What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

A busy day yesterday.

Made an adaptor for attaching a degree wheel to the alternator nut, and also a piston stop tool.
Checked the primary chaincase timing scale, and it's within a degree of what the measured angle is.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Replaced the rubber bushes in the rear shocks as they were slightly deformed!

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
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I went for a ride on Norton. It was overcast and cold, but the road was dry. Today is the only dry day we are going to get this week, and it's going to rain some more this week. Norton ran well, except finding neutral was sometimes a bear. It may have gotten a little gummy with sitting or I might have to clean up the clutch plates. Need to ride the bike a few more times to decide.
 
I took my rear wheel off to have a long overdue new tyre fitted Christmas Eve. Later in the evening I refitted it but now I find if I very lightly depress the rear brake peddle, on 50% of the rotation the shoe start to engage but maintaining the same pressure and rotate the wheel they are free.

I had followed Matt’s advice to not loosen the left nut just remove the spindle on the right side. When I reinstalled the bike was a little difficult to push then ok as I pushed tit further. I slackened off the brake adjuster a few turns to free it but the irregular braking persists as above.

I then decided to loosen the left nut and use Matt’s idea of first spinning the wheel then stomping on the brake to centre the shoes. Whilst holding the brake on then tighten the left nut followed by the spindle nut. This resulted in an audible scrape on rotating the wheel at one point in a rotation. I undid both and tightened the left without using the brake and the right and got back to where I started ie no scrape but uneven shoe contact. Seems odd, any ideas anybody?
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

I think I got my monies worth out of that one😬
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?


That’ll improve things somewhat 😉
 
Café au Lait said:
I took my rear wheel off to have a long overdue new tyre fitted Christmas Eve. Later in the evening I refitted it but now I find if I very lightly depress the rear brake peddle, on 50% of the rotation the shoe start to engage but maintaining the same pressure and rotate the wheel they are free.

I had followed Matt’s advice to not loosen the left nut just remove the spindle on the right side. When I reinstalled the bike was a little difficult to push then ok as I pushed tit further. I slackened off the brake adjuster a few turns to free it but the irregular braking persists as above.

I then decided to loosen the left nut and use Matt’s idea of first spinning the wheel then stomping on the brake to centre the shoes. Whilst holding the brake on then tighten the left nut followed by the spindle nut. This resulted in an audible scrape on rotating the wheel at one point in a rotation. I undid both and tightened the left without using the brake and the right and got back to where I started ie no scrape but uneven shoe contact. Seems odd, any ideas anybody?View attachment 117844
I think I got my monies worth out of that one😬
View attachment 117845

That’ll improve things somewhat 😉
Click to expand...
Cafe,
Don’t feel alone on this. I have battled with the same issue you have for years trying different brake shoes,etc. and still get the same results with a tight spot you mention. I would love to find a place that could arc the shoes and will be watching this post to see what others have done.Some might say to use the sandpaper taped to the drum but on mine I couldn’t get shoes into it. I end up adjusting the brake at the tight spot so at that point there is just a slight drag.Let us know how you make out.
Thanks,
Mike
 
Thanks, that’s reassuring. Problem is I haven’t removed the wheel before so have no real idea how it was beforehand although I’m perplexed as to why it was permanently binding on half the rotation when I hadn’t adjust anything, just removed the spindle and reinstalled; why should the brake adjustment go out from that action, really odd. I’ll test ride next dry day..
 
YING said:
Cafe,
Don’t feel alone on this. I have battled with the same issue you have for years trying different brake shoes,etc. and still get the same results with a tight spot you mention. I would love to find a place that could arc the shoes and will be watching this post to see what others have done.Some might say to use the sandpaper taped to the drum but on mine I couldn’t get shoes into it. I end up adjusting the brake at the tight spot so at that point there is just a slight drag.Let us know how you make out.
Thanks,
Mike
Click to expand...
Reading Norman White’s excellent Restoration Manual I eventually found this paragraph which is basically what Matt told me but further mentions holding the wheel in alignment at the same time. Seems obvious but with the spindle loose it wants to pull to the right when tightening the left but; it’ll need a hardwood chick to prevent the spindle moving rearwards. Maybe easier with a helper.
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
Café au Lait said:
Reading Norman White’s excellent Restoration Manual I eventually found this paragraph which is basically what Matt told me but further mentions holding the wheel in alignment at the same time. Seems obvious but with the spindle loose it wants to pull to the right when tightening the left but; it’ll need a hardwood chick to prevent the spindle moving rearwards. Maybe easier with a helper. View attachment 117853
Click to expand...
You statement is inaccurate. The cable imparts no cocking load on the axle.

depress brake, tighten left side, then right.

