ok so you see how the cross-over cable is mounted in the back position on the left but in the front position on the right?
this makes the cable diagnal,it works fine this way (the way it came) but i think it would look better if it came straight over the tyre like most Maggie brakes ive seen.
my question is,can i just unscrew it and put it in the other hole or is oil going to spill out?it seems like if i just make sure not to squeeze the lever it would be easy but ive never worked on these things before and dont have a bleed kit.
I have removed and replaced a fitting without bleeding and still had the brake work fine and I have also done the same and had air get in the line, so it’s a gamble. I have made a brake bleeding kit out of two pieces of the plastic brake line and a couple of small plastic squeze bottles and I was told by a bike mechanic that you can use mineral oil for brake fluid and it has worked fine, but I am wondering if there is any advantage to useing the magura brake fluid?
Don’t use regular mineral oil. You don’t have control over what’s in it or the viscosity. The Magura Cult Homepage recommends using Finish Line Shock Oil No 5. It’s a mineral oil based oil for the front shocks for a MTB. It’s a known viscosity and works well. It’s what I’ve been using in my brake.
The fluid in the stock Maguras is a green color. The Finish Line Number 5 Shock Oil is a red color. I don’t know how well the two mix so I’ve always drained the green stuff before putting in the red stuff.
All four holes in the Magura brake cylinders are not the same size. You may not be able to swap locations for the crossover hose. It may be that way because that’s the way those particular fittings fit. You can’t fit a large fitting in a small hole.
I don’t know which holes are the same and which holes are different. I’d have to take a brake apart to see and I’m not going to do that to one of my brakes. There are two sizes of holes on the brake cylinders. I think the cylinder with the drain plug has two sizes of holes and the other has both holes the same size, but I’m not sure.
Can’t disagree with that, because everything I know about the magura brake I learned from John Childs, and this wasn’t part of the Lesson. What I can say is that on my magura setup, the crossover hose is on the frontmost connection on both sides, and the line that runs up to the brake lever is on the back connection on the left brake. This was the stock setup, so you might infer from that that you could just swap those two left-hand side connections.
The Magura steel braided lines or after-market lines use different connectors than the plastic lines. With the Magura steel braided line the long brake line goes where one end of the plastic cross-over line was. With after-market line the combinations all depend on what connectors were used.
It looks like Jagur should be able to swap the long brake line and the cross-over line to get the cross-over line going straight. I’d just have a bleed kit handy just in case he ends up with air in the line after the operation.
The Magura Cult Homepage has some tips on how to do a quick bleed, which describes how to replace the lever without doing a complete bleed. You might be able to use some of the advice there to avoid getting air in the line as you swap lines. But I highly doubt it will be possible to swap the lines like that without getting some air in the line. When tightening the lines back up make sure the connections are tight. If they’re not tight you’ll leak oil around the threads when you squeeze the lever. Get things tight before testing that lever.
A full bleed is really easy as long as you have the equipment to do it. I bled Tom’s brake in the Super 8 parking lot in Moab in the dark with just street lights to see by. Just follow the steps on the Magura Cult page. Don’t skip any steps and go slowly the first time.
My undoing the first time was not putting the brake lever parallel with the ground. I had it tipped in such a way that it would always trap an air bubble in the lever assembly. I got it all put back together and noticed that the lever was mushy and I wasn’t getting the proper brake pad movement as I squeezed the lever. I re-bled the line and the same thing happened. Arrrg! Finally I caught on and put the brake lever parallel with the ground and got it done right.
It’s just light oil. If you get the Magura oil on a brake pad use a degreaser like Simple Green to clean the oil off the brake pad and it will be all good.
