msmity29

I am very new to biking and apologize in advance if I am not very clear in the thread as I am not to knowledgeable in biking terms. Anyway back in the late 90's I bought a Mongoose 21 speed bike. I believe it is a mountain bike but I'm not too sure. Anyway, I've only rode it maybe a dozen times before this year for short rides. Anyway, now I have started biking at least once a week. My question is with tune-ups and brake adjustments. I am having a problem with the rear brake. From what I can tell it is a v-brake. However, one of the sides of the brake is not "closing" when I press the brake lever. It seems like there is a "hitch" in the pivot. When I try to loosen the allen nut that goes into the pivot, it won't budge. Anyway, does anyone have any idea what is wrong with this and how to fix it? I really don't want to spend the money for a tune-up. Thanks in advance!

Retro Grouch 

If you're saying that one brake arm doesn't move at all I'd say that it's seized onto it's pivot. You might be able to fix it by removing the arm, polishing both the arm and the pivot and reassembling everything, but I'm thinking that it's going to go harder than that.

msmity29

It does move slightly when you press the brake lever but doesn't spring back when the lever is released. I can pull it further away, but it does not move smoothly. There seems to be a "hitch". I tried tighting the spring but that did not work either.

rmfnla

It may not be so bad. He says that the bike has not been used for some time so maybe the lube is dried up (or there never was any). With any luck a good clean & lube is all it needs.

msmity29

Does anyone have any idea why I can't budge the bilt that goes into the caliper (pivot point)? Thanks!

msmity29

"Bolt" the previous thread should have said.

msmity29

I've put so much pressure on the allen wrench while trying to loosen it that I'm afraid of breaking it!

Phatman

its locktited in there (basically glued, in addition to screwed in), b/c if that bolt came out while riding, things could get ugly.

msmity29

So how do I get it loose then? Any ideas???

Retro Grouch 

OK, here's the answer that you didn't want to hear. I suspect that you have two separate problems.

First of all, I'm guessing that your brake arms say ProMax on them. If so, there's no nice way of saying this, that's a piece-of-poop brake. You've already tried adjusting the return spring tension with no effect. That's been my general experience with ProMax brakes too. You can jack around with them for awhile, but if you really want to fix the problem, I'd get some Shimano Alivio brake arms. When you see how much better they work for how little they cost, you'll wonder why anybody would ever spec ProMax.

So now the question is: "How to get the old brake arms off?" It sounds to me like the mounting bolt is seized in the stud. If you try to use a bunch of torque to break the bolt loose, make sure that you have a tight fitting allen wrench or you will just round out the bolt. You might try carefully use a propane torch to persuade the bolt to come loose or you cound break out the Dremel and start cutting the old arm apart until it comes loose. You'll still have to figure out how to get the bolt out.

Good luck.

sydney

Maybe,but I 've yet to see one that would not come out with moderate force from an allen wrench.Different story if it's rusted in.