Date:         Sat, 4 May 1996 10:49:23 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         DHaynes57@aol.com
Subject:      Re: drum brake adjustment

In a message dated 96-05-03 10:45:10 EDT, darie@tell.ascom.ch (Darie Duclos)
writes:

>
>1 - How do you adjust the brakes so that they are tight again?

Adjust manually to at least get them close.  The Vanagon adjusters do not
work until the shoes are at least close if they work at all.  The adjuster
lever has to be perctly aligned for these things to work at all and they are
almost always bent.
>2 - How much fluid can be lost without having to bleed the
>    brakes? (My german manual says (I think) that "If you do
>    not replace the cylinder immediately, you should bleed the
>    brakes as too much oil may be lost.." I replaced the cylinder
>    as immediately as I could.)

Brakes must be bleed whenever system is open.  Should be repalced with clean
fluid anyway.


>3 - How precisely do you have to center the brake shoes again after
>    this procedure? I centered them by moving them around until I
>    could feel the same distance between the pad and the rim of
>    the part that holds it all around both pads. Is this good enough?

They will center in the drums on thier own when the pedal is depressed.


>4 - When I first removed the housing I noticed that the brake shoes
>    were unevenly "dirty" (they weren't really worn even). They 
>    weren't quite centered and the top part of them was "clean"
>    whereas the bottom part (2/3 of the length on one) was very dirty
>    as if it had not been rubbing on anything for some time. Is this
>    a sign of *really* bad centering? Is this a very bad thing? Could
>    it account for poor braking performance? Or could the fact that
>    they never got fully pushed against the drum be due to cylinders
>    gone bad? (I only knew to change the cylinders because the mechanic
>    told me to and I forgot to ask him how he knew  :-}  )

This is design flaw.  As bothe adjusters and cylinders are at the top, the
bottom of the shoes never gets used.  Especially if the drum is worn
oversize.  Another reason to always repalce the shoes with OEM(ouch) as
aftermarket shoes do not use the correct material and the ling is not the
correct thickness
..
>5 - The hand-brake adjustment was loosened for the procedure and
>    tightened again after. It felt ok, but after the rolling backwards
>    and braking, it was very high. Does this adjustment have to be
>    done only once the brakes have fully tightened again? Or was
>    it something else I did wrong?

I adjust the cables with the drums off so I can see the slack.  I adjust to
just remove the slack and take up the play in the lever on the shoes.
 Tighteneig cables too much will keep adjusters from working also.
>
>BTW: I did this without using the 46mm socket (no way that thing is
>     moving anyway). It's just a couple of bolts holding the housing
>     on (one broke when putting it back in though, arg).
In addition to the above, what type of cylinders did you install?  Most
repalcement cylinders do not have the spring inside to push the piston cups
out.  If you got BI-TVS the springs can be taken out of the old cylinders and
put into the new.  If you got Brembo's, you out of luck.  The springs are
needed to keep the cylinders from sucking in.  When they suck in, the pedal
will feel mushy until they push out(1 shot).

Hope this helps,
Dennis
>Thanks!!
>Darie
>'86 Wes