Rear Brakes

[Sarris]

It seems as though most folks over look their rear brakes. You should remove the rear wheel & hub every 10k to 12k miles. Check the drum inside the hub for excessive wear or grooves, and replace if present. Also, you should wash the hub & shoe assemblies and inside of the drum with Brakekleen or equal. Don't blow it out with compressed air. Brake dust is toxic shit. Next you should lightly grease (white grease) the pad contact points (whether replacing the shoes or not) before re-assembly. Of course you'll have to re-adjust the rear brake. The difference in smoothness and braking power was amazing.

I also replace the rear hub rubber shock absorber while apart. It's $5 to $8 and really smooths out gear engagement and removes all the driveline slop (and noise) that comes on slowly over time from wear. It really made a big dif on mine when I replaced it at 10k miles. I plan to do it every 10k.

I also remove and clean/lube the chain at the same time. I have an o-ring chain, so 5k oiling & 10k service is all it gets.