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PapaG1954
Samba Member
Joined: October 06, 2007
Posts: 73
Location: Fort Lauderdale,Fl.
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 Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 4:02 pm Post subject: How do you achieve power Brakes in a Split Bus? |
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| If I step on my brake pedal any harder, my foots gonna go thru the floor. And they were just adjusted. What would it take to have brakes like a Bay Window? |
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busdaddy
Samba Member
Joined: February 12, 2004
Posts: 51120
Location: Surrey B.C. Canada, but thinking of Ukraine
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| Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 4:54 pm Post subject: Re: How do you achieve power Brakes in a Split Bus? |
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How old are the shoes?, have you pulled the drums for a look at the contact pattern?, ever adjusted them?
Boosting is the easy fix, but it's a band aid for bigger issues, drums work great when set up correctly and don't require massive leg muscles, sadly with today's shitty aftermarket parts that means you have to do some further work when installing them, straight outta the box rarely works well.
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Lind
Samba Member
Joined: November 06, 2000
Posts: 9913
Location: idaho
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| Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 4:58 pm Post subject: Re: How do you achieve power Brakes in a Split Bus? |
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| busdaddy wrote: |
How old are the shoes?, have you pulled the drums for a look at the contact pattern?, ever adjusted them?
Boosting is the easy fix, but it's a band aid for bigger issues, drums work great when set up correctly and don't require massive leg muscles, sadly with today's shitty aftermarket parts that means you have to do some further work when installing them, straight outta the box rarely works well. |
Exactly.
properly functioning stock brakes work great on a split bus.
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Eric&Barb
Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004
Posts: 24732
Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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| Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:42 pm Post subject: Re: How do you achieve power Brakes in a Split Bus? |
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Adjust the parking brake for five clicks when fully locked up. When you notice that it takes six clicks to lock them, it is time to readjust the brakes AGAIN. In other words use the parking brake like a dipstick for when you need to adjust the brake stars. New shoes or shoes that are not adjusted when they needed to be adjusted results in less and less of each shoe length in contact with each brake drum. Which results in that much less braking power. If this bus is your daily driver it will take weeks or a couple of months to work the brake shoes to fit snugly in the drums.
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Lind
Samba Member
Joined: November 06, 2000
Posts: 9913
Location: idaho
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| Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:19 pm Post subject: Re: How do you achieve power Brakes in a Split Bus? |
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| Eric&Barb wrote: |
| Adjust the parking brake for five clicks when fully locked up. When you notice that it takes six clicks to lock them, it is time to readjust the brakes AGAIN. In other words use the parking brake like a dipstick for when you need to adjust the brake stars. New shoes or shoes that are not adjusted when they needed to be adjusted results in less and less of each shoe length in contact with each brake drum. Which results in that much less braking power. If this bus is your daily driver it will take weeks or a couple of months to work the brake shoes to fit snugly in the drums. |
I have seen buses with 20k miles on them where the shoes still have less than half of the pads contacting the drum. It is a really good idea to get the shoes arc'd to the drums so they get full action from day one.
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Shoyrtt
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Joined: August 21, 2010
Posts: 1009
Location: Redlands, CA
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3foldfolly
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Joined: March 08, 2009
Posts: 894
Location: Edwardsville, Il
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Clara 
Samba Member
Joined: June 14, 2003
Posts: 12399
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| Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 9:37 am Post subject: Re: How do you achieve power Brakes in a Split Bus? |
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| Lind wrote: |
| Eric&Barb wrote: |
| Adjust the parking brake for five clicks when fully locked up. When you notice that it takes six clicks to lock them, it is time to readjust the brakes AGAIN. In other words use the parking brake like a dipstick for when you need to adjust the brake stars. New shoes or shoes that are not adjusted when they needed to be adjusted results in less and less of each shoe length in contact with each brake drum. Which results in that much less braking power. If this bus is your daily driver it will take weeks or a couple of months to work the brake shoes to fit snugly in the drums. |
I have seen buses with 20k miles on them where the shoes still have less than half of the pads contacting the drum. It is a really good idea to get the shoes arc'd to the drums so they get full action from day one. |
X2
In good order split buses have good brakes.
If not in good order, they can be crap. Same with bay windows, or any car.
New shoes in new drums have good arcing
Also, vw says adjust your brakes every 3k mile service.
The Boise panel had awesome brakes. It was a 58, so 3/4 ton.
The shoes had perfect arc.
How old are the hoses?
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Bruce Amacker
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Joined: December 26, 2007
Posts: 1786
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
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Clara
Samba Member
Joined: June 14, 2003
Posts: 12399
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| Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 10:33 am Post subject: Re: How do you achieve power Brakes in a Split Bus? |
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Fwiw I drove a friends bay with power brakes.
The brakes were really bad. Standing on the pedal barely slowed the bus. It was unsafe. Hand brake worked at least. It was a 70 westy with m coded brake booster on drum brakes.
Turned out the booster hose had fallen off the pipe on the manifold. Worked better after, but not any better that a 66 bus imho.
So….. are your brakes in working order?
Did you bleed the brakes?
Do all four bleed well with clean fluid coming out?
Is there fluid on the shoes?
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94touring
Samba Member
Joined: October 24, 2020
Posts: 313
Location: Oklahoma - OK
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| Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 6:51 pm Post subject: Re: How do you achieve power Brakes in a Split Bus? |
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| If you have a non booster system but are running a booster style master you'll have a stiff pedal with poor braking. A non booster master has a longer stroke piston that's smaller in diameter. After you determine if you need a booster or non booster master, you then either select a master for disc/drum or drum/drum. |
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