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Date:         Sat, 3 Jul 2010 21:21:09 -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: Parking brake pressure (was I've had it)
Comments: To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=response

re Parking brake works only on the rear brakes, and without looking at > the setup I'll guess that it probably works only on one of the shoes. > It works on both shoes sort of 'by extension'.

the cable pulls on a lever ...that lever pulls on the adjuster bar between the two shoes and that lever pivots at the top, on the rear shoes. about an inch down is the adjuster bar .. so pulling the bottom of the lever forward with the parking brake cable. applies force to both shoes ..but there is more leverage applying to the forward shoe... which is the leading shoe, which is self-energizing in that the top pivots out the same way the drum turns .. and since the parking brake applies more force to the leading shoe than the trailing shoe.. that's why the parking brake holds better going forward than going backwards.

as drum brakes go, I think they're darn decent.

disc brakes that include a parking brake mechanism right in the caliper ... work on lighter cars. There is a screw inside the piston .....and it can adjust out as pads where .. they're a bit goofy. And don't hold that well.

'real cars' ..serious good cars with 4 wheel disc brakes , have a separate small drum in the rear ( about 6 or 7 inches inside diameter ) with smaller than usual brake shoes. The disc looks like a hat... the drum part is the hat part, and the disc is the hat's brim. mercedes, Volvo, and Subaru all do it this way.

vanagon content .. the rear disc brake kits offered....one of them anyway, will not really hold that well on a steep city street ...the cable operated caliper type. At least one I installed for someone, and I went nutty on it too....just wasn't up the holding the weight of a syncro van on a steep city street, which I figure is a fair gauge of parking brake performance.

I checked into getting 'real' rear disc brakes with a drum type parking brake for vanagons.. there's a racing brake company near me that will make *anything* brake wise for a car. The price I was quoted ... would be like $ 1,500 ( or a little more even ...brand new high quality parts ) ... for both rear brakes...... and that was if I bought 8 sets or something.

But that's what good cars with 4 wheel disc brakes have for a parking brake.. a separate small drum brake in each rear wheel. Drum brakes work very well in certain applications for sure. Scott turbovans

----- Original Message ----- From: "David Beierl" <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2010 7:03 PM Subject: Re: Parking brake pressure (was I've had it)

> At 08:51 PM 7/3/2010 Saturday, Dave Mcneely wrote: >>When I set the brake, the van won't move (in 1st gear, manual >>transmission). However, I raised the front end a few days ago. The >>parking brake was on, but the front wheels spun freely. Right, or >>wrong? Van brakes perfectly well, but the parking brake does not >>engage the front. > > Parking brake works only on the rear brakes, and without looking at > the setup I'll guess that it probably works only on one of the shoes. > > That's been pretty much standard for parking brakes for the last > fifty years. On vehicles with disk brakes all around it may work > differently. > > Yours, > d


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