Bendix/Ruttman brake questions

#1
Hey guys, I've been registered forever. Got out of minibikes for a bit, but 2 months ago I bought back a Lil Indian Sabre I used to own and quickly built it for minibike races in Milwaukee. It did okay as a race bike, but now I'm trying to upgrade it. The frame cracked when I first got it near the head tube so it's been plated and repaired, so it isn't completely original, but I am trying to not cut it much if at all possible. I still have a flatty Tecumseh for it but it currently has a mild build predator.

I had a clutch brake with a jackshaft and 6" mags on the bike, but the single speed setup is holding it back against all the bikes it was competing against that had TAV setups. I don't want to cut the frame and think it would be too tight for a TAV/Comet setup anyway, so I bought a 2 speed jackshaft and was going to install that. Based on my limited knowledge of the 2 speed though, the clutch brake won't work anymore because of the one way sprag on the 2 speed.

So, I picked up a Bendix/Ruttman 5" drum brake setup for it. Spacing the sprocket out from the wheel seems easy, and I can handle the axle spacers with no problem, but my question is with the drum backing plate. Does anything sit inside it, between it and the sprocket/drum? Thrust bearing or anything? It seems tight and would expect it will only get worse once I tighten the axle down. I saw other posts where you have to build a mount to hold the backing plate in place, that seems easy enough. How well does the 5" drum brake work compared to the clutch brake typically?

Thanks!

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