H: Hubs, Wheels and Tyres Play in front brake drum

[Hugo Myatt]

The Classic one for me was the Chap who made the long steel strips,
Which stops the rear brake plates from turning, Out of Alloy !,
He had a sidecar, So a lot of weight, Stopped on a hill, And it rolled back a bit, because the alloy
Bent in the middle and the plates turned !!.
I love to change steel stuff for alloy on Vin's, But not that bit .

I have had stainless torque arms on my Rapide/Steib outfit for forty years. There is a very steep drive down into my garage. Just before lock down I was freewheeling backwards into my garage and applying the rear brake gently, which I must have done thousands of times, when suddenly it locked up. One of the torque arms had bent alarmingly. They had been on the bike for so long I had taken them for granted. On examination I discovered that they were actually slightly thinner than the standard ones. I have no recollection of where I got them from. They have been replaced with standard ones.

 

[deejay499]

We seemed to have drifted off topic. If the right hand brake plate has been doing this for a while, the fork recess could be worn and as BlackFlash says, a thin s/s shim strip could be the answer if everything else is correct.

 

[Bill Thomas]

Sorry Dave, I know what you mean, But in this case I think it was a good thing ?,
Now more people are aware of the rear torque arm problem. Cheers Bill.

 

[deejay499]

Sorry Dave, I know what you mean, But in this case I think it was a good thing ?,
Now more people are aware of the rear torque arm problem. Cheers Bill.

Yes, Bill, it is really easy to bend it with an outfit, especially if you stamp on the pedal in panic.

 

[Albervin]

We seemed to have drifted off topic. If the right hand brake plate has been doing this for a while, the fork recess could be worn and as BlackFlash says, a thin s/s shim strip could be the answer if everything else is correct.

I have done this with my Comet years ago . It wasn't so much as a basket case as a bastard case. The shim has to be a tight fit so it stays in place forwards and backwards. Initially I used brass shims and soldered them. I was a beginner then.

 

[highbury731]

Would there be anything wrong with a stainless tubular brake arm, with a short cross-tube welded on at each end for mounting? I can envisage a drilling for an R-clip to hold it onto the brake plate.
Paul

 

[Comet Rider]

Paul,
Don't forget you already have a groove that the standard spring clip goes into, so it would be easy for an R clip to fit

 

[davidd]

The knocking of the front anchor is usually only an issue when moving the bike around, or unloading the bike. It does not seem to happen during use. I would note that Patrick used a Heim joint in addition to the anchor as a second anchor on his Flashes.

The Seely brake has its own anchor, so Patrick was able to use two anchors, the original and one from the spring box perch to the Seely anchor.

The stock rear torque arms are a little heavy.

David

 

[vibrac]

You learn something every day heim joint - ball joint, track rod end what a neat idea for the front brake. I use big and small ones to secure the subframe and seat on my Vincent's it allows for minor frame differences never heard them called that, thanks.

 

[bmetcalf]

An 865 Seeger clip from the clutch could substitute for the FT162/166 assembly for the rear stays. (or if the diameter isn't right, the correct size.)