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Date:         Mon, 29 Jun 1998 09:36:04 -0500
Reply-To:     "Chip & Co." <Shaner@FAMENT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Chip & Co." <Shaner@FAMENT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Brake pedal problem
Comments: To: Steven Cu <steven@PWORLD.NET.PH>
Comments: cc: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Generally if you can pump the pedal and it gets stiffer, ie shorter stroke, then your brakes are out of adjustment. The following is the procedure I use when adjusting brakes after having the drum open. 1. Jack up both rear wheels, (assuming the front is disk) and place jack stands underneath. 2. Starting with either wheel back off the adjusters 100%. 3. Start tightening the adjusters. Pick a wheel and do 3-4 clicks on one adjuster, then 3-4 clicks on the other. This will help keep them even. 4. Continue doing this until the brakes are so tight the drum will not move. 5. Move to the other wheel and do the same. 6. Now bleed the brakes. 7. After bleeding one side go back to that wheel and see if the drum will move. IF it does, tighten it up equally on both adjusters. 8. Continue steps 6 and 7 until a) there are no air bubbles in the line AND b) the drums stay tight. 9. Now, keeping the number of clicks per adjuter per wheel even, back them off just enough so that the drum will spin. 10. Clean up, put the tires back on, etc and take it for a spin.

My understanding for why this works is that the brake shoes have a ceartin spot they like to sit in the drum, and until you get them there they just keep wiggling around looking for it. I came upon this method while working on my old super beetle after I spent 2 months, pumped 5 quarts of brake fluid, and even took it to a professional brake shop trying to fix this problem. An older gentlemen in OK who has a personal junk yard explained this to me.

YMMV Good luck! -- Chip Shaner 4 kids and 1 cookin'....... http://www.fament.com/chip/vw/vw.html - The Un-named VW page Http://www.fament.com/chip/vw/plates.html - Decorative License Plates


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