[CarolinaBoy]

Would it be possible to swap a front brake plate/hub into a rear wheel?
For instance, use a front drum brake assembly in a rear drum brake wheel?

 

[Gixxer-18]

Most rears have trailing shoes and fronts have leading shoes because the servo affect is greater with leading shoes, diameters of the hub might be different too; but in principle there’s no reason with a bit of engineering you couldn’t do that. However the rears fitted to most Hondas were perfectly adequate for their intended use; and used hard could lock up the back wheel quite easily.
A well set up twin leading shoe brake could also outperform the later disc brakes too.
Why do you want to fit TLS to a rear wheel?
Nigel

 

[CarolinaBoy]

Most rears have trailing shoes and fronts have leading shoes because the servo affect is greater with leading shoes, diameters of the hub might be different too; but in principle there’s no reason with a bit of engineering you couldn’t do that. However the rears fitted to most Hondas were perfectly adequate for their intended use; and used hard could lock up the back wheel quite easily.
A well set up twin leading shoe brake could also outperform the later disc brakes too.
Why do you want to fit TLS to a rear wheel?
Nigel

To use a rear drum wheel on the front.

 

[Gixxer-18]

Well you could, but the hub from a rear wheel has a sprocket on it, and fitting a rear brake carrier to a front wheel means reversing the direction of rotation so now your trailing shoes are leading shoes. Then the diameter of the drum will be larger than your shoes. You’re continually chasing one problem after another. You have an Idea if this will work or you wouldn’t have posed this question. Care to share your idea?
Nigel.

 

[CarolinaBoy]

Well you could, but the hub from a rear wheel has a sprocket on it, and fitting a rear brake carrier to a front wheel means reversing the direction of rotation so now your trailing shoes are leading shoes. Then the diameter of the drum will be larger than your shoes. You’re continually chasing one problem after another. You have an Idea if this will work or you wouldn’t have posed this question. Care to share your idea?
Nigel.

There's a photo I found on the below forum after doing some searching. It appears this bike retained the entire rear wheel assembly, including the backing plate. I just thought using a front brake backing plate would save me the trouble of fabricating a mount for the cable. I'd like to do it with a 16" comstar like this. I just like the idea of having matching 16" wheels. I suppose I could use the rear plate, mount a front brake arm for use with a cable, and then fab up a mount to hold the cable end.

Anyone done a drum brake front conversion?

 

[Gixxer-18]

The front Comstars were only ever fitted with discs; for instance the CB250N had a single disc and the 400N had twin discs; both had the SLS Rear drum. You’ll have to get a rear Comstar; and fit the spindles to the front forks which won’t have the mountings for the brake torque arm. Without that your wheel and brake carrier will rotate around the spindle as soon as you operate the brake.
You want 16” Comstar wheels with a drum brake. Fresh out of Ammo on this one.
Nigel

 

[TOOLS1]

Interesting! Fab up a brake stay and turn a plate on a lathe to cover the hole left by the sprocket carrier, does sound doable.
TOOLS

 

[CarolinaBoy]

I might take a stab at it. I'll post up my successes/failures when the time comes. I just have the urge to try something weird.
Plus I enjoy the visual aesthetic of matching wheel sizes.

 

[Gixxer-18]

Well fair play; let us know how you get on! You know that reducing the wheel diameter will change the steering geometry on your bike?
Nigel.