Brake advice to cure my insanity
 

Hello guys, I've been lurking a while and got a lot of helpful advice and info from all of you already that saved me crazy amounts of time and money. I want to say thank you to the community. Anyway, I decided to join to ask a question that I wasn't able to find an answer for. I got this bike that was neglected and fixed everything except the rear brake. The brake would drag and not spring back like it should so I disassembled the brake and cleaned everything inside and out, greased pin and all contact points of movable parts. After re-assembly it's was finally springing back like it should by itself with me helping it. However, it has a hard time pulling the brake cable back with it unless I give it a little bit of help. I already disconnected both sides of the brake cable and was able to drip a very thin oil down the whole thing until it came out of the other side and kept working the cable back and forth to make sure the oil got everywhere. Anyway, it still can't pull the cable back by itself. My question is what the heck do I do because I'm not sure if the cable is supposed to have a little friction, or its fine, or if the brake shoe springs are too weak, or its fine. Sorry for the novel I just tried to provide the most complete information as I know how valuable that is.

Thanks guys

I don't have a GZ anymore to check for sure but I think there is supposed to be a spring up front on the brake pedal to return it to a brake free position. Some one can correct me if I am wrong and I won't be insulted.

The springs in the rear hub are just there to hold the shoes in place and pull them in to release the braking effect.

Just been and checked. There's a coil spring (3 or 4 turns of thick wire) that fits on the brake pedal shaft. Check that it's not broken, or that the ends that push the pedal aren't broken. You shouldn't be able to move the spring by hand if it's tortioned up ok. Press the brake pedal and see if the spring is pushing the pedal back up.

Thanks for the quick response, however I think that this was the one thing I left out. The brake pedal does spring back, but the cable does not so there is slack between the cable and the pedal after the brake is activated the cable stays in the same position, but brake pedal comes back. At this point I want to fill a pool with wd-40 and throw the bike in there ��

The manual says to use motor oil to lubricate the brake cable.

The best way to do it: take a ziplock bag and cut a tiny corner off, such that the cable just fits through. Then, tape the point of the bag around the cable. Then pour some oil in the bag and wait until it appears at the other end (this tip is from a former member called Easy Rider, he was technically very knowledgeable, but was unfortunately banned by some jerk admin for not being very easy on his fellow forum members, to put it mildly).

If that doesn't help, a new rear brake cable is less than $50.

This sounds like a really McGyver-y type of idea and also one that Is crazy enough to work. I can't wait to try this out when I get a minute. If this works I will grant you fake internet points that don't mean anything!:D

There is a possibility your cable has started fraying inside the housing.
If all else fails then this becomes kinda likely.
Only fix for that is new or used replacement.
So after you try everything above then perhaps a motorcycle boneyard
may be in your future.

LOL please do, thank you. :ride:

Actually, you should thank Easy Rider, but he is no longer around. Poor guy, after he bought a bigger bike, he joined that forum too, and there he started arguing against loud pipes, so the guys there who are a lot less civilized than the people here ("F.. you" meaning: "Welcome to the forum") banned him from there too. I have no idea where he currently is annoying people...

So I've tried the above method, got oil EVERYWHERE in the process, re-assembled and it was still sticking. However, after everything I put the back wheel in the air and tried to artificially "ride" on air while hitting the brakes and although they do not spring back by themselves, just with the quicker rotation of the wheel, or vibration, not sure, they spring back that way. So anyway, it works kinda half-assed but it's good enough for me as long as they're not dragging and reducing my blazing top speed of 63mph. Which is another thing I need to look into, but I think that might be the most I will get out of it since I am 6'1" with no windshield.
Thanks for all of the replies guys

You might toy with the idea of replacing the front sprocket (15 tooth) with a 16t. It will lower your rpms at the higher speeds and you might get a little more top end speed. I reach close to 75 mph and I am 6 ft and 170. It increased my mileage as well. The best I have done is about 80mpg with mostly 45 to 50 mph commuting.