Put Rear Wheel Back on - Now brakes not working? 750J Maxim

So I got the rotation of my tires fixed yesterday and got everything put back together.
I did strip out the Shoulder bolt and Nut for the Torque Stay (#14 page 208 Haynes).

With all the bolts in place included the stripped one, I had the bike on the center stand. Then I put it in first and released the clutch.

There is a very small ticking noise and the rear brakes are not stopping the wheel no matter how hard I press the pedal on or off the brake. (I have not tried to ride it yet - I still need to replace the stripped bolt.

Did I put it back together wrong? Did I accidentally loosen the adjuster cable alot moving it around?

Any suggestions?

FYI: The brakes appear rather new, not delaminated and about 7mm thick.

 

Re: Put Rear Wheel Back on - Now brakes not working? 750J Ma

All I can say is take it apart again make sure none of the brake shoes/springs etc have been displaced. Also, make sure the indicator arrow is at the most forward hash mark on the wear indicator when you install the brake lever.

 

spin the wheel grab the lever its self push it forward not the brake pedal see if it stops sounds to me like an ajustment. you didnt pull the lever off the brake drum did you? if so pull the bolt and slip the lever off move it back just a little .

 

Yes I took the lever off the brake drum.
I didn't know any better and the "indicator" needle was in the wrong spot anyways.
So basically I have an adjustment issue, assuming nothing came loose in the drum assembly?

 

There's nothing in there to come loose. You have the two shoes, and a spring.

The "needle" has a key of sorts that's supposed to engage a suggestion of a slot in the shaft. If you look real close, there should be an indexing "dot" (punch mark) on the shaft; but nothing to line it up with???

So I looked in the factory 650 book, and 550 book. Both say to mark the shaft and arm for easy reassembly.

So I looked at all 3 bikes and they all have their arm positioned with the 'split' aligned with the right side of the pointer, if that helps. (Two 550s and a 650, not 100% sure exactly the same but I'll bet you'd be close.

 

Well,... you can't even get it back together unless the Shoes and Springs are correct.

The Brake Lever goes on and the Bolt positions the Cam Shaft.

The Lever hangs DOWN and slightly to the rear with a Line-up mark stamped on the Shaft, as mentioned.

Placing the Brake Lever on the Activating Rod with the Activating Rods Spring in place and the Rod place through the Dowel Pin ... just-about positions it where it needs to be placed on the Splines.

"Cheat it a notch and look for a:
Footprint
Shadow
Evidence of rust where it was before ...

Tighten the Adjusting Nut too the old spot ... and check the pedal.

(( An old trick is to Tighten the Adjusting Nut with a Deep Socket until the Brake Shoes stop the Drum, ... then BACK-OFF the Adjuster Nut -- 5-"Clicks" ))

 

Eureka!
Fixed. Now I may have to fine tune it.

As mentioned above, the split should be slightly right (clockwise) of the indicator. At the same time the slot or missing gear teeth the indicator needle sits in also lines up perfect with the splits lack of gear teeth.

So with a cool head and cooler temps it was a no brainer!

Thanks again everyone