Drum Brake Er 5

Darith

I can use my drum brake only stiffly though. But when i engage it; it will not release and have to manually relaease it. When i took off my back wheel to have a look at it, the panel would not come off ! My Hayes manual says it should. My question is why the panel will not come off, am i missing something ? Is this realted to the incorrect functioning of the drum brake ?

galwaytt

..the 'cover' you refer to, is sometimes called the 'backplate', and carries the brake shoes, actuator etc on it, on the inside. With the wheel held, can you rotate the backplate, within the hub?

I think your backplate just needs a bit of 'persuasion' to release it.....some gentle prying, etc.

Once apart, dismantle the shoes off it, remove the actuator/spindle that the shoes rest on, and clean everything with brake cleaner (aerosol). The spindle should rotate freely in the backplate - if not, clean the bore on the plate, and the spindle if necessary, with some emerypaper. Some anti-seize on it going back together, and all should be hunky-dorey.

Once you've got the whole lot back on the bike, set the actuator and brake rod in such a way that, with the brake applied, that the rod and the short actuator lever, are at 90 degrees to one another. This will deliver the best combination of feel and power, with lest effort. The rod has a threaded end, to help, and the actuator lever can be removed and rotated around it's shaft, on the splines, to get it right.

Hope this helps.