Re-connnecting hand/emergency brake at the drums

[Who.Me?]

Hi

Just so I know what I'm in for - is re-connecting the hand/emergency brake cable at the drums straightforward? My '56 Single Cab arrived on Friday and that's the first job I need to do to get it road-legal in the UK.

I don't know why, but a PO disconnected both cables at the drums and looped them up out of the way. They're still connected at the lever end though.

Does the yoke (sorry don't know what it's called) on the drum-end of the cable fit through the hole in the backplate, or does the whole cable get threaded in through the drums and then pulled through to the front? I'm hoping it's the former, given how it looks to have been disconnected, but I'm just checking whether it's a quick fix, assuming the drums aren't seized on, or an afternoon's work.

I can't understand (yet - although I may find out when I pull the drums) why the PO didn't re-connect them.

Thanks

Andy

[thewalkingdude]

Probably the same problem I have after upgrading my transaxle to a large nut RGB's with Freeway flyer gears in my '56 panel. The e-brake cables for the early transaxle are shorter and will not work with the Large nut axle as the end that attaches to the e-brake lever are different.
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the other Joe

[vwserphguy]

The search feature "under gallery" for photos will be your friend today and in the future. Def learn to use it. Here's a gallery photo that shows the e brake cable connecting to the e brake lever inside the drum. And yes it goes through the back of the backing plate. Once the cable is over the lever inside drum, you'll need to tighten it up front.

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"Relax and just enjoy the ride knowing everybody passing is wishing they had one."

[Clara]

[Who.Me?]

Thanks both.

vwserphguy - Thanks for linking that image. I'm still learning what to search for. This is my first VW.

thewalkingdude - Mine has a large nut transmission (45/46mm?), so you may be right as to why it was disconnected. Is it simply a case of sourcing a pair of cables from a later bus? If so, do you know which years?

Thanks again

Andy

[Who.Me?]

Hi Clara, sorry, you must have posted while I was reading/typing. I'm glad I asked before I got stuck in.

I'll do some Googling to see if anyone has an off the shelf cable that fits. What was different about the thing setup that allowed it to use 60/63 cables?

Thanks

Andy

[Clara]

[RPGreg2600]

I found that a later big nut cable worked on my 62 with big nut..?

[Who.Me?]

[Campy]

If you can find them, I had threads a couple of times where I explained how I've adapted later style brake plates to accept the old style cable. It involves removing the pedestal (guide) that the cable casing fits against, shaping the hole in the plate more oblong like the one in the older plate, and bending the front end of the hole towards the drum side, so there is a lip (you can look at the hole on an old style brake plate). Lastly, you use the bolt on pedestal from an old brake plate and mount it on the later brake plate by drilling a little hole in it and using a small bolt with one of those lock on nuts to hold it on the brake plate. You probably don't want to use brake shoes with real thick linings, although I have done it with newly rebuilt brake shoes. My 1957 bus had this procedure done decades ago so I could run a 1967 transaxle in it with the stock emergency brake cables. I did it to my 1958 walk-thru camper, too.
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Don't worry; be happy. (Baba)

[Who.Me?]

[RPGreg2600]

[Campy]

You can order the old style cable casing stop online. Look at a picture of an older brakeplate to see the shape of the hole and the lip (the hole in the later brakeplate is more round; the older style brakeplate has an oblong hole to accomodate the bolt on stop). The front end of the hole gets bent toward the drum because the cable casing goes in at an angle and you don't want the sharp edge of the hole touching it. To get the lever on the rear brake shoe back enough, I had to back off the two nuts at the front end of the cable to near the end of the threads. From there, you adjust it as necessary. What I like about this method is that there is no splicing of a cable.
The post "Which handbrake cable..." that Clara has in her list is a good one. Read every thread in it before you decide what to do. It looks like at least one person using my method had cables that were a tad too short. Whatever I did, it worked. I will go and look through my stack of brake plates to find the ones that were modified for my 1957 bus (the 1967 transaxle has been out of it for years).
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Don't worry; be happy. (Baba)

[Who.Me?]

OK, I'm going to have a go at sorting this over the weekend.

Managed to get what I think are the cable stops that Campy described.

They weren't easy to find by description alone, nor from the part numbers I found in the documents on OACDP (609210 and 609202), so in case it helps anyone in the future, I found them listed under part numbers 113-609-637 (left) and 113-609-638 (right).

Some places describe them as "Beetle", others as "Beetle and Type 2 T1", so hopefully they're the right size and not just specific to Beetles.

Before I get stuck in and hack holes in my backplates, does anyone have any measurements that will help me locate where to drill? I've not managed to find any pictures online of this modification.

Thanks for your collective help so far.

Andy

[Campy]

I got an older style brakeplate and a later one that I adapted in my bedroom. If you had an old brakeplate, you would see that the center of the plate stops being raised higher up, versus the newer plate that is raised all of the way up. This means that the hole in the newer plate is further away from the middle of the plate than the hole in the old style plate. It worked for me because the old style cable stop has the end of the cable casing go all of the way down to the plate, where the newer style stop keeps the casing end about one inch from the outer side of the brake plate (so the cable is not too short).
After you grind down the four spot welds holding the cable casing stop the brake plate, you will see a round hole. The hole in an old style brake plate is shaped like a rectangle, with it being a little taller going up and down. The front side of the hole has a pressed in lip, shaped like the end of a big bullet, which gives room to the last part of the cable casing. I just bent the edge of the hole up with an adjustable wrench and it gave the cable casing enough room. For some reason, I made my hole wider going left to right. Just shape the hole until the older style cable casing stop fits in it. When you get the older style cable casing stop, you will see where to drill the hole. Use the shortest screw or bolt that will work with a nyloc nut on it (you don't want it to touch the brake shoe).
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Don't worry; be happy. (Baba)

[Campy]

I removed the small stub axle transaxle from my 1959 double door panel, last year, and replaced it with a 1967 transaxle. I adapted the brake plates and used this same method on it. To work, the two nuts at the front end of each cable are near the end of the threads.
If you don't have extra brake plates and don't have the success that I had, I would feel terrible. Do you have extra brake plates?
_________________
Don't worry; be happy. (Baba)

[Who.Me?]

I had another look underneath last night and definitely have the later plates that you describe with the cable stop pedestal sticking out, so it all makes sense.

I don't have extra old-style brake plates, but I'm going to mock it all up first, leaving the existing later-style cable pedestal in place on the back of the backplate first.

If, as you describe; that holds the cable casing too far out, I'll take it from there and remove the pedestal.

Your description was extremely helpful.

[Who.Me?]

Well, fell at the first hurdle on this one.

I appear to be missing some bits - looks like the spacer bar and actuating lever are missing...

<Edited to link to copy of the photo uploaded to the gallery...>

I could also only get one of the drums off, so I need to get a puller and the missing parts before I go any further.

(The arrow in the above pick is where my handbrake cable comes in, which looks normal - just seem to be missing the parts.)

[Who.Me?]

Re the pic above, do the spacer bar and handbrake actuator lever change with different models and do those look like a particular era of brakes?

Thanks

Andy

[Who.Me?]

Got to dash out. But looking at parts lists online it occurs to me that the shoes look like they're fitted the wrong way up? I thought the whole lot was upside down at first, but that wouldn't explain the position of the hand/e-brake cable entry point?