Adjustment of the Rear Hand Brake

[B25bsaboy]

Good morning to everyone and I trust you had. Great Weekend?

The next topic for discussion on my plate, is the proper adjustment of the rear hand brake.

When I first bought the Lehman Monarch II trike home, pulling the hand brake to perhaps 2 - 3 clicks was impossible. Think I made the comment earlier that one needed to be a gorilla to even get it to move one click. I suspect the previous owner never used the hand brake thus when not used mechanical movement become stiff and in my case inoperable!

When I inspected the drum hub internals they appeared somewhat rusty and dirty and I took some emery cloth and cleaned the mating surface.

My question, as is with the bleeding the disc brakes, is there a procedure to clean and adjust the rear drum brakes. If memory serves me when I had the drums hubs off with no resistance for the brake shoes to expand outwards pulling the hand brake lever was still very stiff.

I know I have tried other hand brakes on other trikes and the movement is much more smooth and I was able to get 3 - 4 clicks with ease, thus leading me to believe there is something not right with my setup. Would take it to the local Lehman dealer, but they are to far away.

 

[CrystalPistol]

Try spraying the cables with brakleen and then after some use, a lubricating spray. You could apply oil at the exposed cable end or / and use a cable lube adapter to get some lube into cable sheath.

You could remove the cables and place in a coffee can and cover in oil and then next day, remove them from oil bath, wipe outside, reinstall on trike ... but that is a lot of labor.

 

[Lee H. Mann]

Good morning to everyone and I trust you had. Great Weekend?

The next topic for discussion on my plate, is the proper adjustment of the rear hand brake.

When I first bought the Lehman Monarch II trike home, pulling the hand brake to perhaps 2 - 3 clicks was impossible. Think I made the comment earlier that one needed to be a gorilla to even get it to move one click. I suspect the previous owner never used the hand brake thus when not used mechanical movement become stiff and in my case inoperable!

When I inspected the drum hub internals they appeared somewhat rusty and dirty and I took some emery cloth and cleaned the mating surface.

My question, as is with the bleeding the disc brakes, is there a procedure to clean and adjust the rear drum brakes. If memory serves me when I had the drums hubs off with no resistance for the brake shoes to expand outwards pulling the hand brake lever was still very stiff.

I know I have tried other hand brakes on other trikes and the movement is much more smooth and I was able to get 3 - 4 clicks with ease, thus leading me to believe there is something not right with my setup. Would take it to the local Lehman dealer, but they are to far away.

To properly adjust your parking / hand brake, you must loosen the front nuts on the cable to gain some slack in the cable (maybe 1/2"). Then adjust the parking brake shoes properly by tightening them fully at each wheel and then backing them off until there is no drag. Then re-adjust the cables so that you can get it to apply wherever you want. I usually like 6 clicks on the handle myself.

 

[B25bsaboy]

To properly adjust your parking / hand brake, you must loosen the front nuts on the cable to gain some slack in the cable (maybe 1/2"). Then adjust the parking brake shoes properly by tightening them fully at each wheel and then backing them off until there is no drag. Then re-adjust the cables so that you can get it to apply wherever you want. I usually like 6 clicks on the handle myself.

Thank you Jim, as this makes total sense and will do it when I have the back wheels off again!