Disassmbling Weinmann Sidepulls...
 

I have a set of Weinmann Sidepulls, looks like model # 630, the rear one drags on the side opposite the cable, I was thinking of pulling it apart to see if I can get it working better, and then started wondering, if anyone knew how these things come apart and if they come apart. I figure if I can open it up, clean it out and grease it down, it might work well enough.

If you pop off the front plastic cap there are doubled nuts like usual. If that doesn't make sense, your 630s are different than mine and I'll need a photo.

Does the cap pry off or screw off? I don't want to wreck the cap.

It prys off - shouldn't be too hard. There's just a very small lip of plastic that hooks behind the innermost nut and the plastic seems to be fairly pliable. Just be careful you don't catch the brass washer behind it since it's of the same diameter.

So I'll see if I can pop it off, or maybe try to pull it off with the vice grips.

Never could figure out why Weinmann even bothered with those black plastic "caps" that has a hole on the front of it anyway to make the centerbolt tip accessible for centering. I think even the top of the line Carreras have a similar "cap", but made of metal, instead of plastic.

Chombi

Yeah, especially when they don't stay centred after a while, which is why I want to take it apart, I figure there is either dirt inside of it, or maybe the spring is weaker on that side and needs cold setting :D If I can take it apart clean it and add new grease it might just behave itself. If I can't get it to work right, I may just need to look for a different brake unit. I believe that Tektro still makes a long reach, conventional mount brake.

Just an update here, I grabbed the plastic cap with some properly set vice grips and tried turning it and the nut inside turned with it, and it seems to be working better a little looser, I will take it apart and clean it out, when I do that bike in the spring, nice to know that I don't need to replace it or fool with the spring. It does sound gritty though, so I assume a good cleaning and fresh grease will have it working like new.... Not sure how well these single pivot side pulls worked when new, I have heard conflicting reports that they worked wonderfully and that they never did work properly, so I figure it's more and issue of getting them properly adjusted.

Should grease the pivots, the spring ends, and the little hooks they fit into. Also make sure the pivots are smooth.

I always disassemble my brakes...especially Dia-Compe who's springs always seem to get a tad rusty. I do them one at a time though so I can always reference the assembled one for reassembly :). I OA all the steel/chrome bits while I'm at it and as Road Fan says, tad 'o grease on stuff that moves. It's amazing how nice even an ugly set of brakes can be with just 20-30 minutes of work.

I usually pry off those black plastic sleeves, pop them in a tin and replace them with a chromed or stainless steel 10mm domed nut - I use the same nuts to replace the brake shoe nuts, they look beater than flat zinc plated hex nuts and if the thread length is right, use another one to replace the brake retention nut. While I'm about it, Mother's polish and a buffing wheel to make the arms, spacers and spring shiny then reassemble, greasing the pivots, all washers and threads and the tips of the spring and spring seats. Turns a tired old Weinmann into a really snappy brake!

Now your talkin' :D

And wherever would you get Mother's polish over there in Merry Ole? :)

More importantly, is it available in Canada....

Mother's is the stuff. It works great on chrome but on bare steel, zinc, and aluminum parts I usually polish with rubbing compound first and then put mothers on last as a final polish and also to seal it up against moisture & corrosion. This works great on aluminum parts that have lost their lustre and no longer have any lacquer on them to protect them from turning a dull gray from oxidation.

I just did a pair of Weinmann's yesterday stamped 5th month of '78 and I daresay they look better now than they did when they were new.

The only way to get them shinier would be to use a buffing wheel and clear-coat them to keep them from surface oxidizing again.

The trick with weinmans is setting the caliper arm tension correctly. There should be no play but still move smoothly. Too much play and you will get chatter or brake squeal, too tight and the arms won't be coordinated. You need a thin 10mm wrench (as thin as a cone wrench) to do it right and it takes some fiddling. Once they are set, they work very well and brake hard.

