85 250sx front brake help........

[3wheely]

A little stumped here. When I purchased the bike the front brakes didn't work. When pulling the lever it would only move the brake arm slightly. I adjusted the cable as far as I could go with no success. Being that the perch was cracked I bought another perch, lever and cable. I also bought new shoes seeing as I was taking it apart anyway. Put it all back together and still have the same issue. There is very little resistance when pulling the lever almost like it's not attached. The cable slides fine. This shouldn't be rocket science but anyone have a clue what's going on here?

[3wheely]

From what I'm gathering my drum is probably worn down. Tried two different cables with the same result. The dots are lined up per manual. Also with the front tire off the ground, I spun the wheel and pulled the lever all the way up and the shoes barely catch the drum but not enough to stop the wheel. Any idea's other than replacing the drum?

[fabiodriven]

Are you able to move the arm on the brake cam shaft up a notch or two?

[3wheely]

I guess I could try that. But if I am pushing the arm all the way up by hand and the shoes aren't catching would that make a difference? I'm assuming that the arm isn't supposed to go all the way up when pulling the lever? I'm trying to decipher whether the cable is stretched, a drum issue or both. How far should the arm go up when pulling the lever? Mine barely goes up even fully adjusted. Almost feels like the cable isn't attached with little rebound.

[dougspcs]

Fabio is in the right gamezone..I had this problem with my SX and had to move the a couple teeth ahead or buy a new cable.

Cable stretched is the only thing I can attribute it to since my shoes are good and everything is free.

[zainyD]

I had the same problem on my SX. I bought new pads and a NOS Honda front brake cable off Ebay and got everything working.

[Jason125m]

You're problem will be fixed by moving the brake cam shaft a few notches. I had to do this on both my es, and sx.

[3wheely]

when you say back I am assuming you mean take the arm off and reposition it clockwise or away from the axle a notch or two? Being spring loaded can you go much further than that? If that doesn't work I am assuming a cable won't help either especially if you freely spin the tire and push the arm (cable disconnected) all the way up and the shoes still don't catch the drum.

[Big Mike]

What you want to do is to adjust the arm so that is moves the cam on the inside of the drum more so that the shoes will contact the drum more. Every machine I have ever owned with drum brakes I hade to do this on.

[3wheely]

I'll give it a shot and see what happens. I may need a new cable seeing as when I pull the lever it hardly moves the arm to actuate the brakes.

[fabiodriven]

A cable should be fairly simple to diagnose 3wheely. I think you may be over-thinking this a bit.

[3wheely]

You would think fabio but the problem is if I disconnect the cable and push the arm up all the way manually, I still have no brakes. So obviously that issue is not cable related. With a stretched or not stretched cable the arm shouldn't have to go that high to engage the brakes. I'll pull it apart and see if adjusting the arm helps any. I do tend to over think but hate to overspend! :D

[fabiodriven]

Good point. If you're moving the arm up all the way by hand and it's still not working then you may be right in thinking it's the drum.

[Dirtcrasher]

^ Yep, sounds like the drum is cooked if the shoes are new and you moving the arm all the way does nothing.

Different shoes fit differently, OEM seems to fit best if available......

[3wheely]

Thanks guys for the help. Took it apart moved the arm a couple notches on the shaft and poof I have brakes! Not sure if I had maybe installed it wrong to begin with but the end result is they work great! Thanks again.