TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sat Feb 06, 2016 3:14 am

I don't know what the heck the previous owner rigged up? He told me it had a 68 beetle tranny...but it has wide five drums w/12mm bolt holes. The axels are aprox 21" long...the wheel cylinders are v1189. Brake shoes are apox 1"1/2 wide, drum is aprox 2" wide braking surface. It had 4" smoothies w/165/80 tires in rear. I purchased new empi five spoke 5.5 wheels with 185/65 tires. My question is.......can I use wide five drums w/14mm bolt holes and 36mm Axel nut and replace these 12mm bolt hole beetle drums? Hopefully everything will fit under rear fender on this 59 bus....its low enough where the previous wheel setup will not come off unless you take drum and wheel off together or jack spring plates down. Thanks. Bus previously had 5.5 five spoke wheels before he sold it to me.....so I know they will fit...he also told me he didn't have to use spacers up front on 59 drums.....but these wheels which I think are the same brand Empi.....will not fit over the snout without a spacer.

Sat Feb 06, 2016 1:21 pm

If it is a 68 type 1 trans, there are a couple possibilities. The long axles allow swapping of 5 lug Thing or 5 lug type 3. Both are 12 mm. Telling those apart is fairly easy. The Thing is the same diameter as the type 1, but noticeably wider in depth ( wider shoes ). The type 3 is wider than the type 1 or Thing in drum diameter.
You can end up with 14 mm lugs and a 36 mm axle nut by using an early small nut bus drum with the 68 backing plates and guts. The drums will require some machine work on the snout and outer edges.
Look here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=136812&highlight=machining+drums
And here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=441459&highlight=lug+size

Sat Feb 06, 2016 1:49 pm

Krustybus wrote: If it is a 68 type 1 trans, there are a couple possibilities. The long axles allow swapping of 5 lug Thing or 5 lug type 3. Both are 12 mm. Telling those apart is fairly easy. The Thing is the same diameter as the type 1, but noticeably wider in depth ( wider shoes ). The type 3 is wider than the type 1 or Thing in drum diameter.
You can end up with 14 mm lugs and a 36 mm axle nut by using an early small nut bus drum with the 68 backing plates and guts. The drums will require some machine work on the snout and outer edges.
Look here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=136812&highlight=machining+drums
And here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=441459&highlight=lug+size Great.........the p/owner told me he used the whole assembly.....I told him it couldn't be a 68 tranny because it had wide five drums. I thought by posting brake width, brake surface, axel tube lenghts, and wheel cylinder sizes someone could tell me what I got? I guess I could just run 12mm lug bolts w/empi wheels in rear, and use 14mm lug bolts up front. I don't really want to have drums machined just to use 14mm lug bolts.

Sat Feb 06, 2016 4:40 pm

how hard would it be to simply drill and tap the drums for bus lugbolts? seems like a very simple change to make, from then on front and back could take the same wheels and bolts.

i would

Tue Feb 09, 2016 1:51 am

I have the same set up. That's how I lowered the rear of my 66. I used a 68 beetle tranny, 68 backing plate, 68 brakes parts, and thing wide five drums that are 12mm. All this runs with Womack modified bus spring plates. All of this eliminates the reduction gear boxes while lowering you three inches if you stay with the stock spline set up. This information can be found under the "how to lower your bus" sticky.

Tue Feb 09, 2016 4:49 pm

Well thanks to the kind folks at WWest.....they were able to reference the v 1186 rear wheel cylinders as 68+ and having the four holes in rear backing plate. So glad to get some good info...now I can order some new wheel cylinders and brake shoes and finish my brake job, along with my new Empi gloss black wheels w/polished lip. Sooooooo glad to be able to get these 135 rubber bands off the front. New tires is going to drop me another inch all the way around.......lol.