New Brake Pads Won't Fit in the Drum

[Popeye]

Hey ya'll, I just got these in for my 81 ATC 200: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&vxp=mtr&item=320950262153#ht_4401wt_1037.

I got them on, but now my brake drum won't fit over them. I tried the old beat em in method, but I'm messing up my new pads. Anybody got any idea why it won't fit and what I can do.

Thanks,
Brian

[Big Mike]

Make sure the SHOES are sitting correctly on the backing plate, unscrew the adjustet on the back all the way so the shoes come to rest, and then adjust up the brakes till you get some slight drag when spinning the rear wheels in neutral.

[Popeye]

Thanks man. Inside the drum where the brake pads meet up there is a circle on the front side and a flat mount on the backside. The flat mount on the back was crooked. I had to adjust the little screw on the bottom of the thing that holds the cables on and it straightened on out. Don't know if that makes sense, but now they are loose like the wingnut on the cable needs tightening. I may just have to get a new cable. Thanks for the help man

[shortline10]

I see this allot on Chinese made shoes which I don't recommend . If the above post doesn't fix your issue you might need to remove some material from the shoe pad were it rides on the shaft , the casting of the alum is usually not trimmed and causes them to be to tight .

[pipeline triker]

Shortline is right, i had to file that spot alittle on a set that i put in one of ours I do not remeber which one, but I had to do it to get it to fit nice.

I see this allot on Chinese made shoes which I don't recommend . If the above post doesn't fix your issue you might need to remove some material from the shoe pad were it rides on the shaft , the casting of the alum is usually not trimmed and causes them to be to tight .

[fabiodriven]

Thanks man. Inside the drum where the brake pads meet up there is a circle on the front side and a flat mount on the backside. The flat mount on the back was crooked. I had to adjust the little screw on the bottom of the thing that holds the cables on and it straightened on out. Don't know if that makes sense, but now they are loose like the wingnut on the cable needs tightening. I may just have to get a new cable. Thanks for the help man

From what you are saying, you shouldn't need a new cable.

What might have happened is when your old brake pads wore out, somebody along the line may have had to move the arm on the brake actuating cam over a couple of notches to gain more travel on the cam and therefor use all of the friction material left on the shoe. The wing nut is your regular adjuster along with the adjuster on the perch where the lever is or sometimes there is one by the rear brake pedal as well. When you install new shoes, you want to position the arm on the cam in the best place so that both of your adjusters (if there are 2) are bottomed out. That way, in the future you'll have travel on the threads to adjust the brake properly. Once you've moved those adjusters as far as they go and your brake starts to get soft again, then you can reposition the arm and start all over again, provided there is enough fiction material left on the shoe. Always check that first.

If the lever hasn't been moved or didn't need to be, just adjust the brakes as I described.

[Popeye]

Thanks, yea they are still loose. The pads are in right, fit good, but there is too much play in the cable and it's not activating the brake. I'm gonna try and do what fabio said. It's the foot pedal though- I don't have any hand brakes. Thank all ya'll for the advice.

[atc007]

^^^ There are timing marks punched into every Honda arm and actuator cam. make sure they are lined up. All great advice above. Clean and sand all the points where the pads touch,,the round thing and the cam arm. Dremel out the rust band inside your nasty old drum.. they'll go on,once they " drop in" all will be well.