So this happened...

So I went to go for a ride last weekend on my 82 KZ750 CSR Twin, came out of the driveway, turned down the road, approached the stop sign, hit the brakes and BAM, Snap, screeech, back wheel locks up. Rear brake pedal was laying on the ground, and I couldn't move the bike. Luckily I wasn't going fast and I was just down the road from my house. I unwound the tangled mess that was the brake rod from the axle and limped it home to find the whole brake hub broke. Don't know what the inside looks like but I'm sure it's not pretty.

So my question is, what do you recommend I do?

I'd like to upgrade to Disc brakes but I really want to keep the spoked wheels, is there a way?

Also will any Spectre parts fit the CSR? Is there any good front brake upgrades available for my ride, rotors, calipers etc. And say if I decided to upgrade the swing arm to accommodate a newer safer braking system, what bikes are good donors without having to chop and weld much?

Thank you for your help, it hurts not to be able to ride right now.

That sucks! :blink: :S
Can you measure the width of the front of the swingarm?

Your oil looks low too

The swing arm adjuster has been moved --- did that happen during the lockup event?

Dual disk Fr Br. converting to a dual disk should be fairly straight forward. the 750-CSR has the same triple tree lower as the 750H models, so you could probably use the forks, wheel, disks & calipers from those models. maybe some stuff from a 750E.
Measure the fork length for comparison beforehand.

Rr disk brake. the rear is going to take some investigation & work, unless someone who's done it chimes in. I would start by measuring the width of the swing arm. and measure the distance between the RH muffler stay mounting bolts. the RH stay on some 80s models has mounting points for some of the rear disk brake stuff.

I'll bet the lining has separated from the shoes, locking the brake up. The lever falling off though, that's a mystery.

Lol, the oil is fine, it is on the side stand.

The axle adjuster was damaged during the event as you can see the bolt is bent, I was traveling forward so when everything happened, all the stuff still attached spun around a few times.

The brake lever fell off because it was ripped off when the hub locked up and pulled the rod that was connected to it thus breaking the mount and the shaft that the lever was mounted to. You can see the broken shaft in the pictures in the two pieces on the ground at one point they were connected together through the rear foot rest/muffler mount.

I can measure the swing arm when I get home from work, I really appreciate all the help!

I'm wondering if the axle nut was tightened enough. ???
How old are the brake shoes? old old old originals?

I guess the brake locked, then the brake panel broke & since the torque link was no longer connected, the wheel & panel spinned and tore up the brake rod & broke the muffler stay, so the brake pedal just fell onto the ground.

I like my drum brake because it is unaffected by water. The disks have a tendency to lock up too easy. The linings must have separated. You can have tabs welded on your swing arm for the caliper arm or use the one for the brake stay already there.
Steve

I've seen this happen when the axle was nit tightened to the correct spec.

Woke up thinking about this for some reason... :huh:

How's it going? Have you been able to repair it?
I had the rear brake shoe lining separate on my 440 years ago and locked-up the rear wheel. Luckily, I was only going 5 mph down a dirt road so just skidded to a stop.
Recently I purchased some foot pegs on eBay. They were shipped with their corresponding mounts - both front and rear pegs - but I only needed the actual rubber pegs. I didn't recognize the rear passenger mounts until I saw your photos above. I don't have this model bike though, so if you need those rear parts (the triangular mount with the brake lever hole through it) justs give me a holler. I can send it to you as they're only filling a box here labelled "Um? Nope!".

Holy cow! I would thought it would taken more force than just a stuck brake to snap the arm off the brake drum. It seems like if that piece was weak enough to break when the brake stuck it would be weak enough to break if you simply locked up the rear brake. I'm guessing that arm had a problem before this incident. I like my rear disk brake a LOT. Ed

It could be that the axle nut wasn't tightened enough, so when he applicd the brake, the wheel shifted & broke the panel, then the rest of the carnage ensued. ???