Rear brake / swing arm / suzuki gn125

[Peat]

So on the way to work this morning, braking lightly on the approach to a junction i felt a hard knock coming through the back brake pedal, at which point the brake locked (as in it wouldn't move, not as in the back brake locked on and I couldn't move) I continued slowly to work using only the front brake. When I got to work unpon examining the rear wheel found that the rear brake control rod had sheered off and wrapped itself roung the rear hub (it's not interfering with anything, just neatly wrapped round the outside of the hub out of harm's way) I also noticed that a bolt has sheared off from the *swing arm* whatever it is, fairly sturdy bar connecting frame to outside of the hub???

Question, is this safe to do any slow miles on or should I get a repair guy to it?

Any ideas what could have caused it?

How much to fix???

Sorry about the sh!t pics... camera phone and rear lighting
____________________
Peat
"Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep."

[Frost]

The swingarm is the bit which is attached to the spindle of the rear wheel. if that is snapped then dont ride it, dont sit on it!

if you have just gotyou words in a muddle and you just mean he bit pictured, then so long as its not going to get caught in your wheel or generate alot of heat then yes you can ride that home.

Looks to me like bolt has come out of the arm that hold the drum in place (stops it spinning around)
how the spring off the rod attached to your back brake and got wrapped around the drum i shall never know!

just a case of putting in and tightening up a few bolt, should be simple and cheap to fix

[Frost]

Ok so far as i can tell cause:

bolt has come out/sheerd off the big bar attached to the drum, this has allowed the drum plat thingy to turn with the back wheel. this has snapped off the rod and spring attached to the level which sticks out of the drum and operates the brake.

the worst thing that could happen from that bolt coming out has allready happend, so the ride home allthough not ideal or 100% safe is something i would risk. But i would advise removing that spring/rod resting on your hub.

[Peat]

Cheers DaFrostyOne, I believe you're absolutely right and will limp home in a sensible manner. Guess the guys just need to straighten the braking rod and reattach the bar that stops the drum from rotating. Didn't know if that bar (the one connected to the drum) was structural or just functional.

Cheers
____________________
Peat
"Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep."

[Guest]

What dafrostyone said - that metal bar is the brake anchor or torque arm. It's there to stop the brake plate spinning when you apply the brake - one of Newton's laws, action and reaction thingy.

As you've found to your cost it does a very important job. The nut and bolt have dropped out, you put the brake on and the plate spun taking the adjuster rod with it therefore pulling the brake on.

The nut is usually held by a split pin just in case it comes loose.

The hole in the brake plate that the bolts fits through is usually hexagon shaped at the back so the bolt head is flush with the back of the plate - make sure your new bolt sits in there right or it could protrude and catch in the spokes.

[VFR400UK]

that wont cost much to fix
just count yourself lucky nothing worse happend and that your okay!

[Peat]

cheers guys, will drop it off for fixing over the weekend... this always happens to me, I'm about to sell something big (e.g. my previous mini and then my spitfire) and something major goes wrong and costs me loads (okay, so a few bolts and a rod straightening ain't going to break the bank but you knowwhat i mean)
____________________
Peat
"Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep."