Rear Brake Has Nothing

[CerciGull]

Hi all, I am new to forums. On my 1975, I replaced my chain, front, and rear sprockets. That went pretty ok, but I've run into an issue putting it all back together. I bought the bike when I was working on an impulse (no longer employed), it's my first motorcycle (I did take the MSF course last fall). I want to ride my bike this summer, ideally to camp off of it.

Back onto the topic at hand:
I have no rear brake. I looked at the 5twins guy's thread but I didn't get through all of it, I read through Mikey's post as he seemed to have the same issue I am having. I see his was fixed by moving it one notch. I've tried that, I've tried moving it all the way forwards, backwards, in the middle, but nothing I am trying is working and I am feeling very low now. I'm not looking for a pick up, and don't think you have to be nice to me knowing how stupid I am in all aspects haha. I simply want to do something right after doing it (I have now found out) pretty wrong. I'm trying to take things one step at a time, and since everything else in my life is pretty messed up right now I figured I could at least get the bike on the road to distract me some but it turns out I am unable to do pretty simple maintenance.

I thought maybe I messed up something in the drum itself, I took the rear wheel off and noticed there was nothing I could really have done on accident, I didn't mess with the brake besides light sanding to remove glaze. Taking the wheel back off is when I found Mikey's post, so feeling like a grade A idiot, I put it back on again. But it doesn't work as mentioned before I feel like I've tried every notch.

I've been "working" on the bike since last fall, while getting the new chain on I broke off part above where the chain sits on the lower part of the engine which luckily seems only superficial and I JB welded that piece back on, where one of the cover screws goes. I was using the old chain to tighten the front sprocket and it was cold, came off like butter haha. I also unscrewed the chain adjusters all weird, but I got the wheel relatively straight going off the factory markings and figure I should get the brake and clutch figured out first before triple checking (I'm likely going to try the string method..)

Anyways, where am I messing up, and how do I stop ruining this bike?

Oh, and before the clutch was pretty stiff but usable, after putting the cover back on the left side, the clutch is unusable. I haven't fiddled with that yet, I'm sure I can find a thread or 30 on fixing that issue. It's so stiff I can't move it with both hands and while I certainly am not strong, I'm not that weak. Well, I'm at least tough LOL. I also drained the old oil and opened the side filter, using a magnet to remove the little metal bits (which from what I can tell is normal? It didn't seem excessive) and put it back in. I've yet to add the new oil, and I haven't accessed the filter on the bottom which I probably should before adding new oil. No clue how exactly to "clean" the filters even after looking through threads. I've also replaced my rear shocks with some YSS ones, same size eye to eye, that went real smoothly. If anything I hope I made someone laugh with how poor my decision making skills are.
Please help I'm going to sleep and will check back in the morning. Thanks!

 

[zrx1100]

Welcome! Here is a good read on the rear drum brakes: https://www.xs650.com/threads/650-rear-drum-brake-plates.51046/

I can already see that the cam on your brake is flipped.

The divot on the shaft should be facing the wheel axle. You will see the discussion of this common issue starting on page 2 in the above link. Mine was also flipped the wrong way. Reorienting the cam made a big improvement.

 

[Its been a long time]

@CerciGull When you remove the brake plate to flip the brake cam shaft, please post pictures of the brake cam and brake shoes.

 

[CerciGull]

Alright, here is the wheel off the bike, along with the new sprocket to see if that was at least installed correctly haha. I'm going to edit my main post to remove some information that isn't necessary to keep it only on the bike, I was tired and I find I tend to say too much which only bites me later on.

To remove the brake cam shaft, I'm guessing I have to take the springs off to remove tension? then, does it just slip out or do I tap it with a rubber mallet? I guess I also didn't measure the shoes before slapping it all back together, I figured they worked before they should be alright at least for one season of riding. I couldn't find the how to remove the cam shaft, unless I just didn't look hard enough.

I'm going to eat breakfast and then if someone hasn't already chimed in I'll look through my manuals for the accepted shoe size. When I sanded, I made sure to move circular motion and not stay too much in one spot, only sanding enough to roughen it up some. This is my first time doing anything with drum brakes, I'd seen my grandpa do some on a late 90s early 2000s ford taurus but I don't remember much from that, I was young.
If better pictures are required let me know.

 

[zrx1100]

You can just “fold” the shoes out of the way with the springs still attached

 

[Its been a long time]

Looks fine, worth cleaning that dust out of there. Just rotate the cam 180 degrees so the dot is facing towards the front.

 

[CerciGull]

So, I think I understand when you say "fold" but it's pretty tight in there. I got it to back out a small amount with some pounding with my rubber mallet, but I'm a bit afraid of ruining the fins as my mallet's rubber is pretty hard. Is there an easier way? I also tried with pliers but it didn't procure results, only some gauging at the back there.

Edit: nevermind, I got it rotated! I grabbed it on the sides with pliers and it moved easier than I thought, I had grabbed the felt on the outside of the hub out first so as to not damage it. Time to try throwing it all back together to see if I have brake!

 

[zrx1100]

Example: keep the left shoe flat with your left hand, pull on the outside of the right shoe. They should fold out. Then rotate the shaft 180 degrees, install the shoes with springs attached where you fold both of them over the pivot and the cam. Attach the lever. Done

 

[5twins]

This poor old bike, lol. You really need to introduce the moving parts to Mr. Oil and Cousin Grease, lol. Here's a write-up I did on drum brake maintenance, see post #3 .....

https://www.xs650.com/threads/how-difficult-is-it-to-replace-the-rear-drum-brakes.25632/

You really need to grease the pivot shaft on the cam where it passes through the brake plate or the brake is going to squeal and squawk when applied. Also, put some grease on the round connector that the brake rod goes through, yours is all rusty, lol. And it looks like you've got the brake arm installed one spline off because too much of the brake rod is sticking out the back .....

 

[5twins]

And for greasing brake parts (among other things, lol), 3M from Vintage Brake recommends Sta-Lube Premium Red grease. This grease has a very high melting point and is also good for high pressure areas like the swingarm bushings and steering head bearings. You can get a grease gun tube of it at HF ......

 

[zrx1100]

Only motorcycle specific oils. No synthetics or auto oils. Not even GTX. Otherwise the clutch may slip. I use 20/50 Lucas motorcycle specific.

 

[zrx1100]

Here is also a recent discussion on spark plugs: https://www.xs650.com/threads/spark-plug-recommendations-stock-77d.67864/#post-872622

 

[zrx1100]

You can find most answers in the tech section

 

[CerciGull]

You can find most answers in the tech section

Understood, I will be doing a lot more reading/lurking. Thanks!

 

[zrx1100]

Understood, I will be doing a lot more reading/lurking. Thanks!

But please post your questions and share experiences

 

[5twins]

Yes, that red grease will work most everywhere, except maybe in the wheel bearings. For them, I recommend Kendall Super Blu. This is a favorite of boaters for the wheel bearings in their boat trailers because it's highly waterproof. It's also a great general purpose grease for things like the rear brake pedal pivot and the side/centerstand pivots .....

I guess you could say I'm sort of a "grease fanatic", lol. I grease pretty much anything that moves, lol. I have several different greases that I use for different things, and several grease guns as well. Once a tube of grease is started in a gun, you don't want to be changing it to something different, it just makes a big mess, lol .....

I've also added no fewer than a half dozen more grease nipples to the bike (side and centerstand pivots, steering neck, center of the swingarm, kickstart lever where it folds in and out).