1983 cr 250 front brakes not good!

i have a few old huskys 1980,1981,1982 and a 1983.i can deal with the stopping power delivered from all of them...except the 1983.it is a low hour machine and it has the dual leading set up and all but the front brake is horrible.it feels worse than the others when they are soaking wet.my friend has a 1984 xc 250 and his front brake is worthless also and he even installed new EBC shoes.what do i need to do to stop?thanx,dan

drum brakes

All husky drum brakes are useless... honestly...all mine from 76 to 84dls were....why you think they changed to discs... people talk about truing up.. yamaha shoes..different cables..longer actuating arm ...all twaddle.....

I'm racing 83-84 Husky,s and my bikes will do stoppies. That's normally good enough for me.
This does not work so good when they get wet, but they dry out quickly enough for this old guy.
Make sure they are indexed properly and the linkage is "timed" correctly. Indexing is done easily by racing a wet, sandy race. Or follow the directions found here in the forum.

I arc'd the DLS on my 82 430XC after trueing the drum. It STOPS! My 84 WR250 is like you described-weak brakes, its getting the above treatment this winter.

Pull it apart and look at the shoe to drum contact area, I bet its very little. A machinist friend made a spindle to go on his brake lathe for my Husky wheels. The leverage ratio on the DLS is much less than the single cam brakes. I'm lengthening the arm on my 84 WR as far as it can go, brake stay is the limiting factor.

Looking at the other makes DLS arms, Yamaha, their arm is alot longer. Husky made a mistake not making it long as possible. Another issue is the bushing in the brake backing plate, if it is worn it allows the plate to "cock" when the brakes are applied then full shoe contact doesn't happen.