brake plate lever XJ 550 Maxum

the adjusting screw on the brake rod will only thread on half way. can not adjust free play in pedal. loosened up that adjusting screw as well.
marked lever where it was from PO. the piece of straw is where the indicator grove is located,
putting chain on tomorrow wheel is close to where it should be for new chain.
seems to me the lever is way out of position.

 

should i have used the slow curing JB Weld? lol just kidding on the jb weld
this is what your shoes look like if you have not checked them

 

You should have bought new shoes!

 

I did buy new shoes i guess you missed the LOL. just showing what mine were before replacment

back to my question is the brake lever in the wrong position?
or did I miss somthing else that needs to be adjusted

 

That picture is scarry!
Somebody should put up a link to BigFitz's brake delamination post...
OK, I'll do it. Here it is:
http://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/safety-alert-drum-rear-brake-bike-owners-please-take-a-look.15874/

Took me a few minutes to find it. Damn, BigFitz has put up a lot of good stuff!!

 

The LOL wasn't there when I posted my reply, so I couldn't have seen it.

Post up a pic of the whole shebang, including the brake rod and adjuster nut and a seperate pic of the brake pedal that shows the pedal stop screw.

 

Brake arm is not oriented correctly, and get that silly little wood shim out of there!!!

 

Adjust the chain first then throw that pointer away, move the arm where it needs to be to work, done.

 

The pointer just give you a rough idea of the shoes. You need to know where the pointer is when the shoes are new. Then it's all relative. But like Polock said, toss it-- if you check brakes visually religiously, it's unneeded. I keep them on mine simply because they're original.
Here's a pic of a 550 project for reference :

 

i stuck that in after assembly to show where the groove was for a referance point

will get better photos and I finished the chain/sprockets install.

 

I,m going to mount them on a board with a frame and put them on my wall.

 

so I found a link on xj forever it is where the second photo comes from.
http://www.xj4ever.com/rear drum brakes.pdf
i set the brake plate lever with 1 spline ( po had it at 5 splines due to brake shoe wear) at the right side of the clamp the results are photo 3 before adjustment and photo 4 after adjustment.
adjusted brake pedle hight to FSM spec 20 mm below foot peg end then 20 mm free play for brake pedle movement, and brake engaged at 30 mm to stop wheel.
then tweeked it a little more with the adjuster nut.
does it look correct?
I think I need to go with 2 splines for best results of stopping power leverage. shoes are still in the break in stage.

 

How you have it set in photo 4 is correct. The PO had no clue and just set the arm wherever he wanted to. Keep in mind that the FSM serves as ageneral guide. You may find that you need to adjust the pedal height to suit you better (thogh the free-play should be close to the same).

 

thanks for the input

 

bumping this to get away from thread jacking