I've looked through most of the forum, and I have seen some of what I think I need, but not all. I picked up an 84 Big Red from a friends brother that had been sitting for an undetermined amount of time. I've gotten it running pretty good, little smoke, but I didn't tear it down. My problem now comes that I have no brakes. I replaced the shoes on the front, and now it goes from having a very hard feel, like they are over adjusted, to squeezing to the grips, and not getting anything. I don't know what I might have messed up. Next is the fact that I think that the rear parking brake is set, but I'm not sure. The foot pedal is pretty far down, and won't come back up on it's own. How is the parking brake supposed to work on this thing? And how am I supposed to release it? I realize that it's probably stuck, I would just like to know. Also, can the front forks be rebuilt fairly easily, or do I need to find some replacements?

 

The front forks can be rebuilt....to an extent. Just tear them down to be sure of what parts you need. Honda hasn't discontinued those pieces yet. Pay close attention to the upper portion of the lower tubes though. They do wear out if you have been riding with worn bushings and they are very costly to replace new.

As for the braking system, before you do anything,.... disconnect the cables in the rear from the actuation arm and eliminate seized cables as being the problem. If they move freely, check the return spring on the arm. If all of that checks out good, you are going to have to inside the rear brake drum to find the problem.
The parking brake is activated on the left hand lever side and not the foot brake pedal. Both cables however run to the same actuating arm.


As for the front brakes, did you remove the front actuating arm from the hub when you tore into it? The arm has to be positioned on the splines so that there is room to apply pressure to the shoes when you pull in the lever.

If that is not the case, did you clean the front drum when you put on the new brakes? Corrosion will build in them to severe levels if it hasn't been used in a while. My theory in your case is that the new shoes you installed has broken this stuff up and is now in the form of dust between the shoes and drum surface....which is causing the shoes not to grab as they should and is glazing over your new shoes.