Date:         Mon, 14 Apr 2003 09:01:59 -0700
Reply-To:     gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      rear brake shoe and cylinder replacement
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Replacing the rear brakes looks harder than it actual
is.   I would not replace the shoes without replacing
the wheel cycliners as Busdepot has   cylinders for
about 12 each.   I would not use rebuilt shoes as part
of the brake adjustment mechanism is part of the shoe.
  Pulling the drums if they are stuck can take a bit
of time so I suggest you pull the drums sometime to
just check the brakes.
At first glance it appears that the hub needs to be
pulled in order to do the brakes.   It might make
getting to the spings easier but hardly worth the
effort of getting those hubs off and on.   So leave
the hubs be and work around them.   My hub had a notch
in it so I could rotate the notched to get at the
springs better.   I would suggest that you do expose
both wheels at the same time so you have a pattern to
look at while doing the the other wheel.   You will do
a lot of pulling and positioning of the shoes to get
at the springs so wear gloves.   You may even want to
practice putting the old shoes back on so that you
don't dirty up the new shoes. For assembly 1) I put a
rubber band on the new wheel cylinder to keep the
cylinder together as the fluid kept pushing the
pistons out. 2) I put all three springs on the shoes
before positioning the shoes in their proper position.
  3)The brake adjustment rod should be positioned
after the shoes are in place.   Take care to position
the rear part of this rod against the lever to the
em.brake and not the shoe itself.   Once you have done
this job you relaize that it could be done in less
than two hours.   gary

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