Hitchcocks Forum

hiya all . i have an 2001 indian bullet 500. is there a converion for the brakes for this bike please.it was let in storage for 2 yrs and i cant get the grease off. it continously grates. my friend said its because its not contacting on a level but bowed . im not mechanically minded but it might make sense to you. what brakes do others have on a 500 bullet ? thanks in advance. mick

You don`t say what type of brakes are on your Bullet, so I presume they are standard drum brakes. There is probably rust on the surface of the drum which is causing the grating; it will go away with use. If it sounds very bad, you or someone will have to remove the wheel and brake drum to inspect and clean. Not sure what the grease problem is about, but kerosene will remove it.

"And for those in different countries, 'Kerosene' becomes 'paraffin' in the UK and wait for it, 'petrol' in france.



where as 'gasoline' becomes 'petrol' in the UK, and 'essence' in france. See? all easy-peasy!

Can you clarify please, do you mean you can't get the grease off of the brakes?

Hi Egg,



to clarify, if yours is a 2001 bike it is most likely fitted with a drum brake up front. Specifically this will be a 7 inch internal diameter brake hub, with a pair of brake shoes operating against it, it is a "Twin Leading Shoe" design that tries to maximise brake lining to drum contact by pushing the front edges of both brake shoes into contact with the drum simultaneously.



There are a number of reasons why any drum brake might not be operating properly:



1. Contaminated brake linings, eg with grease as mentioned - use a solvent degreaser to clean out the drum and clean the linings



2. Corrosion in the brake drum, as mentioned, needs de-rusting.



3. Worn-out brake shoes, replace.



4. Seized or partly-seized operating linkage, quite possible if the bike has been standing for a long time, strip the brake down and clean/re-grease the operating cam spindles, but only with just enough grease, too much and you're back to problem number 1.



5. The brake plate carrying the operating linkage is distorted or incorrectly machined meaning the shoes won't line up properly and therefore won't contact the drum properly when the brake is applied. Replace it for a new one.



6. The brake drum has distorted and is oval rather than properly round. This needs to be machined to remove just enough metal to make the brake surface truly round again, which has to be done with the wheel fully built, ie leave the wheel rim and spokes on. This is a specialist job, ideally followed by fitting a new set of oversize brake linings to the brake shoes and having them machined down to match the diameter of the re-machined drum! If the drum is too badly distorted or worn, you'll need a new front wheel, probably yours isn't that far gone.



7. This is particularly important with a Twin Leading Shoe brake, the operating linkage might not be adjusted properly. This would mean that only one brake shoe is coming into contact with the drum, instead of both shoes contacting at exactly yhe same time. Our hosts have some technical notes on this website about how to set the brake up properly, though not all of our experts agree with those notes! Tim NZ has posted on this. You can search back through the forum posts about the Twin Leading Shoe or TLS brakes for more info.



Whew.



You can convert a set of drum-brake forks to take a disc brake front wheel, though it is probably better to fit a set of disc brake front forks as they are designed to cope with the extra stress of the more powerful brake and are (in theory) safer!



A.

thanks for all your replies im ver grateful. as stated i know nothing about brakes and leave my friend o do this. i also had a problems with timing . its took me 6 months to figure the crrect timng to stop my crb being blwn off onkicking the bike over. early broke my ankle doing his. my brakes squeek on the front and groan really bad on the back. ive cleaned the rust off but to no difference but will try the solutions you all have kindly proffered. ta mick

There is no easy way to decontaminate the linings on brake shoes. A little grease contamination may be removed with aerosol brake cleaner. Bad contamination, discard and replace. The lining may need the surface busting with a file to remove rust deposits, if you use sandpaper you put grit into the lining which is not good at all. If the drums are rusty, clean them up with wire wool and let the brake shoes do the rest - brake linings are abrasive and will clean their own drums although it make take a while and need cleaning out a few times. Ensure the brake shoes are centring, it may be necessary to remove the cam/bush, clean it up and re-fit it. The little plate the bush rides in is supposed to slide very slightly under pressure so both shoes hit the drum at the same time, it may well have seized in place. Some of the internal parts such as the cams and bushes are supposed to have a little copper or moly grease but this must not get onto the shoes or drums. All the grease that was there has probably dried up; dismantle completely, clean, service and reassemble.

I see no reason to assume the drums have gone oval whilst sitting for 2 years. Squealing is usually shoe alignment and maybe needing some copper-eaze on the heels of the shoes.



Solvents - the best degreasant is soap and water, followed by iso-propanol to remove the water - but Do Not Use on the absorbent brake linings. Isopropanol is an industrial alcohol that will evaporate without leaving a trace; it is used as a lens cleaner and for electronics. Petrol/essence (spirit)/gasoline from the fuel tank is a collection of solvents. Lighter-fuel, naphtha, is a good general purpose solvent. Paraffin/kerosene, this is a light oil related to jet fuel, fuel oil and diesel, it may leave oily deposits. Comma Hyperclean or Gunk, no idea what are in these but they're wicked. Aerosol brake cleaner, a collection of nasty solvents that seem to do the intended job well.

I wouldn't use soap and water as there's all sorts of stuff in soap that could leave deposits. Isopropanol is commonly called Surgical Spirit. Cheap at the chemists. Cellulose thinner is a good degreaser as well.

Isopropanol aka iso-propyl-alcohol is not surgical spirits, that is mostly "denatured alcohol" i.e. methylated spirits and other stuff. It is cheaper at Maplins in a 500ml can.



An ionising surfactant acts as a wetting agent for universal solvent, probably the best degreasant invented, also called soap and water or a bucket of hot suds. You can scrub the metal bits in it but then you have to dry them or they will rust. Hence, rinsing the soap away assumed, wiping out with propanol to remove the last traces of water.

But you do not want to let the brake linings get a soaking in detergent. Except we do when we wash the bike down. They occasionally get washed in mud and rain water, it doesn't seem to do them much harm but there's no need to encourage it. Sometimes I'm naughty and put bits for cleaning in the dish washer, because it works.

He's right you know! Surgical spirit is basically meths. We live and learn.