i have been tuning up a bunch of old mountain bikes. i take the parts off, clean them extensively and put the bike back together.
every time i try to put the brakes back on and tighten the bolt down to secure the brake arm to the boss post the arm seizes and wont move when i pass a certain torque. this is confounding because it is always far less torque than i was able to apply before cleaning. its also much less torque than i apply to newer brakes on canti posts. in some cases the bolt has to remain loose to the point that it seems likely to unthread in order to prevent seizing.
this keeps happening to me with so many of these older brakes. the only solution that i have found seems to lie in the washer that presses between the tiny bit of boss post that sticks up beyond the brake and the securing bolt. it appears that the washer gets grooved by the post and crushed and then is ruined. flipping the washer helps but doesn't seem to restore the potential for torque that is necessary.
do i need to get titanium washers or something!?!? am i just applying too much torque? any help is much appreciated
