A BUS cant stop this bad?

[DubStyle]

[auslander]

Checking the drums is step one. Not only to see if they are good but to see if you need to have them turned. Without doing that first you are just spinning your wheels (no pun intended).
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Zombie
Wandering...Have you found what your looking for?

66 POS Bus
69 Class 11 Beetle
71 Cat-Look Beetle
64 Old Skool Baja
74 "Swamp" Thing

!!! F**k Cancer !!!
Time's Tide will Smother You
"You can't throw a rock in Long Beach without hitting a tweaker" Steve Tucci

[DerrickfromNC1]

I think I have the same problems as Carl. I Purchased a 67 delux for my wife last year with excellent brakes. I installed a 4" beam with flipped spindles and did an IRS conversion in the rear. I installed used 4 lug beetle drums in the rear with new shoes and wheel cylinders and new soft & hard lines. Now I have to literally stand on the brakes to stop. The pedal is firm & hard but not a lot of stopping power.
Could this be due to the smaller beetle rear brakes?

I have the parts to install 944NA disc brakes this winter but would like to get my current setup working correctly be4 I do the conversion.

Thanks

[Clara]

After being used to driving my 66 with 1 ton brakes, driving the 53 it just seems the brakes aren't as good. Well, maybe it is because the brakes are not as good. The shoes are narrow, the width as 68 and earlier bug shoes, and have one wheel cylinder per front. So it is like driving a bus with 67 bug brakes. The brakes are better in my 69 bug. seriously, they widened the shoes for 1969. Also, the bug is lighter.

So is there a problem because the brakes are not modern, or because they are not in order?
check to make sure the hoses aren't kinked.
properly adjusted and bled makes a difference.

The Boise panel had awesome brakes, better than some 1 ton buses. Even though it's a 3/4 ton. Greg's 55 has good brakes too.
Properly arced and adjusted shoes make a big difference. 99% contact with 3/4 ton shoes is better than 30% with larger 1 ton shoes.

I prefer to adjust shoes so they don't drag. Properly arced shoes means 2-3 clicks between no drag and full stop. If you back off 5 clicks and it still has some drag your shoes are not well arced, as all. I don't tend to back off more than 5 clicks.

Adjust brakes at every 3k miles service.

[Stall20]

I was having the same issues with the added problem of the pedal eventually hitting the floor. And alot of shaking.
I had all 4 drums turned. Readjusted and bleed the system once again.
I still was having stopping issues but not as bad and the shaking stopped after having the drums turned. (Note: everything brand new except for the drums)
Then I decided to slightly adjust the pushrod that goes into the master cylinder and problem solved. I have great breaking now. And plenty of pedal with way less travel as I apply the brake pedal.
I do have to to readjust all 4 of my brakes as everything is still new and I do alot of highway driving this past summer and harder stopping from higher speeds. Anyways I'm just glad that now the bus stops as it should I just make sure I always go over an adjust all 4 brakes before driving the bus if they need to be readjusted.(which after about 3k miles ) I usually need to do this. Weather its the shoes wearing down and everything settling in or just that I do put alot if highway and around town miles on my bus its safe to say that readjusting your brakes in a regular basis until everything settles in and wears in is just what needs to be done. I'm
Not at around 8600-9000 miles since installing all the new brake parts and having the drums turned and adjusting that pushrod for the master cylinder and haven't had to do anything else other then very minimal adjusments to the shoes but at less mileage intervals.
Hope you get everything worked out and stopping safely.
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[DubStyle]

I want to know if he has done anything or still waiting for feedback on what he found.
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Anthony

SBS #1
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"The original & best lowered Split Bus website/club"

[dirtylawnchair]

[Clara]

I once looked a bus that had a dual circuit conversion and it didn't stop worth beans. and it kept having bubbles bleeding out of the right front.
eventually just put a new single master cylinder in and it stopped so much better, and no more tiny bubbles.

The guy didn't even realize how bad the brakes were. It was a friends son, from out of state and the clutch cable had broken 60 miles from here, so he was directed to come to us for a little help, and the bus needed (and got) more work than he expected.