E-Brake Issues

[NEK_VT_FJ60]

Hi all! A few months ago I finaly purchased my first cruiser, a 1984 FJ60. I bought it at a garage sale for $300 bucks and after a quick tune up drove it 100 miles home. It runs like a champ! I've been working down my punch list to pass inspection (about 2 pages long) and have a few nagging issues that just don't come up in a search and I haven't seen disscussed in the past couple of months.

My E-brake does not work at all. When I pull it up only the arm on driver's side arm moves not the passenger side. I'm thinking that just freeing up the passenger side mechanisim might do it but there seems to be a -TON- of slack in the cable. With the E-Brake all the way down I can expose about 1 1/2 inch of actual cable past the threaded cable end. There is no way to bring in all the slack. My shoes look like they have some life left.

Is there some adjustment I can make on the wheel end to take out the slack? Anybody run into this before?

 

[Doc]

NO, but $300?! That sounds like the deal of the week right there! Is the body in good shape?

 

[NEK_VT_FJ60]

The quarters and rockers are BAD with a capital B. But the frame is decent, and the carb, engine, and transmission work perfectly. People are absolutely stunned when I fire it up. They see the rust and figure she must be completely shot. I'll try to figure out how to post up a picture.

 

[swank60]

It sounds like you've got a broken cable. There isn't an adjustment on the wheel side that I'm aware of, the e-brake adjustment is made at the handle in the cab...but there shouldn't be that much slack.

Gotta post some pics!

...and welcome to the board.

 

[NEK_VT_FJ60]

I thought broken cable too, but its not. I pull at the end in the cab and it takes the slack out of the cable near the rear axle. I pull the cable from the rear axel and it takes the slack out by the handle. It really doesn't look like anything is broken, it has me quite befuddled! I doubt a cable of that gauge could stretch that much?

 

[NEK_VT_FJ60]

Here she is... a pretty flattering picture to say the least.

 

[VTCruiser]

where abouts in VT are you? I live in Weston. welcome, nice snag!

 

[swank60]

Friggin paint on your $300 rig is better than mine! - mostly at my PO for "Getting Macco", the stupid jerk.

 

[NEK_VT_FJ60]

where abouts in VT are you? I live in Weston. welcome, nice snag!
07-27-04 04:30 PM

Lyndonville, Up in the North East Kingdom. I found the cruiser in burlington! Weston is a great little town, near Essex right?

Friggin paint on your $300 rig is better than mine! - mostly at my PO for "Getting Macco", the stupid jerk.

A couple of cans of Duplicote have done me well

Ok, so it stopped raining and I decided to just tear into a wheel to see what I could find. And this ended up raising 2 questions.

1. I found my wheel cyclinder with one end completly in and the other completely out, and my brake shoes reflect that. Only one half of one shoe is shinny suggesting it was the only surface being applied during breaking I tried applying the brake without the drum on to see if I could get the cylinder to move. It didn't move, just started spurting fluid Could non-functional wheel cylinders cause the e-brake not to work? Not that I won't be replacing them now anyway!

2. There is a small cable inside the drum area that makes the connection to move the shoes. Mine looks like it has a clamp style splice thats getting in the way, should it be like that or should the cable be one piece?

 

[Sporin]

I have to fix the ebrake in my recently aquired FJ62 as well, haven't started to dig into it yet though. Didn't think I'd need to do this before inspection but I guess I was wrong.

I'm in Windsor VT, and work in Norwich... quite a little VT contingent we're building here.

Anyway, I can't answer your problem, but I'll be watching the responses.

 

[NEK_VT_FJ60]

I have a copy of the VT state inspection manual, so working off of that I could get a list of every thing I need to do to pass a 'real' inspection. However, I know plenty of people who would give me a sticker just as it is. There are tons of things they are supposed to check that I'm pretty sure nobody does.

 

[Jman]

$300??????? Rusty? Drive it like you stole it, my friend! That's awesome!

 

[saint60]

okay-so i have been running the situation over in my mind. when you pull the lever to apply the e brake it tightens the cable. what is probably going on is the cruiser probably sat parked for a long time with the brake applied. the lever on the drum rusted shut not allowing the spring to pull the cable back so there is your 1-1.5" slack. the brake is probably stuck engaged, but the cylinder( the broken one) is not making it work so you can still drive it. not a 100% guarantee, but it makes sense.

 

[vtcruiser60]

$300.....Damn Newbie....stole it right out from under me.

Welcome aboard. Give a holler if you need help!

Perhaps We should start our own Green Mountain Cruiser Club....I am in Burlington, VT.

 

[NEK_VT_FJ60]

$300.....Damn Newbie....stole it right out from under me.

Welcome aboard. Give a holler if you need help!

Perhaps We should start our own Green Mountain Cruiser Club....I am in Burlington, VT.

Green mountain cruiser club souds good, there seem to quite a few of us

Is your 60 dark blue? I come to burlington once a week and I always see the same dark blue 60 in the south end. Its been a long time anyway since I've seen another one.

 

[WALoeIII]

Norwich? If I walked outside with a football I could probably hit your place of work. I'm a 2nd (well 3rd now) year Dartmouth student. I'd definatly sign up for a Green (WHITE) Mountain Cruiser club, I'm jonesing for a club, I haven't gotten my rig out on the trail since I got it up here.

Here is my rig:

 

[Sporin]

Andrew,

I'm pretty sure I've seen your truck since I drive through Hanover everyday to drop my wife off, she works at the Hop.

Small (cruiser) world.

 

[Sporin]

btw, I'd encourage you guys VT/NH guys to join Yankee Toys (www.yankeetoys.org). GREAT club with a lot of members right here in new england. Lot's of really informed Cruiserheads.

At least get yourself on the email list and say hi.

-Dave

 

[vtcruiser60]

Green mountain cruiser club souds good, there seem to quite a few of us

Is your 60 dark blue? I come to burlington once a week and I always see the same dark blue 60 in the south end. Its been a long time anyway since I've seen another one.

Naw....mine is white, with a rusty hue around the wheel wells.

 

[NEK_VT_FJ60]

I found my problems.
Left side, broken cable in drum area.
Right side, the lever was broken off.

Neither of these parts show up in the sor catalogue, I hope I won't have too much trouble tracking some replacements down.