A Couple of Handy Right-Foot Tips
by Richard Axford
I bet you’ve followed other bikes with their rear brake lamp on all the time, or going on and off at odd times, or not working at all. In case any members with a GT750 have suffered from this, or you need to adjust the pedal position and brake lamp operating point, but don’t normally do your own servicing, here are a couple of tips to save an unnecessary expensive trip to the dealers.
(Refer to the Diagram)
The pedal (part 22) is supposed to be clamped onto its splined shaft (part 23) with the small marks on the shaft and pedal boss adjacent. If, for example, you want the pedal position lowered, you’re NOT supposed to unclamp the pedal arm and move it round one spline. The proper thing is to reset the adjuster on the shaft of the rear brake cylinder so as to change the pedal shaft stop position. Although the Haynes manual implies that you can reach this behind the brake mounting plate (part 33), it is much easier to undo the bolts and move the complete right footrest/bracket/plate assembly out from the bike. It will then flex on the pipe sufficiently to allow you to get at the brake cylinder piston shaft with a couple of spanners.
There is a flat area (6 mm across flats) on the shaft to hold it still and the shaft pushes through a bracket and is fixed by a 12 mm A/F locknut. Undo the locknut slightly while holding the shaft still and raise or lower the shaft by rotating its support nut, thereby changing its stop position. Don’t forget to re-tighten the locknut.
While you’ve got the backplate loose, carefully check the position of the lamp switch (part 32) which is clipped into its bracket (part 31) which is held in place on the backplate by two cross-head screws and their washers. Clean around the switch and check it operates smoothly and (with the ignition on) makes the brake lamp work. The important tip is to check the alignment of the switch’s plastic piston spigot with the tab on the shaft assembly (part 23). The switch is operated by the tab pushing the spigot in. The tab and spigot are both quite narrow and if the switch spigot becomes misaligned with the tab it could bend the spigot sideways and potentially break it (mine nearly did this). New switches are expensive so it’s worth checking.
Re-align the switch bracket to make the lamp come on after pedal movement has begun and just as brake pressure starts and then check the tab and spigot are accurately aligned. Tighten the screws, re-check the alignment, then re-assemble the plate and footrest to the bike.
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