I asked last week about adjusting the brakes on my 550 and mentioned that one was locking pretty easily. I checked on parts and such and was all set to spend the money in a couple of weeks. But being a type A personality, I just HAD to tear things apart and have a look see at what was going on with the one that was locking up (left one).I tore things apart pretty easily. I went to the workbench and took everything in the actuating assembly apart. The balls were fine, the disks were not worn out, the springs were there. But the fricton surfaces (the part the disk run against) seemed to have score marks on the outside edges. All of them did. I don't know why the marks were there, but I decided to try and clean them up a bit. After all, I really don't think I could make them any worse! It looked almost like someone took a side grinder to them! I used a fine abrasive "bit" in my air-powered die grinder. I ground down all the groves as best I could. Then I used wet/dry sandpaper and sanded all the surfaces. I put everything back together and they are not locking up! They are doing fine! Time will tell if it was a good enough job to get by. I still plan on ordering replacement brake parts (a cross shaft leaks), but I may have bought some time. This is also important as I may now have to buy more than just pads and seals! Thanx,
Matt
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