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Backwheel spinning freely, or not? Backwheel spinning freely, or not?
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Photo by Alessio Corradini, on the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, of two locals

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  • 2 Post By mollydog
  • 2 Post By Grant Johnson

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  #1  
Old 31 May 2014
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Backwheel spinning freely, or not?
Hi all,

I was just wondering; if I tighten the nut on my rear caliper (Honda XR 250 Brazil) to a point where the rear brake pedal has enough free play as per the manual, and I lift the rear wheel up and spin it, it catches at a certain point and will not spin freely.

Should I just tighten it up and then ride around, assuming the rear pads will wear down to a point where this will not happen?

Many thanks,
rtw
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Old 1 Jun 2014
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Sorry, drum break. I am tightening the nut which is at the far end of the break arm, ie the thing which runs parallel to the swing arm and connects the foot break to the actual break itself. I need it to be tighter because at the moment you need to press too much on the foot peddle before it actually engages the rear brake ie there is too much free play in the foot brake. Yet tightening results in the pads obviously catching at a certain point. Hope that is clearer? Many thanks!
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Old 1 Jun 2014
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Common problem on rear drum brakes. Couple ways to approach this:

1. Take apart, pull out drum brake mechanism and examine brake shoes. Try to figure out where it's rubbing first and sand down that bit only. You may be able to adjust the brake shoes and where they engage the brake drum. Should be contacting evenly and 100%. If not, adjust best you can. (they are rarely perfect)

Clean brake dust and crud out of there, re-assemble.

2. If you just leave it alone, it will wear down eventually and may be OK, but may overheat and glaze the brake shoe in the process. Result will be weak braking and uneven wear on the brake shoes. (very common on drum brakes) Uneven wear means only PART of the shoe is contacting the drum.
Not good.

3. Sometimes there is an adjustment on the pedal itself, independent of the brake actuator rod. If so, perhaps you can adjust the pedal UP ... for earlier engagement? Dunno on your bike.
If not, then adjusting shoe/drum interference fit (as above) is best.

I'm surprised you're having these issues on a brand new bike.

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Old 4 Jun 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleland View Post
3. OR see if you can remove pedal and reinsert it a bit higher (that is rotating it on its splines, so that the pedal is a bit higher when not depressed
the idea is if the pedal is a bit higher you will find it easier to press it down till it "bites"
That is a good point, one I did not think of.
Not sure how those Brazilian 250's work, but have a look, see what you can figure out. Should be some adjustment to set up the brake engagement point to suit you.

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Old 4 Jun 2014
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Backwheel spinning freely, or not?
Thanks guys.

Everyone's help here is invaluable to me as I have no network here to ask and don't have the Spanish to talk about stuff in-depth with the local mechanics (and with my recent experiences with my local Honda, wouldn't care even if I could chat to them), and am obviously new to this (going to try and make the Latin American meeting this year, if there is one, can't wait!)

Mollydog,

I'm surprised too, only thing I can think of is I did something wrong when changing the rear tire, though not sure what as I even borrowed a torque wrench to torque the rear axel nut.
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Old 15 Jun 2014
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Tip:

Before tightening the axle nut on any drum brake, press down on the pedal - or squeeze the brake lever as appropriate - and AT THE SAME TIME, while squeezing/pressing, tighten the axle nut. This will force the brake shoes to center in the drum as best as possible. The brake shoe backing plate is somewhat loose on the axle so it moves a bit, and needs to be forced into alignment.

yes it's a bit awkward but can make a big difference!
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Old 15 Jun 2014
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Cheers Grant! Will try that out later
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