The end.
 
Well I put a cable tie around the spindle nut and adjuster lug on the swingarm to prevent the spindle from pull rearwards, as you say made no difference. I still have a situation whereby a light press of the brake peddle to the point of first contact of one or both shoes then further rotating of the wheel without changing the pressure finds no shoe contact and is repeated once every revolution. I have no idea if this is expected or an issue that needs resolving but Ying’s earlier comment shows I’m not alone; maybe I’m over thinking it?
 
If you go to the andover norton website to view the drum brake mechanism, you will see that it's a single leading shoe type with a cam type eccentric operated by the lever arm of the mechanism. Those types of drum mechanisms have to wear themselves in a bit to increase their surface area of contact with the drum... If I was getting a significant blank spot when I turned the wheel while lightly applying the brake, I would think a few different things.

Perhaps the drum is slightly out of round for some reason, and because it's diameter is fluctuating slightly it's giving you a tight spot and a loose spot when you rotate it.

Or maybe the wheel bearing is toast so it's causing an eccentric travel path of the hub causing the odd braking performance (given that the hub measures perfectly round)

Or, there's some loose object traveling inside the hub that's causing the odd feel of the brake

Or, you are just overthinking it and it will be fine once the brake wears in and what you are observing is just minor run out that will not even be felt during actual braking....
 
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Mine is the same and hasn’t changed/improved since the bike was purchased well over a thousand miles ago. Suppose the drum is out of round.
 
Dec. 28 th in Toronto , went for a ride with my wife in a sudden spike to + 9 C. Charged battery high to get the cranking amps. up . Delivered a new 56 " clutch cable marked for western bars use , to a new friend with a Combat , he also has a BSA 650 scrambler in buckets but no upswept exhaust system .
 
I also took the opportunity to ride my '74 Commando with the spike in temperature here in Michigan. I did a casual 30 miles to bring the total miles on the bike to 16,828 and parked it in the garage. My friend Bob put 8,414 on it after he bought it new in college. I now have 8,414 on it since acquiring it from his family and restoring it after he passed in 2018.
 
I finally admitted that riding season is over. Commando, ES2 and GB 500 all tucked in for winter nap - batteries out , fuel tanks filled to brim with AV gas and a bit of Stabil . By this time the Commando is usually in the heated shop with the fuel tank removed ( don’t like that under our house ) but with ongoing work on the Dommie project -bead blasting , sanding , painting etc I think it is better off in the garage with it’s stable mates . It may be time for a trip to Harbor Freight for another lift so all can be safe from the ocean when it occasionally wants to visit.
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

You can see the water marks on the cabinets from Sandy .
Cheers - RT
 
Drove her again today in 4 C. Started right up , after pulling the weather cover and depressing both ticklers to overflow . This is on the street in Toronto on Dec. 30 th . Drove it to Flaherty's , to exchange my new Ugly stick 7 ft. travel rod , for one that had not been crushed at the tip by a sloppy handler . Took the opportunity to also buy a pellet/ BB rifle , on sale . APX nxg . Strapped it to the bike and rode home . No permit required . Rabbit/ grouse season is next Sept. 15 th , on . Norton running well .
Off to Mexico in 2 wks. , for 12 .
 
Happy New Year!

I took the opportunity to have two rides earlier this week to try out (carefully) my new rear tyre and test the rear brake after reinstalling the wheel. It’s like having a new bike. I knew I was in for some better behaviour as my old tyre was very square and almost bald in the centre line which made fast overtakes crossing central lines, um, interesting 🤔

The biggest improvement is of general handling and stability though. I can confidently recommend Battlax BT46 tyres as a good alternative to the Roadriders which I have on the W800. They seem a little firmer but that could be a number of factors but the ride is full of feedback without harshness and very confidence inspiring though naturally I haven’t explored the lean angles just yet.

The brake seems mostly as before but with slightly longer peddle travel, I’ll let it bed in before adjusting further.
 

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