Front cable brake.

[mr magyar]

Hi all,

I cleaned and rebuilt the front cable brakes on my '49 Standard yesterday and today it hit me that I put the shoe expanders back as I found them. Looking at the pictures I took it seems I have the left hand side expander on the wrong way round so it's facing the front. The VW workshop manual says the pin on the expander must face to the rear of the car on the front wheels, and must face the front of the car on the rear wheels. I'll pull the drum again and correct it as per the manual but does it matter which way round it goes as the cable still pulls from the middle or am I not seeing something?

Andy.

[Hawker]

This is a page out of the manual. Hope this helps, Andy.

The reason behind it is that the leading shoe has more braking effect than the trailing shoe. It looks like the pivot to the rear will apply the rear shoe first and even up the wear.

BR,

Rob

[nlorntson]

I think you have that on correctly. See this:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=

[RUNKLE]

as you have already figured out, the front expander is installed upside down. The pivot pin side of the front expander needs to face the rear of the car, and the pivot pin side of the rear expander needs to face the front of the car. To simplify it, the front and rear pivot pins should face each other.

The question you asked is, why is this important. The brake shoe on the pivot pin side makes contact with the drum first, and the shoe begins to drag, followed by the opposite shoe making contact with the drum. All this happens within a second of each other of course, but when dealing with cable brakes every little bit helps. For example, your riding a bike with no brakes, is it better to put your foot out front like a ski, or to drag your foot for maximum stoppage.

[mr magyar]

Hi,

Thank you for your replies. I thought it must be important to get the expander the correct way round but I couldn't quite figure out why. Your answer makes perfect sense. Thank you. It's a shame I didn't notice the error before I fitted the drum with a new locking plate and got the car back on its wheels!

Regards,
Andy.

[rod_vw]

Hi Andy,

You've prompted me to look at mine. I guess the rears are correct as they have never been dismantled since they came from the factory with the reconditioned transmission. However I've no idea how I assembled the fronts so many years ago.
It's all down to the leading and trailing shoe action I assume and if one side was assembled wrong maybe the brakes would pull to one side. Mine don't but it's worth looking at them.
Coming back from Bad Camberg two years ago I did have to do a very sharp brake when a local driver seemed to change his mind on a traffic island. The cable brakes worked well on that occasion, I even had a squeal from the tyres!
_________________
Rod,
Please visit http://www.historicvws.org.uk
https://www.facebook.com/historicvwclub/

1946 Beetle (Back on the road after over 50 years! Last major outing - Hessisch Oldendorf 2022)
2016 T6 Selfbuild Camper and a LWB MAN TGE in build.

[mr magyar]

Hi Rod,

I've reassembled the LH brake now so it's all as it should be. Once I had the drum back off it was just a simple five minute job to prise the expander out of the shoes, disconnect it from the cable and turn it the right way round. I've posted a picture of each cable brake to show how they're assembled.

I remember a couple of years ago having to brake sharply for someone pulling out on me and the front RH brake locked. I put it down to the brakes being out of adjustment but seeing now that the LH one was assembled wrongly that was probably why it did. You never ever stop learning with old Volkswagens!

Cheers,
Andy.

[rod_vw]

Hi Andy,

I've had the chance to check the front brakes on the '46 and they were assembled correctly, more by luck I guess!

I've also had running problems with the car, it was starting OK but inconsistently misfiring sometimes very badly. I eventually traced the problem down to a failing condenser (capacitor), changed that and the car runs as well or even better than it has done since it went back on the road four years ago. This surprised me as faulty condensers usually manifest themselves first with starting problems.
_________________
Rod,
Please visit http://www.historicvws.org.uk
https://www.facebook.com/historicvwclub/

1946 Beetle (Back on the road after over 50 years! Last major outing - Hessisch Oldendorf 2022)
2016 T6 Selfbuild Camper and a LWB MAN TGE in build.