2001 Warrior 350 HELP

Courage · Sep 20, 2023

Hey guys, just bought this 2001 Warrior 350 yesterday. The guys said that the rear brake was making a little noise, but he figured it would go away with a little bit of riding. He said he hadn't ridden it in a while, and I couldn't hear it on the test ride, so I figured that whatever it was, had probably already loosened up.

I took it for about a 3 mile ride this morning, and was really pleased with it, until as I was coming to a stop, clutch in, going from 3rd into 2nd, and applying light rear brake pressure, the rear tires locked up and it skidded to a stop.

I forced it to go forward for about 10 feet, but realized it wasn't going to just loosen up. Had to get my truck and trailer to haul it home.

The weird thing is that after sitting 20 minutes, it loaded into my trailer like the brakes were only barely pressed on. When I unloaded it at home, it didn't even seem like anything was up.

After a little googling, I saw some thing about a transmission recall for locking up, could that be it?

My dad was wondering if it could be some kind of barring issue. The rear brake caliper was to hot to touch, so I think it's brakes related, but it definitely didn't seem as hot as it would be from how locked up it was.

Oh, also, when it was locked up, the rear brake pedal was solidly in the up position. No matter how much force I put to it, it wouldn't go down.

Hope you guys can point me in the right direction!

Thanks in advance!

Courage

PineyPower · Sep 20, 2023

Start with replacing the caliper and go from there.it might be smart to just do the rear master too while you are there. **** it might be worth it to upgrade to the raptor 450 brakes too, all costs and such being equal, from what I understand they fit. During normal and even aggressive riding the brake shouldn't get that hot, there isn't alot of weight to stop like a truck, so it was probably at least lightly dragging the whole time

Courage · Sep 20, 2023

PineyPower said:
Start with replacing the caliper and go from there.it might be smart to just do the rear master too while you are there. **** it might be worth it to upgrade to the raptor 450 brakes too, all costs and such being equal, from what I understand they fit. During normal and even aggressive riding the brake shouldn't get that hot, there isn't alot of weight to stop like a truck, so it was probably at least lightly dragging the whole time

I like to think of myself as mechanicly inclined, but I'm definitely not a mechanic; also, I'm new to Yamahas. Do you think there's much chance it's something not related to the brakes? If it only is a brakes problem, than I'd consider that a win, as I know that every 21 year old mechanical piece of equipment is going to need some work... Just wondering if I should reach out to the guy I bought it from and see if he'll take it back...
I got it for $1500.
Thanks for your response! I really appreciate it!

PineyPower · Sep 21, 2023

I mean, an easy no fuss way to test it is to just take the brake caliper off, tie it up out of the way and ride without it for a bit. If it's some kind of transmission trouble (which I doubt) it'll break again.
If it's a bearing issue, you can get the rear wheels off the ground and give everything a good shake and spin. (a milk crate under the rear works great if you still have the skid plate)
The wheels should go smoothly in neutral, with just a bit of resistance from the chain and the like. The axle shouldn't have play within the carrier and nothing should be clunking or binding when you move it.
Im always fond of saying most of the time you don't have to be a mechanic to know what broken looks like, and I'd put a dollar down says your instinct that it's a brake problem is correct

Courage · Sep 23, 2023

PineyPower said:
I mean, an easy no fuss way to test it is to just take the brake caliper off, tie it up out of the way and ride without it for a bit. If it's some kind of transmission trouble (which I doubt) it'll break again.
If it's a bearing issue, you can get the rear wheels off the ground and give everything a good shake and spin. (a milk crate under the rear works great if you still have the skid plate)
The wheels should go smoothly in neutral, with just a bit of resistance from the chain and the like. The axle shouldn't have play within the carrier and nothing should be clunking or binding when you move it.
Im always fond of saying most of the time you don't have to be a mechanic to know what broken looks like, and I'd put a dollar down says your instinct that it's a brake problem is correct

Thanks again for responding! I really appreciate it!
I took it for a spin the other night, and I can tell it is the rear brake dragging, now just barely.
Someone on a different forum said something about their brake line getting soft and not letting the pressure release after using the breaks, so they didn’t release except after sitting. I've pumped the breaks again and again, and they always release to about the same amount of drag (can easily push and pull it back and forth, but can hear a slight rubbing coming off of the pads).
Could you tell me a little more about the brake upgrade that you mentioned?
Thanks