Date: Mon, 24 Jul 1995 09:28:24 -0600 (MDT)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Jack Reed <jackr@fortnet.org>
Subject: Re: Adjusting rear brakes
Christer,
In order to get my brakes (both pedal and emergency) where I like them I
tighten them up _past_ the point that they touch the drums, where there
is firm contact betweenten the drums and shoes. The manual assumes that
the automatic adjuster works and I've never been able to get mine to do
anything. Get the brake drums to where they lock, then back off a couple
of star points. I've been adjusting mine this way for the 4 years I've
had my 81 and haven't really seen any appreciable wear on the shoes from
this practice.
Follow the procedure in the manual on bleeding brakes, it's pretty
straight forward.
Jack
On Sun, 23 Jul 1995, Christer Lindh wrote:
> I cancelled my attempts to replace the rear wheel bearings that has started
> to generate noice, but while poking around the rear parts I decided to
> put in some other brake pads (from my spare '81) as they were really worn
> down from a summer vacation in the Alps. I would have put in new ones,
> but the shop around here is closed for vacation 2 weeks...
>
> After a fight with sticky drums (1 out of 4 let go without a fight)
> I replaced the pads (the old ones were real thin and had cracks...) and
> cleaned up the drum interior (lots of rust). I swapped drums as well,
> the ones from my old '81 looked better.
>
> Then, adjusting. I tried hard to do the pre-adjustment (drum diameter - 1.5mm),
> not having a good tool to measure with. Put the drums back on. But the pedal
> travel is now much longer. Fiddle the star wheels trough the little holes
> until the pads touch, then backed of just a little. But the darn pedal still
> travels too far (for me to feel good anyway, I can brake but who knows how
> hard?)
>
> So, any good tricks on how to adjust the rear brakes on a 85?
> The Workshop Manual states that travel will be longer after replacing pads
> but that this goes away when operating the pedal. Not so.
>
> (I haven't bothered with the handbrake yet, want to get the normal
> braking tuned first)
>
> Do I need to bleed the system, even if I didn't take out any
> cylinders etc? If so, could someone point me to a good description
> on bleeding brake systems, as I haven't done it before?
>
> --
> -- Christer Lindh, Stockholm, Sweden -- ** Earth. Love it or leave it ** --
> -- http://www.stacken.kth.se/~clindh/ -- Visit "Abbey's Web" --
> -- mailto: clindh@abalon.se -- http://www.abalon.se/beach/aw/ --
>
>
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