- Joined
- Jan 31, 2010
- Messages
- 3,025
I know this has been mentioned before (even fairly recently) and may be very elementary to everyone. It is to me too but since I just (yesterday) forgot about it (again) I thought I'd post. 
If you have the rear axle nuts loose for any reason - adjusting alignment/removing wheel/whatever, be sure you firmly apply the rear brake when you tighten the axle nuts to ensure the drum is centered on the plate/shoes. I failed to do that the other day and, when out for a short ride, I found that the brake pedal took a lot more movement and pressure to get any stopping power - not that a rear brake has much anyway. What I mean was that applying "normal" pressure produced virtually no change to velocity.
Then I remembered...so I went back home, loosened the axle nuts, pushed the brake pedal with one foot while tightening the nuts - went back out and had a great rear brake - again, as good as rear brakes can be since they provide almost no real stopping power due to the unweighting. So don't forget to apply the brake to tighten the axle.
If you have the rear axle nuts loose for any reason - adjusting alignment/removing wheel/whatever, be sure you firmly apply the rear brake when you tighten the axle nuts to ensure the drum is centered on the plate/shoes. I failed to do that the other day and, when out for a short ride, I found that the brake pedal took a lot more movement and pressure to get any stopping power - not that a rear brake has much anyway. What I mean was that applying "normal" pressure produced virtually no change to velocity.
Then I remembered...so I went back home, loosened the axle nuts, pushed the brake pedal with one foot while tightening the nuts - went back out and had a great rear brake - again, as good as rear brakes can be since they provide almost no real stopping power due to the unweighting. So don't forget to apply the brake to tighten the axle.