71 bus with front brakes binding

[tjrm63]

Hello all,
I have a 71 bus that the brakes worked perfect till I discovered the master cylinder leaking into the booster.
I replaced both the MC and booster with new ones from Cip1 last night. I bled the brakes got the pedal back up she idles fine no revving when I push on the brake pedal. I took it for a test drive and the brakes stopped straight and the pedal is at the top.
I got in the driveway and smelled something burning, it was the front brakes they are now binding. I turned the bus off and pushed it backwards and you can hear the front brakes scraping. I read in the forums about free play in the push rod on both ends of the booster but how do you tell there is free play. I unhooked the bar from the brake pedal and pushed it back and forth and got a little movement but Im not sure what is normal and also how do I know the booster bar is to long that goes into the master cylinder, sorry for the long rant I just wanted to make sure I explained whet was going on.
Thank you
Tom

[Peabody]

Post the parts that you ordered so we can see what you're working with.
_________________
'71 Transporter "June" (traded a nissan hardbody + some $) (daily)
'76 Westy "Sandy" (traded an ak-47) (on hold)
'77 Westy (parts)
'74 Westy (parts)

[Wildthings]

You need to make sure that your brake pedal isn't applying pressure to the booster still even though the pedal appears to be fully up. You may need to shorten the rod between the pedal and the booster so that there is a tad of slop in the rod.

If that doesn't work then you need to check that the rod between the booster and the master cylinder isn't too long and maintaining pressure on the piston in the master.

If everything is okay there then you need to check to see if maybe you have debris in on of the outlets to the master that is functioning as a check valve.

[Tcash]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7636413#7636413

Brake Servo (booster) master cylinder pushrod

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7309128#7309128

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=582652&highlight=

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=381261

Good Luck
Tcash

[tjrm63]

Thank You Guys for all your help,
This morning I opened and closed the 2 lower bleeder valves on my front brakes just for the hell of it and when I got home from work I put the bus in neutral and it rolled very easy. I started it up and drove it for about 10 minutes stopping and going in my neighborhood and my brakes are fine. I drove it again just now and the brakes have no binding at all. nothing leaking everything looks good underneath.
Again Thank You,
Tom Mahady
Mahady Surfboards

[Tcash]

Just keep a hand on it. Get in the habbit of checking your front and rear rims for heat. If there is a difference from left to right you still have a problem.
The way to check for drag is to jack up the wheel and stomp on the brakes and then spin the wheel by hand. You may hear a slight rubbing but the wheel should not drag.
Good Luck
Tcash

[Wildthings]

[busdaddy]

[tjrm63]

Thanks Guys,
I did back off the rod to the brake pedal when I cracked the lower bleeders. I will keep a close eye on the brakes and will jack the bus up this weekend and test for drag and inspect the calipers and pads
Thank You again
Tom

[71whitewesty]

How old are your flexible rubber brake hoses?
_________________
71 Westy 1600 DP, all stock Bus 1
1970's Snow Trac 1600 SP (sold 12/2016)
1968 Tucker sno cat, sold 2021
1969 Tucker Sno cat 542
2017 VW Alltrac
71 tin top stock 1600 DP (project but runs)
Twin 71 White Westy, Bus 2, that I pulled from a 15 year slumber in a dry eastern WA field in 2015.
1966 Sundial Camper "Boomer"

[vwmike]

I had the same problem with the same parts from Cip this summer. The pushrod in the booster was too long by about 4mm. And was longer than my orig one I pulled out.

[SGKent]

there is a spec in Bentley how to adjust the brake rod freeplay.
_________________
George Carlin:
"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it."

Skills@EuroCarsPlus:
"never time to do it right but always time to do it twice"

[tjrm63]

Thank you everybody,
Big thanks to VWMIKE for hitting it on the head, the brake booster rod has an adjustment that I did not know about because I was in such a rush putting it on. I backed off the master cylinder and adjusted the rod tip on the booster to the same length as my old one and BOOM it works perfect. Brakes work awesome they stop on a dime and nice and straight and no heat or binding.
Thank you again everyone
Tom

[Tcash]

Thank you for following up. Glad to hear it's fixed.
Tcash

Wildthings

[vwmike]

Awesome glad I could help! I know it drove me nuts this summer till I figured it out.