Topic: CL350 Rear Brake Issue

[Tree]

Hi.  I recently bought a 1970 CL350 K2. 22K miles.  It has drum brakes front and back.   The rear brake pedal bottoms out with minimal effect stopping the bike. (front brake works fine) No adjustment left on the brake arm.  I had the local bike shop replace the brake pads, but it made little difference.  They said they roughed up the inside of the hub as well. 

The bike shop offered to mount the brake arm further back, (rotated further counter clockwise on the brake cam), but it looks like the arm might be made to mount at a certain orientation relative to the cam, so I'm not sure this is the right way to fix the problem.  Any idea what the likely cause might be and if it's correctable?  Is if likely that the inside of the brake drum has worn to the point that it causes this, and if so what do you do, short of finding another used hub.

Appreciate any input.

Thanks

[rivetslag]

Your shop's suggested fix sounds like the correct one. If the brake arm is clocked forward too far on the drum cam, the shoes will never contact the drum. Just remount the arm a couple notches counter-clockwise. Set the rear wheel spinning and just manually engage the rear brake by pulling the brake arm with the pedal unattached, you'll be able to see where it should be when the rear wheel stops turning abruptly.