Rear brake drum surface shot?

Jlovvorn · Post by **Jlovvorn** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:22 pm

I have discovered that the (at least one) source of my poor rear braking is the deep grooves cut into the surface of the hub.

Can this be fixed?

Maybe a brake shop could refinish it, but I am worried that it will leave the hub too large and the shoes won't be able to reach the surface.

The wheel is otherwise very very clean and I would hate to have to ditch it.

Someone else must have faced this problem given these hubs are now 50 years old.

48lesco · Post by **48lesco** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:25 pm

Poor rear braking is a feature of the Dream; poor man's abs. I wouldn't do anything with the hub except clean and scuff up the brake surface with some emery cloth. Do the same to remove any glaze from the brake shoes. Make sure the drum and pads are clean and free of any oil before you reassemble. Put the least worn shoe on top. Let them wear back in for a while and see where your at in a couple hundred miles!
-48

Jlovvorn · Post by **Jlovvorn** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:05 am

Thanks! The grooves are pretty deep, and I tried to scuff them up already.

The braking is substandard, even for this era brakes.

Should I try and dremel them out some? Or will that just give me smooth and shiny grooves and worsen the problem?

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:17 am

You could either try and get the drum skimmed or buy another hub. I managed to mount my CL77 hubs in a lathe and clean therm up but you do need a pretty large machine to do it in. A good brake shop or machinist should be able to fix it for you. You can get some new brake shoes and have the diameter turned to suit.

G

Jlovvorn · Post by **Jlovvorn** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:29 am

Thanks. I got brand new shoes in there, so hopefully I can afford to lose some surface on the hub.

I assume getting them on the lathe will require unlacing the hub from the wheel, in which case I probably should just find a better hub and rebuild the wheel.

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 12:19 pm

There are some shops that can mount the whole wheel and with flimsy pressed steel drums (old British bikes) this is preferable as it ensure the drum is still round when laced up.

The Dream hub is pretty stiff so I just work on the hub and re-lace afterwords.

The picture is of an S90 hub which I managed to fit in my own lathe.

G