Coaster Brake Teardown

Hey, just a quick post to get things going!

This Page is the Shimano "E-type" coaster brake, pretty much every NEW coaster brake bike has this hub in one form or another.  Shimano actually doesn't make their own anymore and outsources it so regardless what brand yours is it's more than likely the same design.  This is just an exploded diagram and parts list but should be enough to get you started!

I just found this site and I like what I see.  I ride a 1959 Glider with a 3 speed Sturmey (very popular brand when I was a kid) and I just bought a very lightly used CTC Supercyle beach cruiser for my wife.  She hasn't ridden in years and wanted a coaster braked bike to get used to riding again.  The bike is fine except for that coater brake - it's terrible!  I'm a mechanic so I do my own repairs, so I dismantled the hub and it appears to be a Shimano E-type knock-off, same as in the diagram above.  One brake pad is worn more than the other (the grooves are much more shallow), and both pads are slightly concave across the friction surfaces, measured end to end.  The wear pattern on the inside of the hub isn't as wide as the pads either.  This bike had almost no use before we got it so I don't think it was abused.  I really want her to like this bike and I don't want to add hand brakes if I can avoid it.  I had a coaster braked bike when I was a kid (a Glider again) and the brake was much better than this thing.  Is the condition of these brake pads normal, especially the concave shape???  HELP!!!!

Really the condition of the grease is more important than anything.  Since the brakes are steel on steel they rely on the grease to provide smooth stopping.  Without it the brake will squeal and scream like crazy, lock up and generally be pretty awful.

The best grease I've found is Moly Extreme Pressure grease - the black stuff they sell at Canadian Tire with the picture of a semi on it... Once I service a hub with moly I never need to pull it apart again!  If you want to make the bike as easy to ride as possible use some regular yellow wheel bearing grease on the ball bearing surfaces and then load the brake portion up with lots of the black stuff.

I wouldn't worry much about the condition of the pads... I've had plenty of bikes that are 50-60+ years old still running all their original parts. 

Most important thing to worry about when putting everything together is getting the right preload on the bearings.  Too much and they'll destroy themselves in short order, too little and you'll have a wobbly wheel.  What "they" recommend is that you should be able to feel very slight play at the rim, I personally have found a lot of hubs like to be a TAD tighter than that.  It really is a feel thing though.  Kind of like conical roller bearings - overtighten them and you'll cook them in short order, too loose and the wheel will be rattling around.

.  I personally hate to buy something when I can fix it, but in the end they're really not all that expensive.