1980 XS400 Special II brakes

eblanken

XS400 Member
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Cleveland, OH
Bike1-MedRes.jpg


I recently bought this 1980(?) XS400 Special II and it needs some new brakes really badly. There hasn't ever been any stopping power with the back brake and the front brake now seems to be letting go a bit more. I don't mind keeping the drum brakes for now but the problem is that I've never really dealt with drums on a bike before. I can't just start ripping the bike apart either because the shop I will do the work in is about 80 miles away from my house.

My question is this: Are the guts of the front and back brakes the same? I try to look up parts online and all I ever see is stuff for the rear brake. Can I just buy two sets of parts and use one in each wheel? I got no info when I bought the bike and I'm honestly not even totally sure of the year or model. The VIN starts with 3F8 and I've not been able to find a match to that anywhere. I've already moved the petcock to a lower position on the tank and now I am working on brakes/rewiring the whole bike since my signals recently went out after getting caught in a monsoon.

Any help is appreciated.
 
No, they are not the same. The front takes a different shoe that is much harder to source. Searching will often yield 99.9% rear pads because that is what most bikes have. Front drums seem to be somewhat rare. Another annoying part to source is the front brake cable.

The wheels may have been swapped out at some point. Drums are desirable for the looks. Front and rear drums were standard on my 1978 2E which was an economy model, but I believe the Special model was, well, special and should probably, at the very least, have a front disc brake. I'm not good with model history, so I may be wrong.

I believe the front is EBC shoe 513, the rear is 516

I would double-check this, but I am fairly certain this is what I used. You'll have much better luck searching by part number over model. They are plentiful on ebay.

Most of the time they come with new springs, but if they do not make sure they get replaced too.
 
If you set up drums properly you can get them to perform fairly well. Also something to note- a linkage of that length will cost you some leverage on the brakes.
 
Agree, drums work pretty well. The big difference is the direct cable actuation on the front. One needs to pull much harder than normal compared to a hydraulic disc brake. A surprise logging truck blocking the road proved it to me!
 
Thanks for the initial help bcware. I'd love to double check this stuff but I honestly have a lot of trouble finding any pertinent info about front drum brakes. That's why I came here. The info you gave is helpful enough to get some parts flowing my way and get me back on the road soon enough.

Wolfe_11B: I know that the linkage is pretty long and comes with a cost but there hasn't EVER been any braking power to the back. We can only assume that the brake innards are shot. We've tried adjusting just about everything with the brakes. The only thing left to do is clean up the insides and hope that works.

The guy who owned it prior to me was about 400-500lbs and it was his bar-hopper. I'm sure he rode the piss out of it and didn't care too much about the back brakes. The front have kept me safe enough since I bought it but now it's time for a little more stopping power.

If anyone can help out with a better solution for the back breaking issues I'm all ears. If not, then it shall stay this way for now. No big deal I suppose.

Next up will be rewiring. Any thoughts on why my turn signals may have went out after a rain storm? All connections appear fine and fuses are still good. I was thinking it was something in the controls as I can't even get the signal indicator to light up anymore. I was hoping to save a bunch of this work for the winter but it just keeps popping up.
 
The signal indicator is run off the same line as the signals; so if one is out both are out if I recall correctly.

Do the fuses just appear to be good or have you actually swapped them out with known good ones? Not sure if you have original bulb types still or upgraded blades.
 
bcware: An update on the signals situation. I had to go out today and took the bike. The indicator on the handlebars now lights up and the signals light, but do not blink. This is a new development and leaves me just as stumped as before. I'm not super mechanically inclined otherwise I'd have it ripped apart and probably found the problem by now.
 
My $0.02, take a gander at the hand controls. Only a few screws stand in your way, and then you can [at the very least] rule them out.

My imagination runs wild putting a 500lb man on that bike.

02927c07d02537ec67bce050cc9a02bc.jpg


I'm a terrible person.
 
Google the part number and see what comes up. I got a new set of yamaha ones off ebay a while back for $20 shipped:) Your model came with drum front brakes. All the xs400s' where "special" models after 1980.
 
The cause of the signals not flashing was found. It appears to be the flasher box (or whatever it's called). We ripped it out from a mess of wires and found that it had a small hole worn into the side. I assume that when the rain hit it that it just shorted out. We taped over it and banged it against the frame rail a few times and it works again. I'm going to get another part from a local salvage yard. I assume all the XS bikes used the same part. Hell, the guy may even have a XS400 there that I can rip it off of. Might just get two of them to be safe.

I also replaced the brakes on the bike. The 513 and 516 part numbers were a big help and fit right in. The back brakes were completely shot. I mean NO use out of them at all. We slid the new ones in place, attached the springs and it was like riding a whole different bike. Being able to stop is something I had to worry about before. Kind of crazy to not worry so much now. The fronts were alright but they could obviously use a change. We did that, adjusted some stuff and now it's riding like a champ. We also moved the linkage for the back brake around to get it straighter and a bit tighter. The small things were making big differences.

If you're interested in seeing some photos from the fixes of this bike check out my blog here: https://blackcursecreative.wordpress.com I tried to get a good image of everything that's been done so far (other than the most recent work).
 
Back
Top