I've just tried to reassemble my brakes, thoroughly cleaned and with brand new shoes. However, neither the back or the front fit; they're too big. I've found an old post which suggests filing down the shoe material with a rasp but first of all I wanted to check that my cams haven't been butchered. The only photos I can find on the internet are of old rusty ones and of poor detail but they don't look like they have what mine do. Both of my cams have this extra bit of metal bent around them. Is this normal or has someone tried to make an old pair of shoes last longer by beefing up the cam? I'm expecting that without these bits on the new shoes might fit......... but obviously not going to take them off until i get some advice.

Also my front brake cam has been 'bushed' where it goes through the alloy cover plate but I think there's too much play in it; any suggestions as to how to re-do this better?

cheers

David

That looks like the sort of bodge I used to do when my brake shoes/hubs were worn...... Definitely remove the bent metal and hopefully they'll fit in the hubs nicely. As regards the cam bushing, if it's not too sloppy it will probably function ok. Otherwise, an decent engineering shop should be able to bore it out and make up a bronze or nylon bush. Cheers, Matt.

HaHa i did that bodge job on my Ty175 when i was a kid n could not afford new brake shoes. It Basically pushes the shoes further apart hence you cant fit your new ones, so remove the sleeve and they will fit.

Cheers folks, that confirms my suspicions!! took the bits off today and the new shoes fit nicely!

Thanks for your help.

David