Melted my cush drive rubbers! :(

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MexicoMike

MexicoMike

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After our ride yesterday I noticed a bunch of black spider-webbing all over the rear wheel/tire. At first I couldn't figure out where such stuff could come from. Then I remembered reading about this some years ago.

Yep, turns out I had adjusted the rear brake a bit too tight when I installed the rear sets a couple of weeks ago. So during the ride, it heated up/melted the rubbers.

I recall in the past that some folks talked about making their own cush rubbers. Does that actually work? What is used, tire rubber?

Otherwise I will have to order a set from the US and deal with the shipping delay that will likely result (took a month for a small part from CNW to get here!). So if making them IS feasible, I might give that a try.
 
I won't laugh .... happened to me , little too flippant on brake adjust after fitting new shoes .... makes a mess , eh ? ..... when I noticed it thought a big spider had gone wild as I was riding .... I wish .... .... yes Hobot used to make 'em up , with tire sidewalls I think , no doubt you can run a search on here and find his thread on it ....
 
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thanks Jon , you good with the computer keys for an old guy !
 
You know I just bought new ones and installed them two months ago....Now the humor of senility which comes with age...I happen to have some of the aforementioned belting which I used in the bed of my older truck laying in the yard, and it never occurred to me to attempt to utilize that material to make any. After reading that old thread I am going to be forced into cutting some out just to research the usefulness of keeping some homemade ones handy in the kit for emergency.
 
Here in Mexico it's easy to find old tires laying around! :) Old fan belt might also be a good choice. Thanks for the links!
 
Wonder if slicing up some stiff polyurethane engine/suspension mount type bushings might work better then the wimpy rubbers?
 
I make it a point to have an extra set in my tool roll. not that as of yet I have had to use them, but they have helped others.
John in Texas
 
MexicoMike said:
After our ride yesterday I noticed a bunch of black spider-webbing all over the rear wheel/tire. At first I couldn't figure out where such stuff could come from. Then I remembered reading about this some years ago.

Yep, turns out I had adjusted the rear brake a bit too tight when I installed the rear sets a couple of weeks ago. So during the ride, it heated up/melted the rubbers.

Can you give some detail about the melted cushion material?
Color? I've seen grey and black.
Material? I've seen hard and soft.
Size? Were they a difficult to squeeze in initially to re-fit the sprocket/wheel?
Click to expand...
 
Mine were black - quite hard, more like hard plastic than "rubber." I got them from Old Britts back in '08 or thereabouts. Initially it was difficult to refit the wheel but it wasn't horrible; I was able to do it with the brake drum mounted. It was just this last ride that destroyed them due to brake dragging (my fault for insufficient slack at last adjustment). They held up fine from '08 until that ride last week.
 
This takes me back to '71. I got my 750 shipped to me in a crate after I bought it sight unseen from a brochure while in the US Navy on a ship in the Mediterranean. Put it together and didn't tighten the rear brake pedal position jamb nut enough and the bolt just vibrated to make the pedal put more pressure on the rear brake. Same effect, melted cush drive rubbers. I made sure that nut was tight after that!
 
For those who have made their own:

Did you just make two small "squares" of material, for each recess, mounting one at the drive end and one at the "brake" end of each recess or did you actually try to duplicate the OEM cushion - one piece for each of the three recesses?
 
Glad to find this thread...I have new shoes installed and just snugged up the cable.

I would have thought they would be meltdown resistant/proof rather than being made from some material that breaks down and starts slinging hot melted goo all over the place.

Of the cush drive inserts I installed I had two for each recess. Some good ideas for make your own listed, especially tire material. You'd have a much better chance to sniff it out before the fire started.

Melted my cush drive rubbers! :(
Melted my cush drive rubbers! :(
Melted my cush drive rubbers! :(
 
Good Catch Les.
I find that these blocks need to be shaved down some with a belt sander so you can install the wheel easier into the pockets without a lot of struggling. I remove material off the big block side. Try it onto the brake drum first but my experience is these need to be trimmed down some.
Cheers,
Thomas
 
If the hub got hot enough to melt the cushion parts, better check the grease on the double row ball bearing while the wheel is off the bike.
 
My 850 actually wore them out 2 yrs. ago. They were about 14 yrs old, so I replaced with OEM. Yes, a very tight fit, but aided by silicone grease, available from every SCUBA shop.
 
The newer rubbers don't seem to be made as good as the orginal rubbers, my orginal ones lasted for over 35 years before they failed replace with new ones and they lasted 6 months so the last replacements I got from RGM so far they are doing well and been in for 7 years now and I have 2 spare sets when needed, so far so good, I like Jims idea of using the knobs off a old motocross tyre.

Ashley
 
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