Date:         Sun, 23 Jul 1995 23:28:40 +0200
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Christer Lindh <clindh@abalon.se>
Subject:      Adjusting rear brakes

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/   --