Brake smell on my Ambo

mdh157

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And when i pulled the wheel they look like this:
20190611_174215.jpg
20190611_174345.jpg


Thats the front and rear shoe on the rr corner. Does not feel like it has a drag. The old shoes i took off last fall were worn normally. Rechecked the assembly, it looks fine. I also replaced the emg brake cables at the same time, all 3. Self adjusters were set to fact spec on install of shoes. The drum came off with only a bit of wiggling so if the emg brake is not fully retracting it isnt by much. I am more inclined to think the brakes have to be applied a bit harder bec of the partial contact on the shoes. Any ideas?
 
And when i pulled the wheel they look like this:
View attachment 294803 View attachment 294804

Thats the front and rear shoe on the rr corner. Does not feel like it has a drag. The old shoes i took off last fall were worn normally. Rechecked the assembly, it looks fine. I also replaced the emg brake cables at the same time, all 3. Self adjusters were set to fact spec on install of shoes. The drum came off with only a bit of wiggling so if the emg brake is not fully retracting it isnt by much. I am more inclined to think the brakes have to be applied a bit harder bec of the partial contact on the shoes. Any ideas?

That is a very erratic wear pattern on the shoe. I am thinking part of the problem might be an oversized drum that the shoes were not arched to fit. Look at the drum, does it have any signs of distress such as blue spots? If so, have it checked for being out of round. You should also check the hub for excessive free play and abnormal noise. An erratic wear pattern on the brake shoes is sometimes caused by worn or loose wheel bearings. If you happened to install ChiCom brake shoes, that could also be the problem as those shoes are notorious for poor quality.

Dave
 
The drum surface looks fine, no abnormal wear. Yes, they are Chicom shoes but where the hell do you find anything made in the U.S. anymore?
 
Wonder if arcing the shoes would make any difference? The friction material would have had to have "hills and valleys" in it before it was put onto the shoes, to get the result we see.

An out-of-round drum would usually cause brake pedal pulsations when stopping, from my experiences. OR even a new drum stored vertically (in the box it came it) on the parts store warehouse shelf could be out-of-round when new!

What is the surface finish on the friction contact area of the drum? Just curious.

CBODY67
 
Just the normal smooth surface - normal shine. Dunno, perhaps all it is is an uneven pad thickness. If so it should wear in and my braking should improve. I just do not want a fire or no brakes due to overheating.
 
Shoes must be arced to the drum. Period. Wearing them in will only overheat the drum, potentially warping it, AND will crack and degrade the shoe material.

Correct NOS parts for brakes can be sourced from @mobileparts here on the board.
 
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