Topic: 73 350f rear brake issue

[Badger]

Greetings fellow forum members.

I'm in the process of replacing rear drum shoes and front disc hardware.  Started on rear first. Once apart, it looks like the shoes and springs were replaced a few years before I got the bike.  wheel bearings, springs and shoes look recently replaced.  there are 32k miles on the bike.  Here's the issue:

There is only 2.5 inches of rear brake pedal travel before it hits my Delkevic 4-1.  With the brake adjuster screwed all the way in it still wasn't enough to provide stopping power  See pics.  current shoes measure 2.55 at shoe middle.  New shoes measure 3.28.   This should make a difference, right? One thing I noticed was that if  the brake arm was moved forward on the shaft a bit maybe that helps?  But there is only one spot that allows for the bolt so I am hesitant to force in on elsewhere?

What say ye, o experienced forum members?

[Badger]

pic 1

[Badger]

pic 3

[Badger]

pic 2

[robvangulik]

Why do you show us pics of the drum when the real culprit is the exhaust that is in the way?
I think Delkevic would have taken the possibility to use the rearbrake into consideration.....

[Badger]

Well... Ive had many hondas back in the day:

 160 scrambler, sl100, cb350, SL350, CM400, 750k, 750c.  None of them ever required - when properly adjusted, more than 2 inches of pedal travel to get the job done. 

So no, its not the pipes - anyway I called them to be sure of that.

[carnivorous chicken]

You should be able to take the brake lever off of the spline and rotate the spline a little to change the angle of the lever on this inside of the frame. I don't think you can do that at the rear as well IIRC, the lever fits the teeth just one way. But not positive.

[scottly]

One thing I noticed was that if  the brake arm was moved forward on the shaft a bit maybe that helps?  But there is only one spot that allows for the bolt so I am hesitant to force in on elsewhere?

The arm CAN be rotated on the spline; the groove for the bolt is 360* on both the drum shaft and the pedal shaft. There is one tooth missing on the shaft splines, but both the arm and pedal can be shifted.
There are punch marks to show the proper alignment..