In common with several Ariels of this vintage, the Model A has a rear wheel sprocket which is integral with the brake drum. This in itself would not be a problem were it not for the fact that the sprocket teeth are worn out.
The whole assembly is far too big to go in my lathe so what can I do about removing the sprocket teeth? Some options:
- Can I spin the hub in the rotary table, mounted on the workmate and remove the teeth with a fixed angle grinder?
- Find someone with a bigger lathe?
- Find a better hub?
We'll have to think about that a bit more. In the meantime, we'll have a look at all the other bits in that area so that we can work out what we are dealing with especially since I'm expecting to place an order with the Ariel Klub Slovakia shortly.
The brake plate is all present and correct.
The brake plate dust exclusion ring is a bit mangled - I have a feeling you can get these new as they are spot welded in place but since the 1930 Model A doesn't have a plated ring here I may repair it and paint it.
In the brake drum we have the 'new for 1929' ring that retains the spoke heads should they break off. Ariel must have had some incidents with brakes seizing or wheels grinding to a halt through loss of spoke heads. Not a pleasant experience to contemplate! It's all very greasy in there.
Equally greasy is the back of the brake plate but at least we have some shoes which are whole and a set of springs and a cam.
The cam bush is very worn indeed and will have to be replaced.
It's fitted through the brake plate and there is a nice little gas weld on the inside:
Here's the cam. I don't think there's any doubt that we will be buying new ones!
Something else that has caused much discussion on the Facebook group is what brake lever this machine should have. This part is definitely Ariel, but it may not be 1930 - however it's not much later, perhaps 32. Checking the parts lists doesn't reveal very much from any of these years - they all show a relatively short stubby brake lever. The various members that contributed to this discussion revealed quite a variety of brake levers including this long curved one - so go figure.
It did have a lot of bends in it. I've taken one out and this will probably sit better with respect to the mudguard stays - we'll have a look when it goes back together.
Moving on to the frame, we'll take the opportunity to clean out the threads for the chain adjusters
There's something odd here - this looks like a braze repair around the sidecar mount. The mounting should exist as a more or less complete ring without that lump of material between it and the frame lug.
The brake plate torque lug is present on the inside and both of the top hat washers are present.
Moving to the other side of the bike, this all looks good and the stand stops are in very good shape.
Missing from this side is the little flattened tube that's used to protect the wheel spindle thread from the chain adjuster. They are often mangled - we will have to make one of those.
At both ends of the spindle, the wheel nuts are not in the best shape. The left hand side won't run all the way down the spindle - it looks like it's had a hammering at some time.
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