Rear brake pedal moves way too far

[surley_old_guy]

Just took my '81 out of the barn after 17 years. Everything's going good- cleaned the carbs, changed the oil, new battery, until today I'm about a half-hour into a ride and the rear brake pedal goes way past its usual limit. It was moving about an inch, maybe inch and a half if I really pressed it, but suddenly it went all the way to the bottom of the exhaust pipe. When it gets all the way down, it's much grabbier than it was, too- like all the brake shoe material suddenly disappeared and now it's metal on metal.
Two questions- has anyone experienced this before? and is it safe to ride this way for another week until the tire I ordered comes in and then replace the shoes while the wheel is off anyway?

 

[LuckyEight]

any strange sounds from the rear drum? It's not difficult to check the brake shoe, linkage and brake pedal... But I don't presume there will be some problem with the brake shoe...

nevertheless if there is some broken piece of the brake shoe, it could get stuck in there and brake your rear wheel. It happened to me with the car...quite dangerous situation.

 

[drewpy]

I recon the lining has de-laminated ie the glue has come unstuck on the shoes due to age

 

[surley_old_guy]

Thanks for the replies. I was just reading an older post on the same subject. Looks like the shoe separating is not that uncommon. Who knew shit would fail after only 32 years... Calling my parts store in the morning to get them on order.

 

[Scorpio1963]

This ironic that this thread had come up,I just expereinced something similair today.Good thing is I dont have to order the pads I already have them.Gave me the incentive I needed to get started doing my rear brake job.