locking ring will unscrew if the rotation of the wheel is reversed. Do it by all means, but make up some
way of securely locking the bearing ring.
There isn't much that can be done to prevent the inside pad wearing rapidly in wet weather. The factory
did make a scraper effort to fit beneath the caliper but it made a vile noise and didn't work very well.
Perhaps swapping the logs over cures this too. Life of 3.000 miles is to be expected, so if you are going
abroad take a spare pair of pads. It can rain over there, too-we've just returned `from the F.I.M. rally and
we must have had a dozen thunderstorms in the month.
Don't forget to change brake seals, hoses and fluid about every three years at least. as the rubber simply
does not last for ever. The drum front brake is simply not worth bothering with-there are some good ones
about but there are a lot more bad ones. Ask the Lancs. Constabulary what they thought of the drum
brakes on their Interpols.
STOP PRESS:
FRONT WHEEL BEARING LOCKRING: Part No. 066612 to be used as such when reversing front brake
to lefthand side.
FRONT DRUM BRAKES: I could write a volume here. Some twin leading shoes did work well, mostly the
early ones. l had a later one. Some mods to get it working or least reliably. The centre hole is often too
large, allowing the brake plate to flop about. This can he bushed down, possibly with phosphor bronze or
such. There was a service sheet at one time which gave advice on how to cut a hole in the bottom edge
of the plate to let the water out!! Why let it in I ask? Even with the blanking plate in the air (water) scoop
rain still hits it and goes sideways into the brake. I had the whole scoop removed and welded over:
success.
Now the linings you can benefit from by fitting are. AM4 green racing, but they have to he fitted by on
expert and machined exactly to the drum site. Also make sure they have the leading edge well cut back
1in or more as they do tend to grab, especially first grab in the morning due to the dampness in/on the
linings/drum.
There was also a brake stiffening kit. This necessitated replacing the two cams and pivot points, a
hammer, drift and vice job, but from reports I've received this was well worth it, specially with standard
linings. Wouldn't like to combine it with AM4 though, might be too much.
GROUP 17:- Rear hub, brake and sprocket
JOHN HUDSON: The other weak point which 1 think has not been mentioned is the one-piece double
row ball hearing in the rear sprocket and brake drum on 1971 models up to the introduction of the Mk lII.
This bearing is still the Hoffmann (now RHP) 117DR but it tends to be neglected, tucked away as it is in
the centre of the brake drum. It does of course have to take by -itself all the driving load which it cannot
share with the two single row bearings in the wheel. It is retained in the brake drum boss by a circlip
which is concealed by a felt washer retainer, felt washer and pen steel washer and these three have to be
prised or levered out before the state of bearing and circlip can be determined. Sometimes the eyes of
the circlip break off in service and sometimes the circlip itself comes out when brake shoe retaining set
screws can rub on the inside of the brake drum.
When the three washers mentioned have been removed extra grease can be worked into the bearing if its
condition seems O.K. otherwise. With the circlip out, drive lightly on the opposite end of the dummy
spindle and all parts will come out of the brake drum including inner felt and plain steel washer.
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