[tjschneider]

So I am well aware that they are pretty much shit. I'm wondering though how tight is too tight to run the shoes?
Running it as described in a manual with no drag on the drum will literally give me zero braking. I rolled past a local shop and they took a look and said "run it so that when you brake you can fully lock up the wheel" However, setting it up this way make it so that the brake is always engaged. From a stand still I can still push the bike around but not with a ton of effort.
The set up is an original drum with new shoes.

The questions are

1- How tight is too tight ?
2- do you need to do anything to the ater-market pads to make it work ?

 

[Rubone]

If you have not arced the linings to the drum you are already off on the wrong foot. It is mandatory for any sort of working action. You also need to relieve the leading edges slightly to allow them to ease on, not grab. And you need to center the shoes with the pivot bolt adjustment. If all those things are done they will run close to the drum with no drag and work as well as they can be expected to. And be sure to use the proper cable as well so that stretch is not an issue.
Good luck!
Robbie

 

[tjschneider]

arching is the one thing I thought about but wasn't sure.
Something like this? using just a file to arch the edges of the lining ?

link
thanks

 

[Rubone]

No, not like that. The shoes need to contact the drum on a matching radius. It can be done carefully by hand if you know what you are trying to achieve. Just think of a circle within a circle. If the inner circle is not perfectly as round as the outer they don't match. An old trick is to put sandpaper in the drum and rotate the shoes against it. WEAR A MASK, most old brake shoe material contains asbestos. Unlike you enjoy the mesothelioma commercials on TV!
Center the shoes before you start. Do you know how to do that?
Robbie

 

[MODELA30]

ARE YOU USING NEW SHOES OR DID YOU RELINE OLD SHOE HEADS? I RELINED MY OLD SHOE HEADS AND I DONT HAVE A PROBLEM!! Knuck From Indiana.

 

[KF 56PAN]

I have two panheads with springers and stock drum front brakes. I have experimented with moving the attachment point of the brake cable to the hole on the backing plate brake lever to change the amount of pull I get out of the brake cable action. It changes the radius to give more or less braking action/movement with the amount of pull at the lever. It always varies with what spare parts or levers I have on hand at the time to assemble with.

 

[tjschneider]

No, not like that. The shoes need to contact the drum on a matching radius. It can be done carefully by hand if you know what you are trying to achieve. Just think of a circle within a circle. If the inner circle is not perfectly as round as the outer they don't match. An old trick is to put sandpaper in the drum and rotate the shoes against it. WEAR A MASK, most old brake shoe material contains asbestos. Unlike you enjoy the mesothelioma commercials on TV!
Center the shoes before you start. Do you know how to do that?
Robbie

I found this...
http://www.magnetozoo.com/2011/05/tech-tip-springer-brake.html
It talks about the radius of the Reproduction shoe compared to the OEM shoes.
I pulled the break apart and looked at how the brake lining was hitting the drum and was pretty surprised by what I saw.
Maybe 5% of the lining was contacting the drum.

 

[750Devo]

I have used the sandpaper method to arc a springer front drum. Made a large difference in the braking power. Get some of the adhesive backed sandpaper cut it too fit and stick it all the way around the inside of the drum. Put it back together and spin the wheel while putting pressure on the brake lever. Inspect occasionaly to see how much contact the pads are making 75% is good.

You need to center the brake before doing any of this. You will notice the nut directly across from the brake lever on the face of the brake plate. Loosen this nut squeeze brake lever and then retighten while still keeping brake lever pulled as tight as possible. Should be centered now.

 

[10watt]

I figured I'd drop in on this thread since it's in the same realm. My problem is that I got a repop 45 solo front drum and new pads. I can barely push the bike forward and backwards just drags the front wheel. I don't even even have room to put sand paper I the hub. Should I just ride it around and let it sort out? I did center it though.

 

[old.wrench]

T.J.
You mention you have an original brake and repop shoes. Another thing to look at in addition to what the other guys have mentioned, is the condition of brake operating cam and the brake drum itself. If either of those have excessive wear it could account for the problem you're having. If the contact surface on the cam is real worn down, you can build it back up with some weld and grind a good profile on it. Those springer drum brakes work O.K. when you have them set up right.

I've been looking for a pair of springer brake shoes for a while now. Original Harley shoes or repop ones, with good, bad, or no brake linings. Buy or trade. Any help would be appreciated.

Geo.

 

[old.wrench]

I figured I'd drop in on this thread since it's in the same realm. My problem is that I got a repop 45 solo front drum and new pads. I can barely push the bike forward and backwards just drags the front wheel. I don't even even have room to put sand paper I the hub. Should I just ride it around and let it sort out? I did center it though.

10 watt,
If your sure that that the linings being to thick is the problem, you can line your drum with some thin sand paper as has been mentioned, and then take the individual shoes off the backing plate and arc them to the drum that way. Just make sure to position them when you arc-sand them the same way as they will sit in the backing plate.

Geo.

 

[10watt]

Cool... I'll try that. Yeah... Just pulling the backing plate / shoes out of the hub is tough because it's so tight.