Date:         Tue, 5 Aug 1997 22:40:00 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Linda Bartnik" <lbart@preferred.com>
Subject:      E-brake adventures

Hey all,
First, thanks to Gerry for bringing up the vanagon@lenti list while Chris
and Ron sort out their hardware problems with the new server.  I was
beginning to get like a junkie, needing my e-fix.  With only the Type2 and
Karmann Ghia list mail, my mailbox was just not as full as it needed to be
;-)

Anyway, today the emergency brake on my '81 did some weird things. 
Multiple things on the van seem to be breaking recently, perhaps it's
jealous of the Karmann Ghia or perhaps it wants to get all the breaks done
before my 400 mile trip back to school in a couple weeks.

Anyway, when parking, I pulled on the parking brake like I usually do and I
got a POP and then noticed that the handle went up a lot farther than it
used to.  I immediately suspected that I broke a cable and decided not to
use the parking brake until I got it figured out for sure.

During lunch at work I crawled under the van to see what I could see (my
work clothes allow for that, I work in a tire shop :-) I could not see any
evidence of a broken cable.  Where the cable comes from the handle to the
equalizer bar is OK, and no real obvious looseness when I pulled on either
of the parking brake cables.  So I figure that rather than a broken cable I
may have a "stretched" cable, and one that stretched rather violently. 
Probably like the clutch cable on my old '78 Bus did.

Tonight I got under and adjusted the parking brake a la Haynes.  

The procedure goes like:

Raise rear of van and put jackstands under.

Pull brake handle up to second notch, then crawl under and turn adjusting
nut at equalizer bar until rear brake shoes rub drums.

Pull brake handle up to fourth notch and make sure wheels are locked

Release handle and make sure wheels are free-spinning.

Well, I had to go through this a couple times as it took a lot of
adjustment to take up the slack in the system.  Apparently the right side
cable stretched as when I adjusted it to where the left wheel was
completely locked at four clicks on the handle, the right could still be
spun (though it took quite a bit of effort).  I tightened it up pretty
good, and both wheels spin freely when the brake handle is down, so I think
I got it.

The brake feels almost as good as it used to.

Now, when I was under there, I did not notice any cable fraying or damage
like I expected to find.  The only parts I couldn't see were the parts from
where the cables go into the sheaths back, and the part of the primary
cable over the gas tank.  I don't think the primary cable is what popped
though.

So, what I assume is that the right side cable has frayed and consequently
stretched, like the clutch cable did on my '78.  Of course, this probably
means that that cable is not long for this world before it completely
breaks.  Luckily replacing it looks fairly simple and hopefully the
replacement part is not god-awful expensive.  Anyone want to comment?

Awfully long post for a parking brake issue.

Sean