New shoe brakes

schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Hi Joao,

have you ever adjusted the front bearings? It's not that hard... but, you do not want to overtighten them for the obvious reason...

As for the brakes: i used to sand the top edges of the shoe so it won't squeeck (much or at all). I'm not sure if that really is a fact but someone told me to do so and i never have done it otherwise. O, and i indeed clean them (shoes and drum) with breakcleaner.

hth Roger

I usualy scuff the inside of the brake drums with 60 - 80 grit sand papaer whenever I put new shoes in. I helps them 'bed in' quicker.

When you ajust them up, make them tight (cant turn the drum) then press hard on the brake pedal and ajust again. Repeat this until it makes no more difference. with new shoes I make them so the drum will turn easily but wont spin. The first bit of the new shoes wears away quickly.

Dont use the brakes hard with new brake shoes until they bed in (unless in an emergancy ! ) and ajust them after a few hundred miles.

Rich

I realize this discussion was about front brake shoes, but I thought I'd remind people about the procedure of how to replace the rear shoes.. do it with the handbrake cables LOOSENED UP all the way. When the shoes have settled properly, THEN tighten the handbrake cables again.

Big difference.

Good advice from Rich there, too.

Jan

tricky wrote:

Thanks for your advice but it came too late :) It took so long to see my post that I thought I forgot to post it. I didn't scuff the inside of the drum but I washed it with a brake cleaner. I also made some hard stops but at very lot speed 30km/h :/ I didn't adjust the shoes properly yet. When I spin the drum I feel an intermittent drag. Is it normal?

Joao

It is normal - sort of, but not good !.

It means your drums are not quite round. If you cant feel it in the pedal when you brake then its not too bad.

Worst case - your wheels will lock when you dont want them too - braking hard.

Rich

Thanks for your reply. I can't feel it on the pedal. The problem is that will be hard to adjust, right? Before swapping the rear drums I could felt a pulsar on the pedal and a hard noise.

Joao

No, the problem will be that the pulsation may come back, in which case you will have to get your drums cut. Adjustment should be easy, like Rich said adjust them all the way tight, hit the brake pedal a couple times, then back off the adjusters until you get a light drag. This way the shoes will be centered and they will stay in adjustment longer.

good luck

nate

You can set them to drag about 1/3 of one full rotation of the wheel. Somehow the drums are never perfectly round and you always get intermittent drag like that.

Jan

I 'm absolutely sure they were cut five years ago when I replaced the shoes and I only made about 3000 Km. Does any one have a picture of the tool to adjust the drums? I have a long travel of the pedal (2/3) because I adjusted the brakes before puting the drums :) I lost the clip for the speed cable :(

Joao