Brake pads are stuck together (not on discs)

[Ben]

I took off my brake calipers on both the front and the back of the 300ex. Well two or three weeks later and I am putting them back on and it appears that the brake pads on all three calipers are stuck together. Can anyone give me an idea what the problem might be and how to remedy it? I have never bled the brakes on my bike before, well I did once but it was a really bad experience. All thoughts are appreciated!

Thanks, Ben

[Woodsrider]

The only way I can see this happening is that someone inadvertantly mashed the brake levers.
Anyhoo, to unstick them, just take the lids off of the resivoirs and use a screwdriver to pry the pads apart wide enough to slip them over the discs. Reassemble the calipers to the hubs and pump the brakes. Ad clean fluid and put the lids back on.

[beerock]

huh? NOOOOOO dont do that maoz

just use a flat head and pry aprt the pads, then once theres enough room pull the pads apart with your hands. if they dont move you may have frozen your calipers if indeed the brakelevers were depressed alll the way.

I doubt it, the pads will take some force to pull them apart but they should move.

if you do use a flathead screwdriver try not to gouge too much of the brake pad up.

[dhines]

Beerock is right. This happens to me to varying degrees everytime I change my pads. Just use something to pry them apart far enough to get them back over the disk and you should be fine.

[Woodsrider]

They move alot easier if you remove the lids from the res. can you explain to me why you should not remove it?

[MX MadMann]

get you one of those vice grip things that u turn the screw on the handle to adjust ( looks like a big C ) , put on side outside ur brake caliper , and the other side inside ur caliper to where the main squeezing handle is over the master cylinder. this is how i unstuck mine. if a screw driver will do it its fine but dont mess up ur surfaces on the piston.

[Ben]

Used beerock's method - worked like a charm. Thanks to everyone for their response, really saved me a lot of time!