Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:22:45 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Rear brake shoes affect MPG.
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I sure wish I had those rear brakes right in front of me.
"something' is not right - which isn't news I'm sure.
I don't think I've ever had a tricky or odd problem with rear brakes on a
vanagon.
Some squeal on light application..........maybe a drum slightly out of
round.........
but nothing unsolvable or weird really.
are you sure the adjuster rods are on the correct sides of the van ?
do the parking brake cables slide smoothie and return properly ?
it wouldn't really matter, but did you lube the contact spots on the backing
plates where the shoes slide ?
I 'don't believe in' needing all new springs and hardware ...........having
never actually found the need for it.
but there are kits that offer that ...............and some people might
suggest your return springs are weak, say, but I've never seen that.
And for sure consider this .......................on the adjuster bar - the
short end, that fits over the threaded rod..........and it has a notch that
engages the aft shoe I think............that part will fit on two ways.
only one way is correct. Where the notch is that the shoe fits into
.............rather than being square on the end.........it's beveled on one
corner, so there is 'the beveled corner inward' and the 'beveled corner
outward.'
The notch is slightly offset 'I think' and thus would affect how close to
the adjuster paw is to the adjuster rod, and thus many not adjust
correctly.
The beveled corner goes inward, toward the backing plate I think.
You can just make it out in the picture in Bentley.
you might want to check that Don.
You really shouldn't be having all this weirdness.
I'd say 'brake fad' refers to any time good brake action goes away due to
over heating the brakes, whether it's from fluid boiling, pads loosing their
effectiveness due to no longer operating in their most effective temp range,
or whatever - any time you push on the pedal, and not much happens, and the
brakes have been used to the point of getting pretty hot. That's 'brake fad'
which usually follows 'brain fad' in a long descent.
Very good point, btw.............about using the brakes a little hard, then
letting them cool, then a little hard again, then cool again,
as opposed to continuous medium application in a long descent .
Now I KNOW that's not in any driver's manuals !
Scott
some of my driving resume' :
Raced in the first Baja California off road race Tijuana to La Paz, 1967.
Raced motorcycles in TT - dirt track with an infield and a jump - earned a
few trophies there.
Have been driving since 1962, and drove for months on ice and packed snow my
first winter of driving in Minot, North Dakota .
Personal records - have driven 1,000 miles without stopping except for fuel
and burgers and coffee, several times. ( no longer eat burgers - they'll
kill ya later in life - i.e. colon cancer )
Have driven 26 hours continuously except for fuel and food brief stops.
and from Baja to Alaska, and everywhere in between, and love driving on
packed snow - I think my favorite surface might be two inches of fresh snow
on top of smooth gravel.
all fun, and be safe !
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Hanson" <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 9:18 AM
Subject: Rear brake shoes affect MPG.
> Recently I changed the shoes on my 84 Inline 4-powered van. I have been
> having a tough time getting the shoes adjusted, for various reasons. The
> shoes 'wanted' to be tightly adjusted in order to give me a decent brake
> pedal feel..Dragging slightly on the drums. I've been fiddling with them
> for a few days now.
> Last night I filled my gas tank, and , like I always do, I figured my
> fuel
> mileage. I do this usually to check the general well being of my
> vehicle..
> Well, with the tight rear brakes, my miles per gallon dropped ~ 3mpg! I
> went from my normal ~25 to 21.9. with part of that drop being caused by
> a
> couple of sessions driving around with my foot on the pedal trying to
> 'seat'
> those new rear brake shoes.
> It's helpful to keep track of your fuel consumption. I know now that my
> rear brakes are too dang tight..(actually, I knew that from the heat I
> could
> feel at the rear wheels also, but..) Before I take off on my planned 3k
> mile road trip, I will certainly ease off the rear shoes some more...Save
> $65 on my fuel bill for the drive by doing so..
> Don Hanson
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