• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

dls brakes

Yes, thru a lot of trial & error you want both shoes to expand and contact the drum lining simultaneously. Adjustment is via the connecting rod, spin the tire (best off the bike & in a chuck because you'll be eye-balling the shoes & backing plate). You'll know it's correct when mounted in forks, gently spin the tire in direction of travel, apply the brake. Upon release the wheel should rotate backwards.
 
Leftcoast leftkicker said:
Yes, thru a lot of trial & error you want both shoes to expand and contact the drum lining simultaneously. Adjustment is via the connecting rod, spin the tire (best off the bike & in a chuck because you'll be eye-balling the shoes & backing plate). You'll know it's correct when mounted in forks, gently spin the tire in direction of travel, apply the brake. Upon release the wheel should rotate backwards.
Click to expand...

Anymore info on this? I'll do some trial and error this weekend, but whats a starting point?
 
Huskerdoo said:
Anymore info on this? I'll do some trial and error this weekend, but whats a starting point?
Click to expand...

I respectfully disagree with Allen. Proper set up of the DLS system does not require T&E. The brake is properly adjusted by disconnecting the cable so nothing is acting on the mechanism but the return springs. Then adjust the mechanism so the shoes sit flat on the lobes at rest. That is it. It is a straight forward mechanical adjustment. No magic involved. You do this with the backing plate in your hand before installation to the wheel and axle. Tighten it down and never mess with it again.
Hope this helps. Now the next question is, does your brake cable provide the proper range of adjustment for use with the DLS?

Regards,
Paul
 
pcnsd said:
I respectfully disagree with Allen. Proper set up of the DLS system does not require T&E. The brake is properly adjusted by disconnecting the cable so nothing is acting on the mechanism but the return springs. Then adjust the mechanism so the shoes sit flat on the lobes at rest. That is it. It is a straight forward mechanical adjustment. No magic involved. You do this with the backing plate in your hand before installation to the wheel and axle. Tighten it down and never mess with it again.
Hope this helps. Now the next question is, does your brake cable provide the proper range of adjustment for use with the DLS?

Regards,
Paul
Click to expand...

Well, I got a replacement cable from Terrycable for my 84, it seems to fit fine. And the shoes did flat on the lobes before I put everything back together. I deglazed the hub, arced the shoes, and extended the brake arm. It is still bad, I can overpower the brake just pushing it in the garage
 
I'd agree with Drew, also tyrap the brake cable to the fork leg & safety wire the fork leg adjuster & cable together so the cable can't pull out.

Husky John
 
Huskerdoo said:
Well, I got a replacement cable from Terrycable for my 84, it seems to fit fine. And the shoes did flat on the lobes before I put everything back together. I deglazed the hub, arced the shoes, and extended the brake arm. It is still bad, I can overpower the brake just pushing it in the garage
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delay on this, I travel at times and I didn't take a laptop on my last trip.

Cable sheath to cable length relation:
If you can not adjust your lever to fully engage the brake at ~50-60% travel then the cable is too long relative to the cable sheath. You need to engage the brake by this range because your range of ergonomic feel diminishes the further you tighten your fist. Fully engaged = no further travel is possible within the range of a typical humans grip strengh (60-90 lbs force @ center of lever)

Dirty brake syndrome and the need to rebed you shoes with each ride:
I don't know why the DLS is this way, but I have noted that my front brake is ineffective the next ride after I wash the bike. I think it is related to the water that finds its way into the hub. It causes rust on the liner. I have to ride the bike in 1st gear while dragging the brake repeatedly. After about 2 minutes the brake is back. My DLS brake works very well when it works. It is not a disk brake, but way better than the stock brake that came on my 82 and one of the better mods I made to the bike.

Regards,
Paul

Ps. Terry cable will modify your cable for free if you can tell them exactly what you want. Shipping to TC is on you.
 
Hi guys, there is an excellent thread here somewhere on lining the drum with double sided tape and sticking sandpaper in the drum to cut your shoes to the profile of the drum exactly. the mod boys should be able to direct you to it.
 
suprize said:
Hi guys, there is an excellent thread here somewhere on lining the drum with double sided tape and sticking sandpaper in the drum to cut your shoes to the profile of the drum exactly. the mod boys should be able to direct you to it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the replies. Suprize, I did that procedure. I'll try to get a pic of the cable and set up within a day or two, maybe someone would be able to spot something.
 
Ok. I see the problem. You still have the original brake shoes. I can't say if they were ever good, but I can say they are now junk. I can't recall with certainty what brake shoes I purchased. I think they were EBC's, they are grooved and work well unlike the Husky reds. Everything else looks OK. I personally would not have lengthened the actuator arm. I suspect it makes the lever pull too long for my liking, but to each his own. If you have not done so be sure to disassemble, clean and lube the pivot point bushes and shafts.

Hope this helps.
Best regards,
Paul
 
pcnsd said:
Ok. I see the problem. You still have the original brake shoes. I can't say if they were ever good, but I can say they are now junk. I can't recall with certainty what brake shoes I purchased. I think they were EBC's, they are grooved and work well unlike the Husky reds. Everything else looks OK. I personally would not have lengthened the actuator arm. I suspect it makes the lever pull too long for my liking, but to each his own. If you have not done so be sure to disassemble, clean and lube the pivot point bushes and shafts.

Hope this helps.
Best regards,
Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I have considered this option, going with some EBC shoes. I guess what makes me hesitant is that for some reason the bike had a single leading shoe setup with EBC shoes when I bought it. Did the arc thing and they stunk also, which led me to purchase the DLS setup. I'm not especting disc brake power, I'd be happy with something comparable to the SLS setup on my Maico
 
I bought a DLS hub and brake , extended the arm , fitted it to my 85/400 and have never had a problem.
Almost as good as a disk [ 2004 KX ] and the lever travel is not a worry because you don,t have to pull as hard. [ When they work properly ]
The 83/430 in the front of my avitar has exactly the same setup and does not work at all :confused: .
I have not set the 400 one up , have not skimmed the shoes or drum but did cut water grooves in the shoes and have not looked to see why they work.
I would have done over 1000ks on the 400 and they are still brilliant.
I don't understand why some work great and some are scarey.
But I can tell you that some of them work exactly as they should and when they do they are very nice.:)
 
I've never had a problem with the power of the single leading shoe brake if it is fresh and maintained properly.
 
Im with the duck, i had new 240 years ago and the brakes were good, not brilliant but good. Ol mate had a new 510 and they were crap, we tried everything we could think of at the time but they just provided a gentle retarding action. Strange as they were identical units. No amount of adjusting cleaning whatever really changed their performance. Wierd
 
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