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Rear brake question.

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 10:27 pm
by sc00ter
So Pinky the pink 50cc Buddy comes in for a look over and service. Owner says she hears a sound like a handful of change or broken roller sometimes. I hear the mystery noise also while riding beside her. One of the things getting done is a new rear tire (Kenda brand) and as I'm pulling off the rear wheel a brake pad spring with both ends missing falls out. Just the center part, both hook ends missing. Then I realize BOTH brake shoe springs have missing hook ends! The bottom shoe was just resting inside the rear drum and was heated so bad the pad was cracking like crazy. Top shoe had chunks outta it also. Really strange. So I raided my stash and fixed the rear brake back to new. Scooter has 6500 miles on it, no crash or abuse damage. She does favor the rear brake though. Any idea what would cause both shoe springs to loose both hook ends?

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:20 am
by charlie55
Was this the first time the brakes had ever been serviced, and if not, were the destroyed pads OEM? Also, did the remnants of the busted springs appear to be the correct length. Was thinking maybe a previous bodge - wrong pads/springs.

I usually install the springs and then spread the pads by hand to get them over the cam and pivot post. Maybe someone tried spreading the springs using pliers with serrated teeth and nicked them up real good.

Considering that the springs don't stretch that much from brakes-off to brakes-applied, (especially the ones at the pivot end), it's really odd that something would bust both of them.

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:36 am
by sc00ter
Bought it with 1000 miles but now that I'm thinking about it, someone replaced the back tire at some point. But then I put another tire on it and I checked the shoes. It was just really weird thing to discover when removing the rear wheel 5500 miles later. Only thing I can think of is I may have hit the shoes putting the rear wheel on and knocking something loose at 1000 miles? Anyways, its fixed correctly now. She (owner) lets me know when anything is amiss on Pinky. It still runs like a top to! 45mph strong! Bone stock. I told her at 10,000 miles (or if she starts loosing top speed) we'll refresh the whole transmission and give it another check-up. But those rear brake shoes still haunt me!