Whilst cleaning the recently purchased Savage, I noticed the brake fluid was a tad low. One of the screws on the cap was fine, but the other was stripped out a bit. I could have tightened it one more time, but I never would have gotten it off again without a LOT of trouble and "magic" words. So I carefully removed the bad one and decided to make a quick trip to pick up a new screw.

One Autozone, two Advance AutoParts, a Napa, two Suzuki dealerships, a Home Depot, two Lowe's, and three hours later, I finally found the right screw...

Who would have thought that an M4-.70x12 Oval head Phillips machine screw was such a rare item in the metro Atlanta area...

Jeeeez!

I bought ten of them.



I can't wait to start looking for tires.

A couple more screw shopping trips & you gonna need to start hunting tires. It's better to have tires delivered by Big Brown. & looking for screws?  Go to an industrial supply house. IF there is one. Grab the yellow pages & look under bolts & screws or in some places, threaded fasteners.

If your front brake master cylinder cap screws are stock, you will notice a small dot embossed in the head of the screw.

This is a danger signal that you stand a good chance of stripping the screw head if you use a standard Phillips screwdriver.

Here is the correct tool:

http://www.amessupply.com/products1.cfm?aid=1&cid=D&sid=DE&fid=1404070

IHTH!

jkhulon73 wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:06:


As they say...

"The ride is the reason, the destination is the excuse".



Besides, dealerships do not ever stock parts anymore.  A couple decades ago, dealers had nuts and bolts.  I spent lots of time digging through boxes of bolts just like that.  Now a days?  Nada.  If it doesn't have a bar code, they don't have it.

Savage_Greg wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:06:


I can't believe how young these kids are working behind the counter and I'm only 34. I spent most of my summers in high school working with my best friend at his family's parts store doing inventory. Counting box after box of bolts and washers and screws and all kinds of little doo-dads. You're absolutely right about nowadays... The kid at the dealership wanted to order the whole master cylinder assembly. All I needed was a $.28 screw (which my best friend's dad and all of his employees would have just given away)

Also, since you were a "Tad low" maybe your brakes are a "Tad Used". When the pads get replaced, the fluid will be displaced back into the mastercylinder reservoir. Remove some to make room. Maybe it will be time to drain & replace by then.

But, It's okay for it to be low. Its sposed to be low. Well,, below the FULL line, not lower than the low line. As brakes wear, fluid takes the place of the piston as it moves out.

Savage_Greg wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:06:


I like the sticks, or as we called it back in Texas- "B.F.E." (I'm sure someone knows what that means)

I work in downtown 'lanta and I like the feeling of decompression when I get home.

I just would like to add that I've been turning wrenches since I was a wee lad. This may be my first bike, but I'm not a complete doofus. Maybe a quarter... (My girl will say at least 2/3 if you ask her   )