Rear brake shoe install

[bucko]

All I can say is wow, what a pain! I've done many brake jobs over the years, and certainly disks are easy. However, I've never had trouble replacing shoes in a drum system either; until now.

Installing the upper springs in my 84 Vanagon while trying to keep the adjuster in place between the two shoes damn near had me looking for a stick of dynomite!

Geeze VW, why two springs at the top? All other systems used one, like there is at the bottom. And then, the spring clips install through the back of the shoe to boot. I found I had to install the springs, then stretch the two shoes apart, and then seperate the shoes (with springs installed) to install the adjuster. What I thought would have been an hours job, turned into an all day deal.

And even though I did not replace the wheel cylinders, I have to bleed, as the brake pedal sinks to the floor. Apparently, when the shoes are removed allowing the pistons to completely expand, air somehow gets in????
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Current VW drives: 1984 Westfalia

Past VW drives: 1967 Beetle, 1973 Beetle, 1977 Bus, 1971 Military Type 181

[Petervw]

the "spring" set up of the vanagon is that way because the brakes are self adjusting.... self adjustment takes place when the van is "backed" up

[bucko]

Yea, I've done shoe replacement on other rear drum setups, and they always used one spring between the shoes on top and on the bottom, and you could used the "special brake spring install" tool (I have one).

These were a pain, as it's impossible to install the shoes, then springs. You have to install the springs, then seperate the shoes at the top with your hand, while installing the adjuster with the other hand. I could not see any other way to do it, especially when the spring "loops" install from behind.

Oh well, it's done now; good for another 20K miles.

Now to bleed out the apparent air that got into the system.
_________________
Current VW drives: 1984 Westfalia

Past VW drives: 1967 Beetle, 1973 Beetle, 1977 Bus, 1971 Military Type 181

[jdgomez69]

I just did mine..... lets just say.... (*&%&^%(*&^*(%(%^.... is what I was saying..... I was using a pair of needle nose pliers to put one of the springs back on. The spring gave out and I stabed myself in the chin with the needle nose.....OUCH! I didn't have to bleed mine... Maybe you have a leaking seal????

[Volksaholic]

Did you not have to bleed the brakes or your chin?

I just did the '88 rear brakes a couple of weeks ago and I really didn't think it was that much worse than other drum brakes I've done in the past. I hooked the upper springs into the shoes, installed the shoes and adjusters, then grabbed the springs one at a time with the needle-nose vice grips and pulled them onto the center hooks. While the springs are stiff I recall being thankful that they hook in the center rather than running from shoe to shoe... I always found those a PITA.

The only problem I found with the process is that when you get one spring on the shoe wants to push the cylinder pistons out the opposite side. I wasn't doing the cylinders so I was trying to be careful not to let the pistons travel outside their comfort zone for fear of blowing out a seal.

I guess the other problem I ran into wasn't the brake design itself but the fact that I was replacing the keepers. I bought the hardware kit from BusDepot and the separate keeper pins as well. The ends of the pins don't fit through the little caps on the keepers... I had to Dremel them out. That wasn't too surprising since the pins are significantly bigger than what comes with the hardware kit, but I wasn't expecting it when I started the job. It sure was nice to use all new hardware... I've never done that before.

No bleeding of any kind involved but I still have to adjust the parking brake. It seems that the parking brake arms must be set up or dimensioned differently because the brake used to only take a few clicks but now it pulls almost to the top. The brake pedal travel is actually an improvement but I still have a master cylinder installation to do that I hope will make it feel as solid as I think it should.

[bucko]