I messed up my front drum brake. How do I adjust it?!

There is dot on each cam where the linkage connects. You need to make sure there are aligned.

 

Not springing back could mean that one of the springs on the brake shoes has either fallen off or broken. Take off your front wheel and pull off the brake hub and make sure the springs are where they are supposed to be.

 

What happens if you disconnect the cable and pull the lever by hand - does the lever spring back?

 

how would the cable spring back without being attached to drum? Isnt the brake springs what gives it ability to return?

 

The only springs are the ones in the drum attached to the shoes. They are what return the lever back.

 

Cable would not spring back by itself, but lever (the one on the wheel, not the one on the handle bar) should. It is possible that cable is preventing lever from springing back(because cable is dirty and rusty inside) . To check them independently- disconnect cable and try pulling lever(on the wheel) and see how happily it springs back. To check cable just pull the cable back and forth inside it's outer shell and see how easy it moves.

If lever on the wheel is hesitating to spring back - time to take wheel off and to take a look inside. It is possible that springs came off(or got stretched over time), or pads are used up to the point that lever's camshaft turns too much and is getting to close to being perpendicular to the shoe. In any case It is getting too dangerous to ride like that.

Of course lever on the handlebar should move freely as well, that should be easy to check.

 

Thats what mine was doing, just serviced the brake to make sure, then lubed the shit out of the cable. Sticky cable was prob.

 

when i got my xs400, the PO said it had new front brakes but he ran it without the lever because the brakes would stick after squeezing. you had to manually open the linkage by pushing on it.

so last weekend i rebuilt the front forks (they were leaking and super squishy), and also took apart the front drum brake and cleaned the shit out of it.

(sorry, dont have the manual with me for proper part names)

i removed the two "things" that attach to the linkage on the outside, but have the fat pan head on the inside to push the brake pads up.

i cleaned and regreased everything.

put the wheel back on and had to spend some trial and error time figuring out how to adjust the brakes/linkages to get the brakes to stop the bike but not drag when not applied. after a couple rides i got it. it was rather simple to figure out once i played around with it a bit.

 

Hey guys. yea my 81 front brake just doesnt want to grab. bike only has 7000 on it. the little indicator is right at the beginning. i use back brake mostly. but really am going to have to take it apart. Kermit, my motorcycle mechanic said clean it and roughup the pads. the indicators looked lined up .

 

Ps . got tomorrow off. not going to let it keep me from going for a ride...!!!!