Front caliper brake binding
 

Hoping for a little advice on a minor maintenance issue.

Doing some spring cleaning, I removed the front caliper brake (dual-pivot Tiagra) from my fixed gear to give it an overhaul. Got quite aggressive (how else will I learn?) and decided to do a complete reconditioning; IE -- I took the brake completely apart (after finding an assembly diagram), cleaned and greased the bolts, and reassembled.

Went back together just fine, action smooth as butter.

Upon reinstalling into the fork however, I'm finding that as soon as I tighten the bolt (through the front fork and into the brake), the brake's left arm (looking at the brake head on) binds VERY quickly. I thought maybe I was over-torquing, but the darn thing slips to one side with even slight sideward pressure from the brake housing.

Any ideas? Did I muck up the brake reassembly or is there another issue at play?

Thanks!
-J

is there a brake centering screw on the top?

There is indeed.
-J

i haven't needed to take my Tiagra brakes off [yet], receased?! do they have non slip washers? if so i'd check that


by the by, usually when fitting these type of brakes i squeeze the pads tight to the rim, then tighten the bolt on the fork so it's centred, then take it from there

So it sounds like the caliper isn't fully tightened into the crown. Solution would be doing so. If the mounting bolt's nut is bottoming out on the bolt's threading then maybe a spacer, on the bolt and between the crown and caliper, is missing.

The other read of the OP is that the left arm's pivot is not properly tightened at a point where the arm can freely pivot. generally there's a lock nut of some form that traps the pivot bolt just so. Sometimes there's also a set screw to further hold the pivot bolt from rotating and then changing the arm's freeplay/movement. Andy

probably best if he posts a picture

not quite sure what he means, i'm just guessing, lol

Thanks for the help everyone! Provided some much needed inspiration after a bit of a frustrating morning.
After pulling the brakes spring and checking its various linkages (including a slight adjustment of the set screw that Andrew R mentioned)... the problem seems to have alleviated itself. No more fetching up...!

Much appreciated! Thanks again!
-J