Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2012 10:33:51 -0700
Reply-To: Steven Johnson <sjohnso2000@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Steven Johnson <sjohnso2000@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Big brakes--you have no idea!
In-Reply-To: <00dc01cd433f$631789a0$29469ce0$@gmail.com>
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Good thing you didn't experience that on I-70/50 in eastern Colorado. If
you think the
grapevine is bad you should ride some of the downgrades in that section of
I-70/50. I was
driving west from Denver and when I got on those downgrades I decided to
pull in with the
semi's because I new that if I tried to keep up with the other speeding
traffic, it wouldn't be
long before my brakes would be overheating.... No way was I going to take
that chance....
On a side not, I remember constantly adjusting the all around drum brakes
on my 68 bug
because they didn't take long to get out of adjustment....
Steven J.
91 Westy
On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 10:19 AM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com>wrote:
> My '68 Westy had non-power assisted drum brakes all around-what a cruel
> joke
> that was! One step above dragging your heels on the ground. I converted
> it
> into a high top and it was way beyond its design limits when loaded,
> probably even when not. I was young and stupid. We had to come down a
> long
> hill to get to our house, and I could turn off about 2/3 of the way down
> for
> the shortest route, but my wife could never stop the thing on the hill and
> had to run all the way down until it leveled off to stop and turn. We
> were
> both young and stupid.
>
>
>
> My worst experience was on the Grapevine
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapevine,_California) coming north fully
> loaded. For those who don't know this route, it's a really long 6% grade.
> Seems like miles. By the time I realized I was having brake fade, I was
> going too fast to downshift (trucker's nightmare), and my speed was
> increasing. To safely negotiate this descent I would have had to slow down
> and shift into third at the top and go down at 40 to 45 mph, but I learned
> that too late. Two things saved us: It was long and straight with light
> traffic, and the poor aerodynamics limited my speed to about 85. Ever seen
> those gravel emergency truck turnouts? I was considering using one but was
> able to ride it out. Had to change my pants afterward though.
>
>
>
> Sold that rig shortly after that trip.
>
>
>
> BTW, brake fade is due to vaporization of the pad material from
> overheating,
> which creates a layer of vaporized bonding material between the pad and the
> drum/rotor. This vapor layer is a real good lubricant! I had a firm pedal
> (can't get hot enough to boil the fluid in a drum brake cylinder), but it
> doesn't matter how hard you stand on it. Slots and holes in rotors help
> cool the pads and dissipate this build-up of gasses.
>
>
>
> Stuart
>
> '85 Westy
>
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