Sagging Brake Pedal

[wrecks]

Hey everyone,

Some fellow riders on the ferry have told me my brake light was flashing or staying on while riding off the boat. I looked at it last night and found the brake pedal is sagging enough to either cause the brake light to stay on or flash over bumps. I tried tightening up the adjustment for the brake rod to pull the pedal back up but now the wheel won't move freely.

I felt around for the brake light switch and it is wedged between the frame and the drive shaft so I'm not sure how to get a wrench in there to adjust. It also feels like the adjustment bolt on the brake pedal that engages the switch is near the end of adjustment.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? What parts I would need to remove to be able to get at the switch? I looked at the Haynes manual and it didn't cover anything on this.

Thanks
Rex

[Dave 2]

Hi Rex, I think your job would be easier if you removed your rear wheel to get at the switch. The photo shows the little bugger with the cover partially removed. You can see what the adjustment is for mine. My brake light worked fine but I had minimal braking so I'm hoping to improve the braking when I get it all back together again. LOL. D2

[Lucky_Lou]

Haynes page 197, check the return springs.. the switch is probably alright.
Lou

[wrecks]

Haynes page 197, check the return springs.. the switch is probably alright.
Lou

My manual doesn't have page numbers but I assume you mean the springs that keep the brake shoes together. I just pulled the wheel off for a flat so maybe I did something when I put it back together.

Thanks

[Barry]

The brake shoe springs are incredibly strong and should not be the cause of the problem if correctly fitted.

Hows the brake cam spindle. Is it free to turn ?  Not a bad idea to take it out for a clean and grease once or twice every 30 odd years.

[jg928s4]

just replaced one of those, comes off w/two screws, one you get to through that hole in the frame.  First try some wd-40 on the little pin that goes in and out and push it in and out a bunch of times.

[nhmaf]

If the pedal itself is just flopping around, that would cause it to bounce around and hit the switch.   Are you sure that the end of the brake rod were it goes up under that welded triangular bit on the frame is actually securely connected to the end of the pedal?   I would think that is where the problem would most likely be..possibly something is working loose - like that pin that goes through the yoke on the brake rod, etc.

[wrecks]

Sigh, So I did find the problem. Attached is  a picture. The broken rod is a result of my over enthusiastic try at getting the rod attachment to the brake peddle to swivel. I noticed that once I disconnected the brake rod from back the rod would move with brake peddle as it was stuck and would not swivel. So I sprayed a little WD-40 on the attachment of the rod to the brake peddle and tried to get it to swivel freely. Hence I now have a broken brake rod.

With no swivel play at the peddle there would never be enough force at the back end to pull the peddle up as the force just turns into bending moment at the peddle and not backward force. Oh well, I guess I get to drill out the old rod and see if I can't get the connector on the peddle to swivel.