Rear Brake Actuating Arm

[rbt1548]

I am going through my, new to me, 400/4 piece by piece, last night, on checking the rear brake, I found the pedal wasn't returning properly, slightly binding, without me lifting it. I disconnected the actuating rod to try and find out exactly where the problem lay, and it's not with the brake pedal but the brake cam spindle in the rear brake plate sticking which I am just about to  remove, clean and re lubricate.
I had a read last night to see if there was anything specific I should know before I did it and everything looked staightforward, and there's even 2 dots to line up to make it even easier to put together again, brilliant, good old Honda!, I then whipped off the actuating arm ready to start, checked the splines on the arm only to discover no dot on the arm, had I known there was no dot on the arm I would have marked it with a bit of paint, that'll teach me to take something as Gospel.
Anyway, having re adjusted a number of drum brakes over the years I thought I would put it back on it's splines so that on full braking the position of the arm would be directly straight down, (90 deg), or just before the 90, does that seem about right?

I also found this picture in the service manual which shows the pedal clamp gap lined up with the arrow on the wear indicator, would the concensus be maybe that would be the better way to go?

Thanks

[taysidedragon]

Are you sure that there is no dot on the brake arm? It may be really hard to see. Clean the surface with some meths or petrol and an old toothbrush,  you may find it.
My arm has got the dot mark to line up with the one on the shaft.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Just a few  thoughts is the brake pedal in the right position on the spindle?

They are also marked with the dots if the pedal is an original one - I found I had to go one spline out to get it right.

Is the main brake pedal return spring in place correctly against the frame ?

[K2-K6]

Also, there's usually some splines not formed on the spindle to give very limited range of choice in fitting, normally one spline move in each direction from it's "central" home position.

That should give you a default if lacking any other indicators,  central with a spare spline in each direction once fitted.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Correct,
I lost count of how many times I had my rear brake levers on & off getting it just right - only to get some feedback from Ken that the rear nut was not far enough down the threads so off it came again!

It's why we do it because its not always a cinch.

[rbt1548]

Thanks guys for your replies, to answer the questions above,

There is definitely no dot on the brake arm, it looks to me as if it's a new arm, going by the chrome.

There are definitely dots on the brake pedal and brake pedal spindle and the main spring is on correctly.

From K-2-K6' Also, there's usually some splines not formed on the spindle to give very limited range of choice in fitting, normally one spline move in each direction from it's "central" home position.

That should give you a default if lacking any other indicators,  central with a spare spline in each direction once fitted.

That's exactly it, there is a raised flat bit between the splines onto which the wear indicator cup fits and the brake lever gap fits directly onto that with, as you say a limited spline movement on either side, I should have spent some time figuring it out rather than thinking it might be difficult finding the correct position without a dot, but we got there in the end, so thanks very much guys.

The cam spindle was as dry as a, well you get the idea!, a quick strip down, clean of it and the backplate, a regrease and it is working freely, I also discovered both wheel spindles were dry so have greased both, also, the rubber washer that is meant to be a cushion between the torque arm and the brake plate was a bit of hard plastic on the outside of the torque arm, that has been replaced by a rubber washer between the arm and brakeplate. I am sure I'll find a few more things as I go along, don't we just love finding all these things on 40 year old bikes??

Anyway onto the next bit!

Cheers!

[Bryanj]

Wouldnt be the first time if a spline had been filed out of the arm to get more movement and use up the last of the brake shoe lining!