1959 cast iron front brake

[Tukig]

Hi, I have just taken the shoes out of the front brake and was wondering if the correct ones are fitted. The brake is an 8" sls full width cast iron hub, the shoe width is 1 and 1/8 inch. The haynes manual mentions 1 and 3/8 inch. The brake has never been fantastic and I was going to get them re-lined but now I doubt their correctness (if that's a word) and want reassurance before going with the re-line or do I need to purchase some new shoes?

Thanks

Gary

[Rocket Racer]

The 8" cast iron full width hub has very narrow shoes. The half width hub has the wider type, don't have shoes to hand to check sizes...
Try and find some good (preferably woven) lining materials via a specialist brake supplier who is familiar with classics, the standard grey non asbestos lining typically used on hydraulic drum braked cars is not suitable.
These shoes do wear fairly quickly as they are so narrow. The later 61/62 shoes for these hubs are fully floating, so have a better bite. plenty of discussion on the forum on brake efficiency, but relining shoes is often quite demoralizing if not done well, resulting brakes can be appalling.

[Tukig]

Thanks for that info. I'm fairly new to A series BSA and I had logically, but mistakenly, assumed that full with hubs would contain wider shoes. I didn't take into account British inventiveness. You say that 61/62 shoes were a fully floating type. Does this mean that the pivot end is not fixed thus allowing the shoe to slide into its operating position? Would this not reduce the servo effect of the leading shoe?

A few more questions!

Are the floating shoes still available and are they a direct swap? and is there much advantage?

Re-lining, any recommendations? I have seen ads for Villiers, Safetek and Supreme Motorcycles.

I realise that I will probably, when funds allow, need to have the drum seen to, but until then I am hoping that the correct grade of friction material will help a little

[raindodger]

Hello.   I had floating shoes on my A10, I had them relined 3 times with softer and softer material, but they were never very good.  I noticed whenever I removed the shoes all of the wear was concentrated at the trailing end of the shoes.  Finally, I changed them for pivoted shoes and the brake is very much better, not fully bedded in, just a few hundred miles, but improving all the time.
Regards.
Tim.

[Rocket Racer]

You say that 61/62 shoes were a fully floating type. Does this mean that the pivot end is not fixed thus allowing the shoe to slide into its operating position? Would this not reduce the servo effect of the leading shoe?

A few more questions!

Are the floating shoes still available and are they a direct swap? and is there much advantage?

Re-lining, any recommendations? I have seen ads for Villiers, Safetek and Supreme Motorcycles.

I realise that I will probably, when funds allow, need to have the drum seen to, but until then I am hoping that the correct grade of friction material will help a little

The last A10's and the early A65 had the floating shoes fitted, the fulcrum pin was retained but the shoes had flats so can float. This actually promotes a self servo effect and the shoes have even less pad material. They are a straight swap. I have seen brake plate assemblies with these shoes for next to nought on local sites.

I have yet to get my Super Rocket project on the road so the jury is out from me at least on how bad these brakes are with either shoe type...

I cannot help you with suggesting a UK supplier, I tend to deal with local race brake specialists as the original materials are now obsolete (asbestos   ), but good materials and competently fitted will make a huge difference. The issue with these hubs is the hidden spoke ends reduce the available hub width. Would pay to ask any shoe supplier how suitable the material is (avoid the grey ones)

You can expect these brakes to need the pads doing fairly often as they are narrow they will wear if used a lot. Likewise in modern terms even the best drums have limitations and the iron full width A10 hub is not one of these    I have an S2 Benelli (another project), the drum is big and has wide shoes but even these brakes were criticized in the mid seventies for fade.
However I'm planning to retain mine (narrow shoe orig hub), but other brake options do also exist. The 68/69 hub looks almost the same and can take wider shoes, but by then most have also adopted TLS too.

Tim