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Installing rear brake shoes

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bgbassplyr,

Would you take the cable to a bicycle shop to get it shortened?

The situation is that the thread on the cable is only half in the rear-most nut (the locknut?). Jack had a post where he suggested slipping a slitted washer over the cable (to take up the slack) but I can't figure that out.

Also, am I right in thinking that tightening the foremost nut (adjusting nut?) pulls the outer cable back and that somehow tightens the cable.

Sorry for being such a dumbass but it has been a while since I owned a bike!

Cheers,
Adrian
 
Adrian:

The inner cable streches with age and use. Lenghtening the outer cable shortens, in effect, the inner cable. If I understand what you are asking, the outer cable (housing) is installed and seated as it should be. There is no more adjustment to the inner cable.

Sprigett. Is this correct? There is only one cable from the E brake handle to the pinion where the brake accuating rods attach? Check all of the clevis pins and holes for wear and/or elongation. There are bunch of them. Wear at these points would have the effect of lenghtening the cable. If the wear at the clevis pins is minimal, you can lengthen the outer cable housing as follows:

Loosen the adjustment on the inner cable so that you can pull the outer away from it's stop. It will help to disconnect the inner from from the E brake handle. You will then want to fabricate a spacer to go between the outer and it's stop. 2 ways to do this.

1. Adjust the outer to it's shortest length. Take a flat washer with a large enough hole to allow the inner cable to pass through but small enough that it will not also allow the outer to pass. Cut through the washer and bend the cut open enough that you can slide it over the inner, and then bend it flat again so that it cannot fall off. Repeat with enough washers to acheive the additional outer cable length required. Re-assemble the cable and you will be able to once again adjust the E brake.

OR

2. Create a spacer using a short length of steel pipe with a small enough diameter for the inner to pass through but not the outer. Cut the pipe once lengthwise, holding it in a vise, and then cut to the length required, probably 1/2" to 3/4". Spread the cut so that, like the washers, it can be slipped over the inner cable. Squeeze the cut closed and install a hose clamp to help keep it closed unless you have a MIG and can tack it. Re-assemble the cable and you will be able to once again adjust the E brake.

#2 would be preferable, but either will (should) work.

If this is not clear, PM me and I can fax you a drawing as I have no car or cable to photograph, and have no idea how to upload a pix if I had one.

Jim
 
Like this? (I need to do this sometime too)
BTW I discovered my hardware store has a selection of spacers like these in various sizes, probably find one to fit, they already have a seam so maybe as simple as find the right one, force it open enough to slip over the cable, then squeeze it closed again.
cablespacer.jpg
 
Hi Adrian,

Sorry, I should have checked back sooner... yes, some of the rubber gaiters on modern parts are much thicker than the originals. Once the hub is reinstalled, they interfere and either rip it off, or cut a hole. If you've just replaced the wheel cylinders, and they're already cut, that's your culprit.

The solution is to grind the corners off the rear of the hub. It's so close to the center of revolution that you don't really have to worry about throwing off the balance. I'll see if I can find my old thread where I went through the same thing last year!

BUT, are you sure it's the brake cylinder leaking, and not the oil from the axle leaking past the seals? That's a much more common source of oil in the rear drums.
 
Yes yes yes. that is the methoid to fix a stretched brake cable. Excellent drawing and comments. Should be in the WIWI.
 
Adrian,

Sorry to be so long in getting back to you: back is out again and I slept late today.

I believe you've got it. The drawing is exactly right! That is what I was trying to describe.

Good luck.

Jim
 
jvandyke,
Thanks for clarifying with the drawing.

Jim,
Thanks for taking the time to spell it out for me. If I put in a spacer how can I engage the 2 nuts on the threaded part of the outer cable that attach the cable to the bracket? Hope your back gets better soon - no fun is it.


Duncan,
Thanks for the info - I'll grind the corners off after I install new cylinders. Yeah, its brake fluid - no smell.

Cheers All
 
I think the spacer eliminates that ability. It will just have to butt against the bracket.

Jim
 
Am I missing something? I finally got around to trying to tighten this up (emergency brake cable) and if you don't have the threaded portion of the cable's outer shaft sandwiched between two jam nuts, it won't stay put. At least mine didn't. Went on test drive and it failed the first time I tried it. New cable time (although I did manage to make it better, there is nothing left for next time).
 
I hear you - I'm on the last thread of the cable.

There was a discussion, I think it was on the spridget-autox.net list, that warned against buying a new cable. They are now made in you-know-where and apparently are useless after a couple of months in service.

Cheers
 
somewhere, someone on this board posted a design for a spacer to extend the reach of the original cables because yes, apparently the new ones stretch. I can never search these boards well - anyone else remember this?
 
Not I, JP.

But I ~DO~ recall a lengthy thread on rear shoes that Tony, Bugeye58, you, Trev and I were part of. Been a couple years now, tho.

Lots of photos and explanations in that thread. :wink:
 
JPSmit said:
somewhere, someone on this board posted a design for a spacer to extend the reach of the original cables because yes, apparently the new ones stretch. I can never search these boards well - anyone else remember this?
Click to expand...

I don't recall anything (and I admit searching here is challenging) other than what is listed in earlier posts of this thread.
 
jvandyke said:
JPSmit said:
somewhere, someone on this board posted a design for a spacer to extend the reach of the original cables because yes, apparently the new ones stretch. I can never search these boards well - anyone else remember this?
Click to expand...

I don't recall anything (and I admit searching here is challenging) other than what is listed in earlier posts of this thread.
Click to expand...

may have been this

https://tinyurl.com/39jq4da

but I still seem to remember a picture - though these days I seem to remember lots of things unconnected to reality.
 
Maybe I can do something on the bracket as it enters the shaft tunnel but that looked maxed out to me too. Anything you do that leaves it unsecured is asking for trouble, IMHO, if you take off the "outside" nut, add a spacer, then you can't nut it again, I wouldn't trust that to stay put. Having had to rely on it once during hydraulic failure makes this an important bit of kit to me. Maybe slicing the threaded section in two and adding something inbetween, taking it all apart and putting a coupling nut in the split might do it.
ebrakecable.jpg
 
wonder if a coupling nut and hollow threaded rod could work? wouldn't take much
 
JPSmit said:
wonder if a coupling nut and hollow threaded rod could work? wouldn't take much
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. If you can take the old cable apart enough to get a couple nut over the end....
ebrakecableelongator.jpg


I don't know which hand threads you'd need in the nut or what size or best length but McMasterCarr has everything in the world plus some.
 
Would this involve hack-sawing a lengthways slit in the coupling nut so it slides over the inner cable before connecting the coupling nut to the two halves of the threaded section?
 
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