[William_86]

imported post

Hello, im helping my friend to change his suzuki vs800 brake pads. we have the rear pads off (drums) the adjust nut was almost all the way in.. with the brake pads off, i see there is still braking material, but we dont know what is the service limit for this. i have never seen brand new pads so i cant tell how much is left. any advice? parts cant be obtained locally so is hard to say. just buy new ones. i was thinking it may be the cable is going away thats why it has stretched but if the pads are already worn then the cable is fine.

 

[exavid]

imported post

There should always be a bit of brake lining on brake pads or shoes when they are changed. You don't want metal to metal contact between the pads and disk or shoes and drum. That will quickly ruin the drum or disk. As a rule of thumb I wouldn't want to go thinner than 1/16th" on any brake friction material. And that's an absolute minimum, normally I'd change them sooner than that. Most models of Goldwing have around 1/4" thick pads so changing them at 1/8" would be a good idea. Most disk brake pads have grooves or notches that disappear when the wear limit approaches. In the case of drum brakes that's less common and you just need to use good judgement.

In the case of your friend's Suzy I doubt the brake cable has stretched, most likely it's wear on the shoes that's causing the adjustment to reach its end.

 

[derekhendry]

imported post

i used to find on older bikes with drums that once you ran out of adjustment and took the shoes out there was still plenty of life left in them, i used to either move the arm back on the spline or use a spacer but keep checking

 

[Dancinbear]

imported post

Exavids guidlines are accurate.......... but like derek says, if there seems to be plenty of lining on the shoe, re=adjust the lever on the housing to gain more travel. We used to do that all the time on our cb350's and dirt bikes.

 

[William_86]

imported post

Thanks for your comments