Rear brake assembly rebuild

A month ago, in Mid-May, I rode out to the Overland Expo which is about 35 miles from my house, just to take an evening ride.

On the way out there, the rear brake was acting kinda funky. Almost like it would reset after I hit a certain point. I figured I just needed new shoes on the rear drum brake, which I resolved to do as soon as I got home.

Well, as I pulled into the parking lot at Mormon Lake Lodge, there was a mighty THUNK as I pressed the rear brake, which pushed with enough force to kick my foot off the pedal entirely. I was going approximately zero miles per hour as this happened, which is good, because the rear brake was no longer usable at this point.

As seen in the photos below (sorta) I sheared off the bolt on the stay-bar that holds the rear drum from moving. That caused the drum to rotate with the wheel as I braked, which rotated the rear brake rod that attaches the pedal to the drum, bending it all the way around the axle and destroying the attachment to the drum as well.

My lovely lady rescued me in her car and even took me out to dinner, we only had to delay the reservation for 15 minutes.

This week I did some shopping on Ebay and got the bike put back together. The process itself was fairly easy, just took a little while to find the right parts. I probably had 2 hours start to finish, including time for drinking beer and taking pictures. A savvy bike mechanic could probably do it in 30 minutes.

After taking the rear wheel off, this is what it looks like. The inside of the drum is in great shape, the shoes are even pretty good, but there was some trauma to the rest of it.

Old (broken parts)

New part off Ebay. Happened to come with all the pieces I need!

I also bought a new brake rod, which apparently I didn't photograph. Basically, the new one is straight and the old one was bent fairly seriously (all the way around the axle)

Curiously enough, the cotter pin that holds the bolt between the pedal and the rear brake rod is TINY and very difficult to get to without pulling the right footpeg off the bike, which I was not about to do. The most painful part of this process was removing and re-installing that tiny little pin, pictured below (middle) next to tools for scale

Took it for a quick test ride around the property and mashed the brake pretty good. It held up well, stopped the wheel, and didn't do anything else, which is exactly as it should be.

Reassembled!

Now it's time to get back on the road! Motorcycle season is here and I am not about to miss it.