Rear wheel Cush rubbers instal tips?

I'm going to be putting in new Cush drive rubbers in my freshly rebuilt rear wheel brake plate etc. As I recall it's no fun, anyone have a secret method? I'll be doing it on the bench & I assume petrolium based grease would shorten they're life span so is silicon/PTFE grease a good idea? Or high temp synthetic grease for lubericating moving brake parts?

I use silicon (dielectrical) grease on them.

They're still a biotch. If anybody's got shortcuts, I'd be glad to hear 'em, but I think most of us just huff and puff and swear and hit 'em harder until they go in.

You must have a mark III.

Mk. I here.

No, rear drum. 73 850. I have them in a plastic bag soaking in my tea kettle (American of British decent) full of hot water now. I'm sure I'll win fight & get them in. After all I did manage to get the nasty little springs on my new Ferodo brake shoes!!! That was fun...

This is strange. I lubed them up nice with high temp brake grease & they went right in. Nice and tight but no trouble at all... Hope it is not a sign they suck. Or are not the right size.

I need to bug out on a lot of these conversations because there are so many things I haven't done since the 70's. I never had much trouble with them back then. I'm looking forward to getting back into it all this off season. The Mark III disc brake cushes look challenging.

I've installed a few sets in different bikes over the last few years and they slot home no prob with some persuasion with a rubber mallet. However, what I have found is the non genuine ones some retailers sell are hard as hell and its a major job getting the wheel onto and off the brake drum. Go with the genuine Norton ones rather than the hard plastic alternative and save yourself some stress.

Gino Rondelli said:

I've installed a few sets in different bikes over the last few years and they slot home no prob with some persuasion with a rubber mallet. However, what I have found is the non genuine ones some retailers sell are hard as hell and its a major job getting the wheel onto and off the brake drum. Go with the genuine Norton ones rather than the hard plastic alternative and save yourself some stress.

Click to expand...

Gino, You've confirmed what I've suspected for years about the composition of the buffers being way too hard. Aside from the problems with the install, they seem too hard to provide much in the way of cushioning. I didn't pay much attention whether the parts were genuine or not. I'll order some new ones from FairSpares and see. All I can remember about the ones I've used is that they seemed to be made out of hard plastic. I'm talking about MkII. The MkIII's seem like a vast improvement.

Gino Rondelli said:

I've installed a few sets in different bikes over the last few years and they slot home no prob with some persuasion with a rubber mallet. However, what I have found is the non genuine ones some retailers sell are hard as hell and its a major job getting the wheel onto and off the brake drum. Go with the genuine Norton ones rather than the hard plastic alternative and save yourself some stress.

Click to expand...

What do you mean by "genuine Norton" - NOS? I've bought a couple of sets of Andover Norton parts from my favorite online parts dealer, and they seem to be hard plastic and indeed it is a major job getting the wheel on. It's not too hard to wiggle the wheel off, disassembly is always easier! And I was able to tap them into the hub easily enough. It appears to me the new buffers are a little too thick, resulting in basically an interference fit of the paddles into their slots. I'm sanding down the new ones with some sandpaper on a glass plate to see if I can make them fit better. It's slow going for me though because this type of work aggravates the arthritis in my hand.

Just another example of new production parts that aren't quite right. Sigh...

Debby

I generally do the job with both the wheel and the brake drum out of the bike, I knock the rubbers in with a plastic mallet, then use a broad bladed screwdriver to press the rubbers hard against each side of the slot and then put the brake drum on the hub while it is on the ground. Sometimes it is a tight fit and you might even have to stand on the drum, however once it is in the bike tightening the axle seems to pull everything together.

They need to be a tight fit. Any play and they will get hammered and crushed in no time. Replaced mine back in 98 from Norvil and in 10k miles they were shot and started to extruded from the hub. By that time I could rotate the wheel an inch or so at the tyre with the brake on. Replacement set from Andover is still in there after another 17k miles and no wear....still takes some wiggling to remove the wheel and effort to replace. Both parts look like a semi hard plastic and came loosely packed. Maybe they changed suppliers or material at some stage. Interesting what Gino said about original parts. Do you recall what 'originals' look and feel like?

I get mines from RGM (where I get most of my parts) but after the last 2 sets involved mega effort to get the wheel on (and off) I decided I'd try Andover for the next set in the hope they are different. If they come from Andover they shouldn't be loose packed, they should be in a sealed bag with the Genuine card insert. I remember replacing these years ago before "new" parts were being manufactured and can never remember them being a problem then.
Keith1069 seems to confirm the Andover ones may be different from Fair Spares.
Problem is you never know who's telling the truth, Both Les Emery at Fair Spares and Rodger Myers at RGM say they actually sell parts and share the cost of batches of parts with Andover, Andover of course dispute this!
All I know is I've tried the rest so it'll be Andover ones next and if they are the same I'll let them know they are sh*t. I always feel with RGM that the parts are so cheap that if you get a less than perfect fit then so what, make things fit! However I've had it with trying to make these little bits of plastic work easily first time!