Can you tighten or adjust a coaster brake?
- Thread starter schertztx
- Start date
Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:
yes! you just tighten the cone on the arm side like a normal hub, if its not grabbing well, it may need new discs/shoes, or at least some new grease..
Sounds like it's had a lot of use. On those, I take them apart, clean and relube, using some bike lube. I also make sure the inside of the hubshell and brake shoes don't have a glaze built up on them. I use steel wool to break the glaze then clean it very well. If you don't have any side to side play in the wheel, and it spins well, the brakes should work after all that. If not, it's probably too far gone.
Side to side play means loose bearings. Might be worn out, or might just need tightening, can't tell from here. Excessive forward and back rotation could also be loose bearings. If they're not loose, it's worn out or filthy.
Bringing an old thread back from the dead for a question. I rebuilt a bendix 70 on a restoration of a columbia roadster for my girlfriend for christmas. Before the rebuild you would pedal backwards 3 or 4 complete rotations before anything happened. After disassembly, degreasing and relubing it works great! Well, I should say it functions great, it just doesnt grab very well. Could/should I take it back apart and rough up the brake shoes and hub shell? Is there something else I'm missing? Thanks!
Kyle
Kyle
That should do the trick, if both the shoes and hub surface aren't glazed. The Bendix 70 should have pretty good brakes. Gear ratio makes a difference too. Adding a cog with one more tooth makes the bike easier to pedal and gives more leverage on the brakes, but limits the speed of the bike. I put a smaller (less teeth) cog on a lightweight bike with a Bendix hub (went from 19 to a 16) and thought something went wrong with the brakes, but it was because I had less leverage on the pedals. A good combination for a 26" bike like the Columbia would be a 44 tooth chain wheel and an 18 tooth cog. Or, If the front is 46 or 48 tooth, I'd put a 20 or 22 cog in the rear to get good braking.
Thanks for the reply! Good thought on the leverage...I'm wanting to put a bigger rear cog anyhow, but as is it just really lacks power...like if you stand all your weight on the pedal it won't lock up the rear wheel with skinny tires. I'd never rebuilt a coaster before, so wasn't sure what to look for besides cleaning, so not real sure if the shoes and hub are glazed or not.
Just wanted to update this for anyone who is going through the same thing. I took the hub back apart and checked out the shoes and hub shell. Both looked pretty polished, so I sanded them pretty thoroughly with 150 grit. I was kind of winging it, seems that may have been a little rough as the hub is a little louder now, but it grabs and locks up tight like it should! Couldnt believe what a difference that made, but all is good now!
