How to Fix ATV Brakes Dragging

Table of contents:

Bleed the Lines Check the Mounting Caliper Rebuild

18 December 2022

It’s always at the end of a long repair or a long day that you find an issue with your ATV. One thing that you can find happening after doing some brake repair is that the brakes are now dragging when in motion, which essentially stops you from moving at all. It’s time to figure out how to fix ATV brakes that are dragging.

Dragging brakes on an ATV aren’t only obnoxious to fix, they can be dangerous and detrimental to your ride. The slight, but constant, application of the brake will create a mass amount of heat that can smell like burning rubber, heat up the rotors, and cause poor movement forward. If you know how to fix ATV dragging disc brakes, you may know that this can be a complicated and tricky process. We’re here to help you out.

Image from www.utvactionmag.com

Bleed the Lines

If you have ATV brakes dragging, it’s likely that there is a pressure buildup in the lines, causing them to engage when you don’t want them to. In order to fix this, you’ll need to bleed the lines to relieve some of that pressure.

This is by far the easiest fix, and hopefully it will solve your problem without needing to go much further with taking things apart. Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy.

Check the Mounting

If you only have one side of the brake pads dragging, then it’s possible your brakes are mounted incorrectly and you need to fix that before you can fix the brakes. Check where the banjo fitting holds the line to the junction block or the master cylinder. This can be misaligned, causing a block in the line so the fluid isn’t returning to the master cylinder and relieving the pressure.

Caliper Rebuild

If you’ve just replaced your brake pads, but have not done the calipers in a long time, or ever, it’s likely that this is your perpetrator. Old calipers will stick easily, causing the brakes to drag on your ATV.

While this is a longer and more complicated process, you may want to rebuild your calipers entirely in order to fix your ATV brakes that keep dragging.