Suzuki 2 Strokes

76 GT550. Apparently the brake cable needs to be installed from the wheel forward? I installed from the brake pedal first -- complete with cotter pin. Now I'm at the wheel and there ain't no way to get it in the stay on the wheel. Am I missing something or do I need to take it apart and start over? It looks like the stay on the hub is countersunk for thr ferrule in the photo .The slot in the stay is big enough for the cable wire only. Where am I screwed up?

Pull the rubber boot back towards the back of the bike. Then put the barrel of the that fitting in the front of the cable retainer on the brake hub. Then put the boot back on.

The boot will be a paint to get back on usually. But thats the way it goes.

Also it looks like your brake arm needs to be spun back more splines. Its lined up like the brakes are all worn out.

Are you saying that the rim the arrow points to is what butts up to front of the stay?

yes

As Spamy mentioned, pull the front part of the boot back to expose 1/2" or so of cable. Slip that exposed cable through the slot and allow the sheath end to slide into the corresponding hole in the backing plate - up to that ring you point to. When you do it, it will be obvious.

And they are correct that the brake arm is rotate way too far forwards. It should be almost 90 degrees back from there.

I got it all hooked up and working, but something doesn't jive. I rotated the arm to where I was on the 'full' mark but the threaded end of the cable wouldn't reach it. I finally ended at the 2/3 wore out mark to make it 'time' right. The odd part is I inspected the shoes when I had the wheel apart and they showed very little wear at all. Drum looked great. Never the less at the full mark the cable won't reach. The cable is in correctly and the brake is adjusted jn the second photo.

Service Bulletin GT-33 covers your rear brake:
http://www.ozebook.com/compendium/techb ... 027-33.pdf

The service bulletin shows the correct positioning of the arm.
The positioning of the arm is unrelated to the wear wear limit.

The is a grove in the brake cam that's visible in your first pic -- that grove is compared to the wear limit.

Thanks! Judging by the groove, it looks like my cam is 180 out. No biggie. I have all the later stuff judging by the things I could check externally. My setup looks exactly like the last illustration in the bulletin. YEA!. The cable I am using is a donor from RedZone as it was in better shape cosmetically compared to the cable that was on it. I did check them side my side and they were identical I guess there weren't any changes to the cable itself ---- just the angle of the dangle. My frame number is 64916.

Everything is coming along nice, I see. Why in the first picture does your brake hub plate look fantastically polished and in the second it does not ?

I don't see the index line on top of the chain adjuster!!

Well spotted Cliff ! Bet it's on the other side ? Hope wheel is lined up by laser or another device,the marks on the adjusters & frame are only a guide ? Alignment can still be out !
Cheers,
Roger GT750A

I use two straight edged pieces of steel to line up my wheels, those index marks are OK ish but better to do it directly, IMO.
Nicely lined up wheels, a nice steering bike.
Mike

Why in the first picture does your brake hub plate look fantastically polished and in the second it does not ?

Flash / no flash. The spokes are so bad, I didn't put a lot of effort into polishing. Strage things happened with that. I put it in the laundry room sink and sprayed it with Eagle One aluminum wheel cleaner. Let it set for 2 minutes and rinsed it off. The crappy alloy came out dark brown!. I thought I really screwed up, but found out the finish came back super easy with a scotch-brite pad and all the dark spots in the alloy were gone! So I worked a while with the scotch-brite pad till it was all uniform and shot it with Plasti-Kote clear. The clear is glossy and that's probably why the 2 pics look different. I am always careful not to polish TOO much because then it's a pain in the a** to maintain. I had zero chrome on my cafe for exactly that reason.
I never noticed that the wheel adjuster is upside down. That's probably because I never pay any attention to them anyway. Never have. According to the Suzuki manual I have, those marks are for emergency purposes only and alignment need to be carried out regardless of their position.
So I get the chain adjustment close and center the tire in the swingarm. Then I stand about 10 feet back and eyeball the center groove if the tire in relation to the backbone of the frame. It's easy to see if it's off. Then I tweak from there and pull the chain in at the same time. When the front wheel is on and the bike is on the ground, I use a long piece of aluminum 'C' channel to check final alignment. But in the end, trust your eyeballs. They are amazingly accurate.

Something to make those spokes look damn good without replacing. Buy yourself a compound polishing kit at harbor freight. It cost $20 and comes with 3 different solid compound bars and drill attachments. If you use the 2 inch barrel and the black compound, followed by the brown. Those spokes will look amazing. Remove the wheel to make it much easier and faster. If you do that, it should only take an hour or two. You would have to do that every so often though, because nothing remains on them as is to prevent them from oxidizing. The original spokes were zinc plated. Which is a horrible rust prohibitor. Try it, you'll be very impressed. The shine will last a reasonable amount of time. If the bike is not left outside and you touch it up every 3 to 5 months. This is the same exact kit sold at Harbor Freight for much less money. It's the best investment you can make regarding a vintage motorcycle. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-Steel ... 25936ae6c8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;