Ah Schuchs...rear brake blues

[FlyingAnvil]

Was out for about a 3 hour ride yesterday (which is rare around here in the rainy Pacific North West) because I had a day off and the weather was beautiful. I was riding around playing the Moto Tag Game over in the lounge area and I turned a corner applied some brake and the nut and bolt that holds the strut to the brake drum fell out and BAM, I found myself broke down. Now I need to repair the brake lever at the drum, the brake rod, and re-bend the brake stop brackets and adjuster. I really should pull the rear wheel again and check the brake innards while I'm at it. Will post a pic later. Go check out the moto tag game in the lounge area, I don't know if my pics over there should qualify as was forced due to unfortunate circumstances haha, Oh well it fun while it lasted.

 

[bcware]

I believe that bar is called a torque arm. It is supposed to have cotter pins to prevent this kind of failure. The nut/bolt at the drum brake end has a regular washer and a locking washer. The nut/bolt at the swing-arm end only has a flat washer. Both utilize cotter pins.

I am assuming you lost at least one bolt. Since they are a bit special in shape you will not likely be able to find anything suitable locally.

I would suggest inspecting the rest of the bike for missing cotter pins. Re-torque everything as well; triple-tree, axles, brakes, etc. Old bikes are often worked on by novices at some point in their life. When I get a "new" old motorcycle I always do a safety check on the critical parts. I have found missing cotter pins and critical bolts only finger tight on more than one occasion.

 

[FlyingAnvil]

Yes, I have found a few missing cotter pins and have been replacing as I find them missing. When I took the torque arm off to re-do the rear brake, there was no provision for a cotter pin. Leads me to believe that someone replaced the factory hardware with a standard nut and bolt.

 

[FlyingAnvil]

Need to give it some attention this winter for sure.

 

[bcware]

Your axle is on backwards unless they changed it over the years. It may not have any affect though. Give me some photos of the rear brake mechanism closer to the frame behind the rear brake; I can tell you if it's on right. It has to face a certain way and so do the nuts and bolts or the nut/bolts and cotter pins will not clear properly. It is also easy to botch the orientation of the rear brake lever mechanism. I never saw a good photo of this thing in the manual either. You can probably find the nuts and bolts you need on bikebandit. Their prices are usually not too terrible for oem hardware. It's the big pieces that are killer.

 

[drewpy]

the angle of the brake arm is wrong too. unless the bent rod is just there for the photos the rear brake WILL lock up.

check the manual for the correct orientation

 

[FlyingAnvil]

Yeah fellas, I had the brake arm right in the beginning, but after the hardware dropped out everything changed if y'all know what I mean. Will look at bikebandit for the correct hardware. Thanks guys.

 

[FlyingAnvil]

Here's some more pics....

 

[bcware]

Get a shot or two of the mechanism behind the brake lever. It has a spring on it and a lever and it is somewhat obstructed by the frame. If someone has taken the entire thing off before they have have assembled that wrong as well.

 

[FlyingAnvil]

OK will do. I bet you are on to something, good lookin out.

 

[FlyingAnvil]

Yes the axle was installed on the opposite side, will check behind brake pedal lever as well.