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Coaster Brake Questions

Old 10-31-08, 06:26 PM
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StephenH
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Coaster Brake Questions

I've got an old coaster brake, think it's a Bendix, with single red stripe around it- off an old Huffy tandem. It was working fine. But here in the last week or so, sometimes it'll work great, sometimes I can run the pedals a full revolution back before it catches, and then it catches very suddenly. Very irritating to use! So, is this something broken, something adjustable, something worn out, something that needs lube, or what?

The coaster brake that this one replace just had a lot of slop in it, where I could run the pedals backwards a full turn, and then it would catch more or less like normal. Is that excess wear, something adjustable, or what?
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Old 10-31-08, 07:06 PM
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Time for a new clutch cone and spring. You shouldn't be able to pedal backwards no more then 20 degrees.
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Old 10-31-08, 07:52 PM
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Is that something you can actually get for a 40-year-old hub, or does it just mean throw it out and get a new one?
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Old 10-31-08, 10:08 PM
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Originally Posted by DieselDan
Time for a new clutch cone and spring. You shouldn't be able to pedal backwards no more then 20 degrees.
It's got the symptoms of a very worn clutch cone.

The Bendix red band hubs don't have a clutch spring. Here's the exploded view:
https://vancruisers.ca/Members/bhughe...nd/index.html/

I think the internal parts are interchangable with the later Bendix coaster-brakes- at least that's the note at the bottom of the parts list. They sure look the same as the Bendix brakes I learned to overhaul in the late '70's. If you can find a bike shop that's been around since then you should be able to get the parts. If not, post something to the Clissic & Vintage forum.
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Old 10-31-08, 11:49 PM
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They do have something of a clutch spring. It's called a ******er spring (BB-112) on the diagram, a flat band formed into a circular shape that couples the drive clutch and brake expander cone as sort of one unit. This ******er spring holds the two together by friction alone, making sure the drive screw engages both pedaling and braking actions without too much rotational slop. If the ******er spring slips too readily with not enough friction, the drive cone will not move laterally as much as it should, preferring to rotate with the drive cone. The result is excessive rotation when braking and/or engaging forward.

Finding a replacement part may be difficult, as the red band brake has been out of production for decades. Later Bendix models are similar in design, but it's unclear if the parts are interchangeable. If the ******er spring is the culprit, it may be fixable by bending it for a tighter fit over the drive clutch and brake expander. But it does seem like an odd thing to happen. Perhaps the spring is simply burnished and too slippery to function as it should?

Last edited by shecky; 10-31-08 at 11:51 PM. Reason: Apparently, the forum takes offense at the word "re-tard" (without hyphen).
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Old 11-01-08, 12:21 AM
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This hub was on an old tandem that I bought, and I used that wheel on another bike. It was working just fine, and is having problems rather suddenly, so it doesn't seem to be a gradual wearing out, more like something broke, maybe.
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Old 11-01-08, 04:56 AM
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Originally Posted by shecky
They do have something of a clutch spring. It's called a ******er spring (BB-112) on the diagram, a flat band formed into a circular shape that couples the drive clutch and brake expander cone as sort of one unit. This ******er spring holds the two together by friction alone
For future reference, please refer to the parts as a "Spring with an Intellectual Disability".

Thank you for your understanding.
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Old 11-03-08, 09:43 PM
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Well, I figured it was either toss it or not, so before I tossed it, figured I'd lube it all up. So I took it apart. Didn't seem terribly worn except for maybe brake surfaces themselves, not sure what they used to look like. So I lubed it and put it back together. Only took me an hour to reassemble, of which 58 minutes was spent figuring out to put it back the other, other way.

There was some dry crumbly stuff in there that felt kind of like wax or crumbly plastic. I assume it was hardened grease. Anyway, it SEEMS to be working okay now. Time will tell.

This came off an old Huffy tandem bike. I assume it was the original wheel. I assume the typical cheap tandem spends a lot of time in garages, and doesn't rack up thousands of miles. So I didn't figure it was that worn out. We shall see. There was a "70" stamped on the brake arm, I don't know if that's a date, but it would be about right.
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