new cylider you may want to order a full set. If one is bad the other(s) are not far behind.
I just got my rears working today. Two cables and reclocking the brake panel seems to have done the job!

Good Luck!

 

After bleeding the brakes I discover that the self adjuster was what was keeping the drums from going back (told ya I don't know what I was doing). So I get the drum back on and try to remove the top of the master cylinder to add more fluid... more bad news, I've stripped out the screws, arrrgggghhhh!!!

 

Dude, I have a similar problem. Looks as though the previous owner flipped the bike on pavement or something. The only damage was to the master cylinder top. It just scraped the whole top off so that there is no way to take the top off. Guess I will be buying a new one. I have seen them on ebay used, but they look pretty old and would hate to buy one to find that it is broken as well. Correct me if I am wrong but new I think they run like close to $150. But problem is that I wouldn't know what to do even if I did get the top off, LOL. I bet I know even less than you. But props to ya, your doing it. You will fix it eventually and that will just be one more self taught lesson, awesome. I need to bust into it myself, but just can't stop riding whenever that seldom "free-time" comes up that I would be working on the brakes otherwise. Luckily, the trails I ride are pretty straight and cleared out with no traffic. I am interested to hear how your brake repair plays out. With our quads being sord of older, wonder how long it would take a dealer to repair these brakes considering shipping time on parts and what not. I would hate to be without it for a month or so, that would be crappy, but that is probably what I will end up doing. Does anyone know if it is acceptable to buy the parts yourself and bring them into a dealer to install them?

 

I'll have another month before I ride because of the snow but that's ok, I'm a snowmobiler at heart, the quad is only to get me through those ugly 6 months of the year when there's no snow on the ground. The brakes aren't that difficult (if everything goes right) Just slack the bleeders on the back of the brake backing plate (small fitting just above where the line goes in) and start adding fluid until it starts to come out of the bleeders at a steady pace (no more air bubbles), tighten up the bleeders, top off the master and put the top back on, pump the brake to build up preasure/set the self adjusters (which are hidden sort of behind the top spring going between both shoes).