Ryan6000

Hello,

I'm trying to get an old set of juicy 3 brakes up and running and need some help! I can't work out the issue.

The pistons don't retract enough so after you brake both pistons stay out, slightly rubbing the disc.


I have pulled apart the calipers, cleaned the everything, including the pistons and the seals.

I bleed them with fresh brake fluid.


I don't have a lot of experience with hydraulic brakes but from everything i've read, I can't see what the issue is.


Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Andrew R Stewart 

Being blind to the parts in question I can only give a single data point that happened recently. A repair bike's brake lever was sticking on its pivot. The other lever had the common slight wiggle of a free moving lever. A bit of lube on the pivot and "working" the lever at cross angles to the pivoting resulted in the lever freeing up and the caliper pads retracting enough to cleat the rotor. Andy

jimc101

Simplest answer it to go buy any other set of new brakes from another brand of brakes, Shimano, Tektro etc.

Juicy brakes were bad when new, the advice to anyone who had them when BITD was to go get Shimano at Deore level up (best at the time value for money/performance), now would go from Atlus level up, as they are very good for not a lot of money and the Juicy brakes won't have improved with age.

You're going to be throwing time and money at a set of brake which will never perform constantly/well, going with something new that works will be the best option long term. Being a safety critical item, this is one area i wouldn't want to risk to old & poorly (old is fine if it works) performing parts.

alexk_il

Could be anything, but before we start blaming the brakes it might make sense to describe your bleeding process, what tools and brake fluid you used.

No experience with Juicy, I have a 10 year old entry level Elixir 1, had to bleed only once during this period and they are still going strong.

cxwrench

Replace them. Even SRAM admits to them being some of the worst brakes ever made.

Polaris OBark

We have two Trek mountain bikes that came with Avid Juicy brakes. After about 6 years, I finally replaced them with some XTs I found on sale. The difference was so phenomenal that I felt terrible that I hadn't done this 5 years or more previously. Treat yourself to some new compatible rotors, too. Also, you don't have to get XT; anything Shimano makes is going to be a drastic improvement (even if the Avids were working correctly). I recently took the XTs off my now quite old mountain bike and put them on a different bike, and put a set of Shimano BR-S700 Alfine Disc Brakes on, for $120 for a pre-bled pair. Even those work great compared to the Avid Juicy brakes.

TiHabanero

Toss them in the trash and replace with Shimano brakes.

Ryan6000

Cheers for the reply. I followed this brake bleeding video using an Avid brake bleeding kit with DOT 4 fluid. I tried to bleed it 3 times. No air bubbles that I could see.

Ryan6000

Thanks for the advice everyone. Looks like i'll be searching for some new brakes!