New Departure coaster brake adjustment....how?

Model D, I assume....So I tackled my first rear hub brakdown yesterday. Went in blind and finally figured out how to get it back together.

The reason I decided to do the servicing was because the rear wheel seemed to be binding. hadn't riddent the 49 Schwinn before so I don't know if it was this way to start with.
After putting it all back together. The test ride was laboring (it's not a middleweight, no doubt....the calfs still are aching) but the breaking was difficult. I have to really mash on the pedal to stop it.
All the brake parts looked good. There was some of the gearing chipped on the ends of the "driver gear" (item #2). But I hoped it was ok. I doubt the minor issue with that would give such hard breaking.

Here is what was posted on the "The Hub Thread" post, which saved my life and sanity when putting it back together.



Now, I did not have the "Line up tool" as pictured in fig. 2. Hence the reason it took so long to get it all back together.

Step 11 is where I couldn't figure out how to do the adjustment, but it only mentions "chain adjustment". I there an adjustment?
Instruction would be appreciated.

Yeah, I always rebuild the hubs before I do any riding other than up and down the driveway. It's the singular best thing you can do to improve a ride because 50 year old crispy grease doesn't allow for free movement. Make sure you grease all the bearings and the driver gear, but don't touch the brake discs with grease. Use a mid-weight oil on the discs or else you will have the same difficulties as the brake will not disengage.

ND doesn't really have any adjustment other than the typical outer cone tightening, if that's what you mean? I usually leave them with just a little bit of play so that when you cram the axle nuts on, it'll snug everything down nicely with no binding. Enjoy! NDs are possibly the smoothest riding hubs in my opinion.

It sounds like you need to De-grease the brake discs and all the parts in the braking mech. And relube it with a light weight motor oil. I bet you'll see the difference in your braking power right away !

Adjusting for correct "chain tension" at step 11 describes setting the wheel in the correct part of the drop out so that the chain will be neither too loose, nor too tight. There should be a small amount of play in the chain. If it's too tight, it can making free turning harder.

The static and turning discs are meant to receive a heavy gear oil. I use 90 weight gear oil on mine. Medium weight (50w or heavier) motor oil has worked alright for me as well. Avoid axle grease (slows it) or very light oils (tend to run out and not stay put).

The wheel can also slow and bind because the bearing cones are too tight. I run my wheels with just a hint of play, which seems to run best. If you tighten the bearing cones down too much, the wheel will bind and slow. If they are too loose, the wheel will wallow back and forth.

SirMike1983 said:

Adjusting for correct "chain tension" at step 11 describes setting the wheel in the correct part of the drop out so that the chain will be neither too loose, nor too tight. There should be a small amount of play in the chain. If it's too tight, it can making free turning harder.

The static and turning discs are meant to receive a heavy gear oil. I use 90 weight gear oil on mine. Medium weight (50w or heavier) motor oil has worked alright for me as well. Avoid axle grease (slows it) or very light oils (tend to run out and not stay put).

The wheel can also slow and bind because the bearing cones are too tight. I run my wheels with just a hint of play, which seems to run best. If you tighten the bearing cones down too much, the wheel will bind and slow. If they are too loose, the wheel will wallow back and forth.

Click to expand...

That's probably what the issue is, I dipped all the discs in 30 weight oil and greased all the rest with blue park bearing grease.
The instructions as I read it indicated that the drive gear be well greased which I did. My guess is that without using the line up tool and my fighting the discs with the proper alignment in the hub, that Park grease got all over the discs.
That sucks I have to take it all apart again. But, trail and error is how we learn.

Working on my first Bendix single band coaster brake as we speak. Kind of felt ballsey and figured I'd tackle a new challenge, not that I don't have enough projects at the moment.
But, I agree with Jason in that all serviced bikes from the day should have all bearings greased. I just never had the gonads to attempt it.

