Date:         Sun, 19 Jan 97 11:27:17    
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         mdstockr <mdstockr@neo.lrun.com>
Subject:      Re: Brake Drum Removal

The other day I was talking to the owner of a 1986 Westi.

He pulled out of a box a "tool" that a local mechanic made for him to help pull the rear 
drums.

It consisted of a metal ring with holes drilled in it to correspond to the drum's wheel lug 
bolt holds.  Welded to the ring where two perpendicular tabs mounted opposite of each other, 

with 3/4" holes in each.

You simply bolt this ring to the drum.  Then, pry the drum off by hand or with a breaker bar 

through the tab holes.

--- On Sun, 19 Jan 1997 10:03:53 -0600  Beth Young <young@sherlock.sims.berkeley.edu> wrote:

>
>On Sun, 19 Jan 1997 SyncroHead@aol.com wrote:
>
>> In a message dated 97-01-17 18:05:29 EST, young@sherlock.sims.berkeley.edu
>> (Beth Young) writes:
>> 
>> > Well, you don't HAVE to remove the hub.  The hub and drum on the Vanagon 
>> > are "split", so you can remove the drum without removing the hub. 
>> 
>> True.  The drum and hub are seprable.
>> 
>> >Besides, that way you don't need a giant socket, a hub 
>> > puller and a breaker bar capable of 360 ft-lbs.
>> 
>> Sorry.  Yes you do.  The drum can't come off without taking off the big 46mm
>> "castle" nut.  After you remove the nut, you could remove the two bolts that
>> hld the hub to the drum and then remove the drum without the hub, but I don't
>> see why anyone would want to do such a thing.
>
>Now, think about this a bit....... The drum is a COMPLETELY seperate 
>piece of metal from the hub.  The drum is held to the hub by the two small
>bolts and nothing else.  Remove the two nuts and there is NOTHING holding 
>the drum in place.  YOU DON'T NEED TO REMOVE THE 46mm NUT to remove the 
>hub (in theory).
>
>I throw in the "in theroy" qualifier because frequently the hub and the 
>drum weld themselves together with rust, and it can be a PITA to try and 
>get just the drum off.  There was a recent thread about seperating the 
>two in such a condition; get a big hammer and hit the drum hard to break 
>the bond between the two.  The other thing that can happen is the drum 
>gets worn away by the brake shoes to such an entent that the drum has a 
>deep (~1mm) "valley" where the shoe rubs against it, making it hard to 
>get the drum off without backing off the shoes.
>
>Since you just did the year brakes on the wife's car (and, I'm assuming, 
>seperated the drum and hub while you had them off) run out to the car 
>RIGHT NOW (I also assume it's nice and warm where you live) and try it.  
>While you have your drum off, put a small smear of grease where the drum 
>and hub come together so they don't weld themselves together again.  
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>Tom Young               young@sherlock.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU
>Lafayette, CA  94549    '81 Vanagon
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>

-----------------End of Original Message-----------------


___________________________________________

  Michael Stocker <mdstockr@neo.lrun.com>
  North Canton, Ohio, USA
  Date: 1/19/97
  Time: 11:21:18 AM
___________________________________________