Brakes are off

"Brakes are off" is what people say when they are ready to move forward on something. It is a metaphor for taking action after being stopped. For me it was a long holiday hiatus which got rolled into some delays to progress after the holidays (I mean - it IS after Groundhog Day and Constitution Day in Mexico).

Speaking non-metaphorically, front brakes are off for this rust covered beauty.

As others of you pointed out - when I tried this last time, I needed to remove the spindle nut to get the drum off. I used a pair of channel locks to remove the dust cap and a some needle nose pliers to get the cotter pin out of the way. I don't know what you call that ridged cap that sits behind the pin and wraps over the top of the spindle nut, but that thing just sort of slides off.

The spidle nut was not very hard to remove. It was pleasantly oily. Based on the general crud covered state of everything else, I had been worried these pieces would be dry and ground up - but there was a nice layer of oil over everything.

The directions say to pop the dust cap off the back of the brake and loosen a gear wheel this sets the brake tension. When you pop that cap and crane your neck to look in that 1"x0.5" oval hole - you can see the gear wheel quite easily, but the lever that holds it in place is hard to find. And you can't really see anything else. The directions don't say which way is looser, so I just took a screw driver and levered it down a few clicks (maybe 1/2 a turn). Before I turned it, the drum would spin and I could wiggle the drum in and out a but. After I turned it - I noticed that the drum would not turn at all and was locked up tight."Down" was the wrong way.  So, I cranked it back up 1/2 a turn.

I tried to yank on the drum by hand to pull it out a bit, but I was not strong enough to move it more than a few millimeters. This was enough that I could recover the bearing and the bushing that sat in front of it, but not enough to remove the brakes.

So - after wasting a few more minutes, I just took 2 screw drivers and pried the drum off the spidle.

The brakes are crudy. Rust and dirt fell all over the place. I used a brush to clean them up a bit - but I think all that stuff has got to go. Maybe the springs can be salvaged, but I simply do not trust the pistons. I tried to get the brake line off the connection to the flex line again - that was another waste of time. I even gave it some oil and some MAP torch fire. It needs a good dose of hacksaw.

I also dropped a piston in a plastic cup of degreaser to bathe so I can chisel rings off tomorrow.