The grease on the discs is not the problem, the discs require grease or heavy oil...the hubs are pretty bulletproof and can be assembled with a variety of greases and oils with little change in performance. Everything (grease and oil) works, just some ways work slightly better than others.
Did you use any new parts on the rebuild? Old bearings and rough bearing surfaces will cause a hub to drag and not perfrom properly.
Did you use new brake discs? Old discs get very hard and polished as they push together to stop. They also wear slightly and the stack will get shorter over time...all this equates to poor braking performance.
Is the hub assembled correctly? It is very easy to push the hub together and not have all the discs correctly lined up and inside the hub. Usually the last disc with teh lock tab will not be lined up and hang outside the hub. The tool helps but I had rebuild dozens of hubs before I finally found the tool.
Is the preload too tight? The preload adjustment is set loose before the wheel is slid onto the frame. When the axle nuts are tightened, the preload will tighten up slightly and final adjustment is best done with teh wheel in the frame.

old hotrod said:

The grease on the discs is not the problem, the discs require grease or heavy oil...the hubs are pretty bulletproof and can be assembled with a variety of greases and oils with little change in performance. Everything (grease and oil) works, just some ways work slightly better than others.
Did you use any new parts on the rebuild? Old bearings and rough bearing surfaces will cause a hub to drag and not perfrom properly.
Did you use new brake discs? Old discs get very hard and polished as they push together to stop. They also wear slightly and the stack will get shorter over time...all this equates to poor braking performance.
Is the hub assembled correctly? It is very easy to push the hub together and not have all the discs correctly lined up and inside the hub. Usually the last disc with teh lock tab will not be lined up and hang outside the hub. The tool helps but I had rebuild dozens of hubs before I finally found the tool.
Is the preload too tight? The preload adjustment is set loose before the wheel is slid onto the frame. When the axle nuts are tightened, the preload will tighten up slightly and final adjustment is best done with teh wheel in the frame.

Click to expand...

All good questions, no new parts. The discs did show some wear (glazed like auto hard brake pads get). Thought that was normal. I have no idea if the last disc is misaligned but, my guess is it is, it wouldn't go back together correctly if it wasn't, right?
I see that the brake arm is about a 3/4-1" below the frame of the bike. maybe that is the problem or a contributing factor. The axle nuts could be too tight, I'll have to check.

Thanks for all the input, but it was a bitch getting it all back together and not knowing if I'm doing it right or need to replace parts, it might be wise to take to the LBikeshop. Are these parts for this hub ( I assume it is a Model D) still available? I mean this bike was built in 1949.

I always torque the stop nut on the brake arm first before disassembly. If it is loose in any way everything will be thrown off. I tear the hub down from the cog side. Slide out all the guts, degrease all of them completely. Cleanliness helps with a smooth hub afterwards. Regrease just the bearings with automotive wheel bearing grease. That's what i use. A decent size tub is $5 from the local parts store and will last you for a good 50 hubs. Make sure all the discs are clean and dry from any solvent/degreaser. I then put 2 tiny drops on each disk with 10-30 motor oil with an automotive oiler. I add the next disc,2 drops, next disc, 2 drops, until the stack is done. Add some grease inside the threads of where the cog goes inside of. Line up all of your discs, slide the assembly back inside the hub. Then screw the cog assembly back on and adjust the tension of the cog while the wheel is off by spinning the wheel in your hands. I hold the brake arm of the wheel in my left hand, spin the wheel with my right hand and spin the cog counter clockwise to brake the wheel. It will gring and you will feel drag if the cog is too tight. It will wobble with play if the cog is too loose. Adjust it where it is just right, lock down the lock nut while holding the bearing nut at the same time and you are done. Mount the wheel and roll on. I have specific New Departure wrenches i use for all the rebuilds i use. You can find then on ebay from time to time. There are 3 to do the job. I'll post pictures of them later tonight.

Used more than 2 drops per disc

Well I used more than 2 drops per disc. Too much huh?
I don't have the wrenches and I had to grind down a 15mm wrench to reve the sprocket side of the assy. I did not know how to take the inner bearin on the side of so I cleaned it real well with wd40 and blew dry with the air hose. Regreased this bearing while it was still assembled to the sprocket assy. I worried about that but thought it would be OK.
After breaking down the axle from the opposite side of the sprocket I realized I should have stated from the other side. As the New Departure re-Assembly instructions indicated that I needed to reassemble from the sprocket side.
I wonder if the discs are worn out? The drive gear did have some chips of the tips of the gear missing. But it was minimal damage I thought.
i took these pictures to help me remember how I took it apart. let me know if anyone sees damage. Didn't take any pictures after I cleaned everything. probably should have.

I have had ND hubs both with strong brakes and with weak brakes, all lubed the same according to specs. The next time I build one I am going to "scuff up" each side of each disc (34 surfaces or more) individually. Some people have claimed this helps.

Brake disc sets appear on ebay from time to time. I would check Memory Lane first, they are much more likely to have parts than your LBS.

I believe this brake design is more draggy than the shoe types, but not so much that you should feel it while riding.