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Date:         Fri, 2 Nov 2001 13:19:01 -0800
Reply-To:     Brent Christensen <sbsyncro@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Brent Christensen <sbsyncro@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Frustration in Brake Land
Comments: To: KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Ken:

The problems I have encountered in my Syncro with "smooshie" pedal have been related to rear drum diameter; either adjustment, shoe thickness, or the thickness of the drum itself.

I drove my self batty last year replacing wheel cylinders, shoes, flushing and bleeding fluid, adjusting, etc. until I finally replaced the drums. Once I did that and followed the *exact* specs in the Bentley for adusting the shoes, everything was fine.

It seems to me that the design of the rear shoes is flawed in Vanagons, making them particularly suseptible to this sort of problem - as the shoes wear, they do not wear evenly, but rather the arc of contact with the drum changes, since they only adjust in one dimension. (Some of you know what I mean, and others are probably reading this saying "huh??") :-)

Try taking the parking brake up a notch and see if that makes the pedal feel better - if so, I'll wager it is a problem with the clearance between the linings and the drum...

Brent Christensen Santa Barbara, CA

>From: KENWILFY@AOL.COM >Reply-To: KENWILFY@AOL.COM >To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM >Subject: Frustration in Brake Land >Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 15:25:48 EST > >I have a '80 Vanagon Westie here that is trying to drive me insane. The >guy >brought it in to have some brake work done. He could see that one of his >calipers was leaking and draging and the pedal was feeling soft. >He told me to replace the brake booster, the master cylinder, and the front >calipers and whatever the brake system needed. >I had a set of known good, used calipers that we decided to use for the >front >and I set my helper on this project because I was busy with two other vans. >My helper replaced the booster, the master cylinder, and the two front >calipers. We then bled the system. Pedal was still low and it seemed that >you could pump it up, then let off of it, and after a few seconds it was >low >again. I then inspected the rear brakes. One wheel cylinder was bad, I >replaced that and I also had a thin drum on one side. I put a new drum on >and also a new set of shoes. We bled it three more times. Still low >pedal, >kinda smooshie. I went out and bought a power bleeder (Mity Vac). I had >wanted one of these for a while any way. Bled it again, still the same. I >inspected the metal lines and the rubber lines and found that all of the >rubber lines had bulges in them. I thought I had finally found the >problem. >I replaced all of the lines with new ones. Bled the system again. Still >the >same!! > >Any suggestions? I am starting to suspect that my helper did something >wrong >when he installed the brake booster, however I can't figure out how the >brake >booster could cause a low, smooshie pedal. The only other thing I can >think >of is that the one of the parts we put on is defective. Any help would be >appreciated. Usually brake jobs are so simple, this one is starting to get >to me. > >Thanks, >Ken Wilford >John 3:16 >www.vanagain.com >Phone: (856)-765-1583 >Fax: (856)-327-2242

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