KVF300 Prairie service manual

[Frank Angerano]

Spray the sh** out of it with penetration oil in the meantime so it can soak. 

[Sonders]

had a little time to work last night.  Was able to get the drum all apart.  Castlenut was locktited on all threads.  Heated it with handheld propane torch and slowly worked it off.  Had one stubborn screw of course on bottom side of the drum cover that wouldn't come out and head stripped out; had to use vise grips on it.  Nothing is ever easy.  Ran out of time to actually do anything once the drum was apart, but it's a start.  Feeling like total crap again so who knows when I'll get back out there to do anything else.  Stay tuned.

[Frank Angerano]

Glad to hear that the heat worked on the castle nut, sorry to hear your feeling like sh** again! Not worth relapsing, one thing I've learned is when your body talks you should listen!  Take a breather and rest up the bike will still be there when your back up to par. 
 

 

[Sonders]

Slowly getting back to action.  Took another look at brake assembly and watched a couple YouTube videos on the subject.  I can not get the brake drum off.  What am I missing?  Should it be able to spin around on the axle, or does it only go on in a certain position.  I can’t get behind it well enough to get a good hit on it with a bar or anything.  What’s the trick?

 

[Frank Angerano]

Spray it good with penetration oil and use a rubber mallet and tap it a few times all around. That drum looks cracked or is it the pics? 

If you plan on using any heat here you have to be super careful here not to melt a seal.  

[Sonders]

Just the pic, it’s not cracked.....yet.  Whoops I’ve already smacked on it a bit with 3lb sledge.  I also tried heating around the axle a little bit.  I tried using a small pry bar to pry around the edges.  The edge of the backing plate is looking a little rough now though from prying against it.  Hope I didn’t ruin it.  Parts diagram list a big O ring that is supposed to go between the drum and the backing plate.  If there was one on this bike, it is long gone as I don’t see any remains of one.  

[Frank Angerano]

Your going to need a wheel puller with long arms.  Check out amazon they have a few different types.  You may have to get the type that has hooks to go into the holes on the drum or take a few large hose clamps and put them around the drum, tighten good and use a standard type long arm puller.   

[Sonders]

drum just needed to soak I guess.  I sprayed it down real well lastnight with lube and tonight it slid right off.  The pads look like they have plenty of pad left.  Now I don’t know what needs to be done to free the brake up.  Does the cam turn pushing the pads out against the drum?  Do I just need to lube up the cam and try to work it back and forth?  I don’t really see anything else that would move.  As you can see from the pics, I messed up a few places of the backing plate.  I’m wondering if that matters?

[Frank Angerano]

Nice work brother. So spray the cam lobe with penetration oil as well and let them sit. The cam should rotate with the brake lever and expand the cam in between the brake shoes thus expanding them. 
There is a brake grease you can and should put on the lobe when your all free and moving and ready to close it all up. 
 

The area I circled should move. Spray the sh** out of everything except the surface of the brake pads and hit everything with a wire brush.  You can out blue painters tape on the brake pad surface before spraying it all down. 

[Sonders]

Ok, kind of what I thought but can honestly say I’ve never really messed with drum brakes before so wasn’t 100% sure.  Will lube it all up this weekend and hopefully get it put back together.

[Frank Angerano]

Your doing great brother. Its not rocket science just old rusted stuff that needs to be freed up again. Keep up the good work 

[Sonders]

spent some time in the garage this weekend.  I ended up completely disassembling the entire rear brake; pulled the brake pads off, removed the brake lever and pulled the cam out.  The cam was all rusty and nasty.  I steel wooled the sh** out of it and got it nice and clean and smooth.  Put a very generous amount of grease all over it and slid it back into place.  Put it all back together and boy is it rolling smoothly and brake working nice now.  I just need to adjust the parking brake as it has too much slack and the lever doesn't engage the brake.  The foot brake pedal works good though.  It's now back down on all four wheels.  I believe all that's left to do is top off the oil and some fresh gas and should be ready to fire up.  Stay tuned.

[Frank Angerano]

Nice work brother, cant wait to see how it goes.  Keep us posted.  

[Sonders]

Of course battery is dead from the bike sitting for the past 6 months so tried starting it tonight with the pull cord.  Started on the 2nd pull with choke on.  However it didn’t really want to stay running.  I’ll try again this weekend after I get some more gas in it (hardly any in it, fuel set on reserve) and battery is charged.  I’m sure the carb is going to need some adjustment.  I’m hoping it just hasn’t gotten much gas cycled through it to stay running yet.

[Frank Angerano]

Probably  just that and a little adjusting.  Ive always has to make adjustments whenever i fire up a bike for the first time. Some minor some major.  
 

[Sonders]

It’s alive!  Fired it up after work and let it idle for a little bit.  It’s pretty cold out so idle is off some.  I think it’s going to warm back up this weekend, so I’ll try to get it out of the garage and ride it around some to see how it does.  Still need to adjust left hand brake for rear also.

[Frank Angerano]

Great news brother we have had had so much success this week! @Ajmboy @davefrombc @spock58 and everyone else that added to help out on this topic and a few others it  was a cool week helping out! 
 

Good stuff! 

[Sonders]

Merry Christmas all.  We had a very welcomed warm day today so took advantage and went for an afternoon ride with the wife and kids.  The wife took our trusty Sportsman 500 while I took the Prairie for its maiden voyage.  Let’s say I still have some bugs to work out, but it did survive the ride.

For some reason the fuel selector switch doesn’t work in the ON position.  It ran for a few minutes than shut off.  It runs fine on Reserve.  Tank is full.  It also developed an oil leak from the front output shaft on the gear drive housing.  Other than that it seemed to run fine.

[Frank Angerano]

Thats great news.  A few bugs are more then expected but its good to know it can be trusted now.   Merry Christmas and ride safe. 

[Sonders]

Took the bike out for another ride yesterday and it did fine.  I just left the fuel selector valve on Reserve; haven’t looked into why ON position isn’t working yet.  Cleaned it up for the first time after riding yesterday as well.  Cleans up halfway descent.

Edited January 2, 2020 by Sonders

[Frank Angerano]

Looks great, very nice  work.