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[JTL]

Sorry all... I forgot to mention it's a TLS drum brake with brake shoes and not brake pads. The bike is a 2003 Bullet. The drum is just shiny and very smooth; no grooves or anything else. I have sanded it very lightly with emery cloth 100... It wasn't until my third wheel removal and hit at the nut it came loose, so Ric, what is the secret of the easy nut removal? Hopefully more gentle than I my own solution: I had to partially cut the nut with a Dremel before wacking it with a chisel. After that treatment it came loose very easy... Regarding the bearings I would love to replace them, but spring has finally come to Copenhagen and I just want to put the wheel back on and ride. Wheel bearing will be replaced later on if they keep "sticking". Until then I will try to clean out the dried up grease and either re-grease or oil the bearings... Jacob

[Gwilly]

You could repack with HMP or Lithium grease whilst apart, but in my opinion replacing with sealed bearings would only take a little longer and job done..

Clean up and regrease the brake operator cams/spindles then adjust brake by your preferred method, (contentious).

My opinion also is that apart from an application around cables and linkage points, on NO account use oil anywhere within the confines of the hub/brake area, I think for obvious reasons..

To conclude, ANY problem with the operation of the front wheel or brake should be investigated and rectified or you could be wasting your summer sunshine in a hospital bed or worse..

Don't wish to be melodramatic but Darwinism is alive and well and needs very little encouragement...

[papasmurf]

JTL, personally I would try spinning the wheel without any brake shoes in it, is there are any problems with the bearings you will either hear it or feel it or both. (Plus check how much lateral movement is evident at the rim.)
IF there is no problem, put the shoes back in, and try again. It is also worth pointing out that TLS brakes are notoriously difficult to set up and adjust. It can make grown men cry.

[PeteF]

"I had to partially cut the nut with a Dremel before wacking it with a chisel"
The proper size spanner might have been a better choice.

[JTL]

I did the spinning test with the wheel mounted in the forks (with and without brake plate). No movement up or down; no movement sidewards. Only spinning and not a sound; just as before I took off the wheel. Everything is as it's supposed to be. Spinning the axel by hand gave me a feeling of drag (like dried up grease), but since this was with no weight of the wheel to make it spin, of course it was an unkown feeling. Not that I worried about it, because everything was fine before so why not now. The bearing looks like it has some sort of sealing facing the brake drum (maybe a removable oil seal?), but then again why has it a felt washer mounted? I did not apply any gease or oil; I just put it all back together after cleaning up everything, fitting new springs and re-greasing the brake cams... PeteF, I did try the proper size spanner, I even bought a box spanner for the purpose, but the nut was stuck, and time had come to do something about dragging brake cams...It's time to do a test drive and adjust if nescessary... thanks for all inputs Jacob

[Beezabryan]

"Which is precisely WHY I acknowleged my mistake... A."
that the vagaries of t'internet got your response in MARGINALLY before mine seems to have pissed you off.

[Tim NZ]

This subject has been discussed here many times in the past, many times...


The 2LS brake functions as a mechanical levered parallelogram. As such, if the pair of levers are set as anything other than 'true-and-square' the brake will be absolute SHITE. When set correctly, 'stoppies' are doable!


No disrespect to our hosts, but the method they advise in their technical notes is NOT the optimal method of adjustment or setting!


If you want to contact me off lest I can forward a comprehensive .doc file that explains and describes the optimal process of setting and adjustment.


royalenfield AT clear DOT net DOT nz

[Adrian]

Not pissed off Brian, just a bit of record straightening in the delay pending realisation of the perceived non-intake of information more correctly ascribed to untimely response delayed entirely by routing criteria of the communications infrastructure - oh sod it, none taken! ;o) You don't always get the exact tone of a reply from what's typed.

A.

[JTL]

Well, adjustment is a must do thing... Tim, I get your point about the parallelogram. I started to read about this "correct way" of adjusting the TLS brake back when I had the first go at the brake plate nut some years ago. I got a 2 page manual from the internet. It begins like this: "For many years there has been a popular but highly inaccurate method of 2LS brake adjustment...". If this is not the manual you have, please let me know and I will mail you... For starters I will remove the front wheel and the brake plate to be absolutely certain, that it is centered correctly on the wheel axel. And to meassure that the axel is 100% in center of the brake drum. This should also give me the opportunity to set up a correct parallelogram before reassembling... I will keep you informed on my adjusting experience, and I will be happy to recieve any good advice on adjusting the TLS brake... Jacob

[neddy]

Have always set up the levers with the plate/pads in my hand adjusting the rod so I can see the cams move at the same time, seems to work, if TimNZ can shed any light then would be good as I agree with his opinion