Restore braking power to Early Musselman or Peerless armless coaster

[TOCKubin]

This could work for you if you have a hub that operates correctly but has almost no stopping power or slips, not for the freewheeling backwards problem some people experience. Thanks to Bricycle who encouraged me to put this here for others. You just need some pipe and an angle grinder or hacksaw.

I recently experienced putting my 1914 Peerless back together and finding that (after I spent some good money restoring and lacing the wheels) that there was no braking power. I panicked thinking cynically that that I might need a new hub after all that work. I posted on theCABE and received some typical advice.....don't use automotive bearing grease (which I had), hone the hub etc....and if none of those work replace the hub shell. I got to thinking though that all i needed was to be able to spread the brake shoe a bit more and found that there was very little room before the wedge was fully engaged. All I needed was a slightly wider wedge. The wedge simply looked like it was cut from standard plumbing pipe so i went to the basement and found a pipe that was almost the same thickness and diameter as what the original was cut from.

With an angle grinder and about 30 minutes i fabricated a new wedge. I simply put the old wedge on the end of the pipe where it is already very straight then just etched an outline which is obviously going to be just a hair larger than the piece being traced. Since the cut is less than the circumference of a 4" angle grinder wheel it will be almost perfectly straight if you start it out right. I reassembled and rushed outside ot try it.

No comparison to before.....it now stops on a dime with great power. I included some pictures so you can see the before and after. You can see the difference in the last photo above which has the old worn wedge in where new one was just positioned (2nd to last photo above). The new gap is about exactly the width of a penny. Basically a FREE FIX with no measuring, just trace, cut and deburr/fine tune (if you already have pipe in the basement).

 

[Dale Alan]

Great idea,thanks for sharing.

 

[mike j]

Yeah, that is a fantastic idea. Will probably work on other hubs with the wedge/ shoe design. I've experienced braking problems with a few of them. Thank you too, for sharing.

 

[gkeep]

Brilliant solution! I'm still monkeying with my Pierce ND Model A because it freewheels backwards randomly before engaging. When it does engage it barely slows me down.

Nice work.

Gary

 

[SKPC]

I wonder if a full washer or spacer filling the gap at the bottom of the triangle would also work?

 

[Archie Sturmer]

I wonder if a full washer or spacer filling the gap at the bottom of the triangle would also work?

I believe that there is a hidden spool piece with flanges preventing the use of a spacer washer (to engage the brake sooner).

<edit>
Just double-checked and measured;
a washer about 22mm ID, and 1.15” OD, actually should fit over the inside spool piece (just like the brake shoe does).
Not sure if that would be similar to a washer that another member might have for sale.
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/what-bike-did-you-work-on-today.161390/page-185#post-1366867

But would the spacer washer also affect engaging the clutch drive sooner?

 

[Barfbucket]

I used a shim of thin metal under the original wedge.

 

[Archie Sturmer]

I wonder if a full washer or spacer filling the gap at the bottom of the triangle would also work?

Out of curiosity I found a 22mm ID x 29mm OD x 1.5mm thick copper washer to test this out; (the ID was a tight fit).
The washer would move the spool and drag piece (bushing for the shoe) about 1/16”further away from the stationary cone; (and the wedge already moves the spool about 1/8” away from the cone).
This seems to put additional stress on the end corners of the 1/4” groove and slot areas. Kind of like turning a screwdriver that is only inserted less than halfway into a slotted head of a screw.
Maybe if the interfacing groove and slot on the spool and cone were longer, then a lost motion washer might work better, with less unintended consequences.

 

[J-wagon]

Would it work if spacer on other end next to clutch side?

 

[Archie Sturmer]

That’s the side where the washer will fit, at the base (bottom in post #5) of the triangular or trapezoid wedge piece.

I believe that the same results might be achieved with a “C” shaped spacer on the opposite side of the shoe.

On a topic of braking power (vs. lost motion), I wonder if the triangular wedge bottoming-out (at narrower end) might impede braking, and whether grinding the nose down slightly, might increase performance?