adjusting Dia Compe single pivot brakes?

[eddief]

These are great looking nearly new brakes on my Specialized Sequoia. When looking at the front bake from front to back of brake --- it has a cone shaped pointy nut, then a little lock nut with only two wrench flats and then the brake and then a normal wrench (not hex) nut on the back of the fork.

I was wondering what the pointy nut and the two flatted lock nut on the front of the brake are supposed to do?

My goal would be to have both pads return an equal distance from the wheel, but one side returns out a ways and the other stays pretty close to the rim.

I looked at th Park website but they're not too clear in their description.

[pale scotsman]

Eddie - Did you look at this? Look down to the Orange varsity pics.http://www.bicyclemotor.com/techhelp/sidepull.html

A couple of tricks with the side pull caliper is to loosen the back and hold it centered while tightening. Make sure the adjusting nuts are locked together right as well. We used to use a notched screwdriver and a hammer to center the spring when the park obw-3 centering tool didn't fit. Crude but it works.

[Peter]

Two solutions:

1. Stick an allen wrench into the pointy cone nut. Put a wrench on the hex nut on the backside of the fork. Loosen the hex nut and hold the brake in position using your allen wrench. Tighten the hex nut.

2. Many brakes of that era had a section of the center bolt, just behind the brake arms yet in front of the fork crown, that had a couple flats on it. Loosen the hex nut and using a 13mm cone wrench or special Park brake wrench designed just for this task, hold the brake in position. Tighten the hex nut. In some cases it was necessary to remove the front wheel to get a purchase on the aforementioned centerbolt section from underneath the brake.

The cone shaped nut and adjusting nut behind it are used to adjust how smoothly the brake operates. Work the two nuts like you're adjusting a hub-for smooth operation but no slop in the brake arms. That may be all you need for even retraction and centering the brake may not be the issue.