I'm guessing this is the process:

Remove brake from bike
pop the springs out
pull off the plastic cap
undo the nuts
remove all the pieces from the shaft
degrease the parts
wash the parts
polish the arms
grease the shaft
put first arm back on
grease where it connects to second arm
put second arm back on
screw the nut back on until there is no play, but it's not tight
screw on the lock nut and make it tight
pop the plastic cap back on
install fresh shoes
re-install brake.

Yeah I know probably doesn't need fresh shoes, but I am not going to rebuild a brake and put on old brake shoes.... The only problem with rebuilding brakes is that you get used to their lacklustre operation and after they work too well :eek:

I hate cheap brake shoes so usually I just replace any shoe that isn't new that I haven't already replaced on bikes that come through my hands. I usually save the cap nuts and the washers and throw the pads away. The hardware comes in handy in the junk fasteners drawer.

I'm a big fan of the Avenir sticky-fingers shoes. They used to be really cheap on Amazon but the price has crept up.

If someone does nothing else at least take apart the brakes and clean the pivots and the bushing washers and grease them. I do clock repair for a hobby and just cleaning a pivot with a reamer makes a HUGE difference in the amount of drag present. Grease and reassemble and put on new shoes and the brakes will work like new. I'm sort of a putterer-tinkerer and just can't stop with that myself. I have to pull everything apart, soak anything steel that even is slightly rusted in OA, clean all the other parts in an ultrasonic cleaner, polish the pivots, polish the aluminum bits and treat them with mothers to protect the finish. I can't do anything halfway and end up making love to each caliper for over an hour. It's a sickness I think. I don't really think they work any better than a quick 5-minute disassembly,cleaning, reamer-polish and then re-greased before assembling but it's more fun this way and they look better than new when I'm done. I like making something old look like it is new.

I think we're twins separated at birth!!! :thumb: :)

Sometimes the only way my wife can drag me away from the workbench is to go roll around in the mud and tell me she needs to be cleaned...

LOL!!! And hey, that's a fine woman you have there, wow! :)

She's way too low-maintenance to ever be C&V though! She doesn't need anything -I wish I had met her 20 years earlier :-D I must have been really good in a last life or something.

My bicycle rebuilding projects are functional in nature, the brakes dragging on one side, I'll pull it apart, clean the schmutz out of it and put it back together using liberal amounts of grease, because it will then work again. It's part of my 4-R's Reuse, Repair, Rebuild, Recycle, meaning if I can reuse it, I will, I have hundreds of small screws, nuts, washers and other things, that came off stuff that got recycled or tossed. If I can repair it so I can reuse it, then I will repair it, lots of stuff gets repaired, best if I can repair it, using pieces I already have. Rebuild, bike stuff usually gets rebuilt if it's at all possible, hence the brake rebuild project. Some stuff can't be reused, can't be repaired, can't be rebuilt and ends up getting recycled. This is the problem with a lot of electronics stuff, it's made to end up in landfill. Funny thing is, I'll take off the old shoes and put new ones on, the old ones will end up in the junk parts box, and probably get put back on if a shoe gets wrecked or wears out and I can't get a replacement right away. I'm wondering about hand polishing, a little polishing compound and some wax, I wonder if it's worth experimenting a little. The only problem is, then you want to polish the whole bike..... :innocent:

In my experience when you polish aluminum it doesn't stay shiny all by itself. Aluminum oxidizes fairly rapidly when exposed to air and turns a matte gray. The more it was polished the longer it takes. So when it does go flat it starts a bit blotchy at the areas that didn't get quite as much of a mirror finish. Shiny aluminum from a factory that has a flashy finish always has some sort of lacquer over it to seal it off from the atmosphere. If you polish it you might just clean up the lacquer clear coat or you might take it all off and expose bare aluminum under that. Mothers does an OK job of sealing it for a medium to short while but if someone washes it later with dish soap or other harsh detergent (even vinegar which strips wax right off) it'll be gone and then oxidation will set in.

I guess the question then is, can you tell if the lacquer has come off, other then it oxidizing again, what kind of clear coat is best used for this?