I guess I'm not making myself clear. What I'm trying to do is reduce the play in the foot pedal, thereby decreasing the distance the pedal travels. What you seem to be describing is how to adjust the intial angle of the pedal--which is not my issue.
All bikes I've ever seen with rear drum brakes, even the stock S40, have a stop to limit how high the pedal can go. Once the pedal is at that stop, held there by the brake's spring, you take up on the rod (or cable) to reduce play, or loosen the adjusting nut to increase play.
You seem to imply that there is a way to change the amount of travel in the brake drum lever. Please explain how (and not be changing brake shoes, mine are brand new. Plus you should be able to adjust travel as the shoes wear down).
Thanks for your suggestions.
MotoBuddha wrote on 08/27/11 at 10:18:57:The shoes contacting the drum is your pedal travel limiter. The shoes can't travel further, which means the cam can't turn further, which means the lever can't move further, which means the rod can't move further, which means the pedal can't move further.
So the first question is, how much travel is there in the brake drum lever? Disconnect the rod and work the lever by hand. You shouldn’t have more than about a quarter inch. Even an eight inch is fine. The shoes being off the drum by a molecule’s thickness is still off. If you have more travel than a quarter inch, then it might be time to replace your shoes.
If the lever doesn’t stop at all, then you have problems inside the brake. Either the cam or the spot on the shoes the cam rides are worn. Or the springs have come off. Or maybe the splines on the lever or cam are worn, or the pinch bolt is loose, allowing the lever to spin on the cam.
If all that is good, then it’s a matter of adjusting the rod. Tighten the rod adjuster nut until the pedal is at the angle you want. After looking at the assembly closer, that previous statement needs to be modified. Attach the rod to the lever on the drum. Attach the clevis to the other end so there are some threads available both directions. Disassemble the footpeg-lever assembly. Connect the tab to the clevis then hold it in its approximate position. Make a temporary mark or use a piece of tape to mark the angle of the tab on the faceplate of the rearset bracket. You'll probably need an extra set of hands for the next part. Hold the locking ring and tab in position and slide the bolt-footpeg-lever-locating pin assembly through the tab and locking ring and into the hole in the bracket, keeping the lever at approximately the desired angle. If the locating pin won't mesh with one of the holes in the tab, move it to a different hole on the lever and try again, and again, until you get the best match you can. Then disconnect the clevis, remove all the rearset parts, tighten the locking ring (rotating the footrest so the locating pin fits into the notch), and bolt the rearset assembly to the bracket. Reattach the clevis. Check the pedal for position by sitting on the bike. Fine tune the position by adjusting the clevis on the rod -- tighten to raise the pedal tip, loosen to lower it.
I haven’t measured, but I’m guessing the stub on the brake pedal is about half as long as the lever on the brake. That means the pedal would move about twice as far as the brake lever. A lot of slop at the brake means even more at the pedal.