The brake lever on my 95 panther goes right to the handlebar if I pull it very hard. It will still lock the track up though. This does not have hydraulic brakes. I adjusted the spring adjustment all the way out at the brake caliper and it still does it. Do I need new brake pads? How hard is it to change these out?

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I thought that I would respond to your post since no one else has so far. It has been a long time since I had that particular Cat brake, BUT there is one nut that you turn (as I recall) that will easily adjust that caliper. It would be highly unusual to have to replace a set of brake pads on that style of brake. If you could post a pic of that brake assembly to refresh my memory that would help out. Again, adjustment of that brake is quite simple- it just has been a long time since I worked on one....

I'm trying to remember exactly how it looked as well. The first thing you will need to do is bend the tab down that secures the jam nut of the adjuster bolt. This looks like a washer under a nut that has little wings on it that get bent to prevent the jam nut from coming undone. From there it is just a matter of backing off the jam nut and slightly tightening the adjuster nut until the desired brake throw is attained. Then retighten the jam nut and bend he tab up that you previouly had to bend down. They might have changed this for 95 and if so you should just have a powder metal knob located by the brake that can be turned by hand. My family owns a 94 and I thought that for 95 they made it easier to adjust these brakes.

Let me know if this is unclear and I can try to explain it better.

MNF1000