Rear Brakes - Help and questions ;-)

Ok all,

will all of my new shiny parts from Chacal I figured I'd start on my rear brakes today.

Got a few questions. My pads don't look 'that' bad, but I don't have a caliper to fully check the size. With my un-scientific method of measuring they look about 50% thinner then the new shoes I got. Either way I got the pig open so I am replacing them ;-)

First off, how does this look for the interior of the rear brake and hub??



Secondly, I cleaned out the rear drum area with brake cleaner... How spick and span do I need to make it? Is this ok?



Third thing - the center of the hub has some weird scratches and gouges. Not sure if this kind of thing is normal - something the PO did, or whatever. The main question is, is this ok? Should I check something out, or it doesn't matter? (scratches are on right side of center area)



Well, I'm off to the search function to find some more tips and details while I got her apart. Any help w/ these questions is appreciated!

thanks!

--josh

 

#1, Looks normal. Clean and go back to riding.
#2, Looks clean enough. Run a piece of 120 grit sand paper around the drum surface to clean it up (breaks the glaze) , then clean with brake cleaner and run it.
#3, The marks are typical from fussing the rear brake assembly into place (or a lousy effort to replace the bearings). Either way, it poses no issues to you. Put it back into service. That is if there are no cracks. If you see a crack, the rear rim is done.

 

Robert,

Sa-weet! thanks for the info.

2 more quick questions if I could:

First,

Am I supposed to do anything special with the sprocket on the other side of the wheel? Clean out and regrease? Just regrease? Just leave it alone?



and lastly, is there anything I am supposed to do to the swing arm? (same question as above really - clean out and regrease, add grease, leave alone, etc..)




Thanks for the help!

--josh

 

I just took care of that, and all i did was spray all the greased surfaces and pack with grease. tried to avoid the bearings too.

I hope i did it right. can't wait for the experts to chime in.

 

There's an o-ring on the drive side you could replace. Otherwise, just clean and reapply grease. (Your in there already, why wouldn't you do the grease?)

 

lol, i don't know, thats why I asked ;-P wanted to make sure ;-)

o-ring? Ummm..... don't see a o-ring

any special kind of grease (type, weight etc..) or ...?

(mechanical noob here, be gentle, lol)

 

Moon: sprayed all greased surfaces with what?

 

Should be an oring on that splined hub sticking out of the rear wheel (opposite of the brake). Its past the splinning almost all the way to the hub (five nut flangy thingy (hope thats not to technical 8O )).

Bearing grease will work.

Hey, no problem being a noob, I was one just months ago. Now I've done so many things to this bike (I got parts being painted in the garage right now) that I can even give advice.

Brakes are one of the things I've really done. Front and back. I had a delaminated rear and that started the trickle, which turned into a flood of I can get this bike in great shape if I would only dive in up to my elbows in grease and sweat...next up CARBS (thats the one thing that still scares me, but I'm sure after doing them I'll look back and think they weren't as bad as I thought, thanks to the help of all of the people here.

 

Ok good deal.

It's late and dark - will check for o-ring in the morning. Was trying to sand and polish the drum cover ;-) damn thats a lot of work

Will have to get some bearing grease too, between that, some 180 sandpaper (smallest I got is 320) for the drum and I should be good to go.

Any other tips or tricks?? (my bearings seem fine, so I am not worried about them)

 

What's everyone's opinion on 'breaking in your brakes' ?

Breaking In Your Breaks

I can't find the original post (might have been on the XJ-Owners Listserv honestly) that said this is a great thing to do when you re-do brakes..

Expert opinions?

thanks!

 

Although aimed more at the dirt or dual-purpose rider, that's a good writeup. I generally do the "10-15 near stops from a low speed" thing, and generally take it easy (no hauling down from 80 to dead stop) for the first couple hundred miles. While the brakes are still new, I stop from highway speed in "stages" (brake, release, brake, release) rather than one application.