Topic: Rear Brake Drum Placement

[Old Scrambler]

Of the 100+ rear-drum Hondas that have passed through my hands...........All of them have the brake-stay located at approximately 5-O'clock. The shouldered fastener should pass through the stay-arm somewhat loosely. The washer and castle-nut should be mildly tight against the shoulder and adjusted to allow for the cotter-pin.

[newday777]

You've made your brake stay too short.
Too much angle of the hub stay mount.
Your picture is 1st.

Okayy... so then what is the correct angle?

I keep getting different answers from different people and have to switch up the brake stay. With the bike sitting on the lift without the tire hanging down, the brake arm is at a 6:30 position. Very close to the 7 o'clock position BenelliSEI had warned of.

So I suppose I'm lost as to the correct place for everything there doesn't seem to be a concrete explanation.

You are starting with the wrong reference mentioning the brake actuator angle. I'm not referring to that.

I went to my shop to look at the 78K on my lift and see some difference in my earlier post from the K2-K6 pictures above.

1st, Is the bolt holes on your remade brake stay 12 5/8" center to center? That is the stock 77/78K brake stay length.
If not, which is why I said that your brake housing plate looks like it sets forward too far comparing your picture to other bikes(my pictures were earlier K models above and have a different stay length... so will have different brake stay plate angle compared to your bike)
I've taken pictures of the K8 on my lift to compare to yours, which looks like your brake stay bolt sets forward from the stock location, which you will get if the holes on your new stay are shorter than 12 5/8" center to center. It looks like both your bike and the bike on my life axles are at #16 alignment tics so it's not the chain wear difference.

The brake actuator arm needs to be set on the splines at the punch marks lined up to let you know if you brake shoes are too thin needing replacement (reference pictures from Hondaman's book) and will determine the angle as chain wears and brake shoes wear. Do you have new shoes on your bike??

[newday777]

BTW you are correct that there isn't much mentioned on rear brake plate angle positions in most service manuals. I have the Honda, Clymer, Chilton and Mark's My CB750  book for reference, thus the multiple answers you received.
I checked them this time after I got to the shop.

[Ellz10]

Looking at your last lift picture, I think you are OK on our angles.

I did some more research and I came to the same conclusion. I looked at several of the stock photos of the 77/78s and it's barely noticeably off.

Thank you for the clock reference/example, I'll be sure to remember that!

Of the 100+ rear-drum Hondas that have passed through my hands...........All of them have the brake-stay located at approximately 5-O'clock. The shouldered fastener should pass through the stay-arm somewhat loosely. The washer and castle-nut should be mildly tight against the shoulder and adjusted to allow for the cotter-pin.

That's great news, because that's about where mine is at once I set the bike down and threw the back gate up!

I'll make sure to check the tightness of the bolts and definitely make sure not to tighten hard. Thank you (:

You've made your brake stay too short.
Too much angle of the hub stay mount.
Your picture is 1st.

Okayy... so then what is the correct angle?

I keep getting different answers from different people and have to switch up the brake stay. With the bike sitting on the lift without the tire hanging down, the brake arm is at a 6:30 position. Very close to the 7 o'clock position BenelliSEI had warned of.

So I suppose I'm lost as to the correct place for everything there doesn't seem to be a concrete explanation.

You are starting with the wrong reference mentioning the brake actuator angle. I'm not referring to that.

I went to my shop to look at the 78K on my lift and see some difference in my earlier post from the K2-K6 pictures above.

1st, Is the bolt holes on your remade brake stay 12 5/8" center to center? That is the stock 77/78K brake stay length.
If not, which is why I said that your brake housing plate looks like it sets forward too far comparing your picture to other bikes(my pictures were earlier K models above and have a different stay length... so will have different brake stay plate angle compared to your bike)
I've taken pictures of the K8 on my lift to compare to yours, which looks like your brake stay bolt sets forward from the stock location, which you will get if the holes on your new stay are shorter than 12 5/8" center to center. It looks like both your bike and the bike on my life axles are at #16 alignment tics so it's not the chain wear difference.

The brake actuator arm needs to be set on the splines at the punch marks lined up to let you know if you brake shoes are too thin needing replacement (reference pictures from Hondaman's book) and will determine the angle as chain wears and brake shoes wear. Do you have new shoes on your bike??

So I measured from center hole to center hole and I'm at 12 1/2, maybe a tad closer to 12 3/8, so a bit off from stock length.

My punch marks are dead set lined up with eachother - I tried moving it around, but in the end having them match dot to dot is the only way that I could make it work.

Brand new EBC shoes, yepper!