Date:         Tue, 5 Aug 1997 23:34:26 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Linda Bartnik" <lbart@preferred.com>
Subject:      Re: E-brake adventures


> 
> Personally I'd *highly* recommend pulling both rear drums & make sure you
> don't have a problem with the e-brake linkage to the shoes - a 'pop'
> indicates something letting loose (& possibly temporarily catching on
> something else) as opposed to stretching... 

Oh yeah, BTW regarding this observation, I suspect stretching (violently)
because of what happened with the clutch cable on the old '78 I had:

Driving coming to a stop sign, I pushed in the clutch and got a loud POP,
then the engine died when the van stopped.  Broken clutch cable thought I. 
The next day, troubleshooting, I had my dad work the clutch pedal while I
watch the clutch lever arm at the tranny.  Pushing the pedal moved the
clutch arm, so I began to think about serious clutch problems.

Removal of the cable showed what really happened.  The cable's effective
length had been changed due to the cable violently stretching -- a few
strands of the cable had broken (POP) and the length of the cable was
increased, making the clutch not release when the pedal was pushed.  

I suspect something very similar here with my parking brake cable, and i
believe it is the right side cable that stretched, as that one doesn't
adjust as tightly as the left side cable.  However, the fact that it does
indeed adjust (just not as well as the left side) indicates to me that the
linkage to the brake shoe is still OK.

But you are still right, I should definitely pull the drums and see what's
what just to make sure.

Thanks for the reply,
Sean


btw, B4 letting her down off
> the jacks, always apply the foot/hydraulic brake & re-check that the
wheels
> turn with a slight scraping sound; allows things to settle into running
> condition, which is often tighter than you may desire.
> 
> Austin