Drum Brake Adjuster in Half?

[Marshj]

Had my parking brake cable come loose and knocked the spring for the adjuster lever off and then the adjuster came loose and I got a soft pedal. Upon taking the drum off I found the adjuster in the bottom of the drum- like this.

There does not appear to be any damage to any other parts on visual inspection. I am going to replace all the springs and am trying to understand if the brake adjuster is supposed to come apart or if I need to also add one into the parts order.

Is this usually one SOLID part that is pressed together or does it just rest in the groove on the backside for the adjuster gear in the arm and can easily come apart?

Jeff

[crazyvwvanman]

Yes, it is made up of separate parts like the photo shows.
Make sure the threads are clean and lubricated lightly, put it back correctly.

Mark

[IdahoDoug]

That pictured adjuster is designed to come apart as they just screw together. Be sure you spend some time researching how the adjuster is mounted. It is very common for them to be improperly mounted and there is a L and R. Check and double check photos others including myself have posted here to help folks get this right. VW should have done a better job of designing parts that only go together the right way, but they did not - leading to what you found. Search is your friend and so is the Bentley for comparison.

Doug
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[Marshj]

[crazyvwvanman]

Left side assembled, ( Driver side most countries)

Mark

[Marshj]

Thanks Mark. This picture is Gold

[Wildthings]

My guess is that the rod coming apart may have been the initial failure, I would check the drum diameter for being passed its wear limit and anything else that could have caused the adjuster to keep unscrewing the rod to the point it came apart.

[Marshj]

Threaded right on. Good to go. Thanks Fellas.

[crazyvwvanman]

The initial photo shows that it didn't fully unscrew and fall off.
I don't think drum wear could even get bad enough to allow that in any case.

Mark

[ALIKA T3]

[crazyvwvanman]

IMO you are mistaken. The chamfered corner goes facing IN.
The notch on that end is cut slightly off-center to make the chamfered side a little wider.

The chamfer is an assembly aid that helps you install the rod assembly into place.

I will say that the brakes appear to work fine with the chamfer facing either way though. The notch is almost centered and thus the rod angle isn't much affected either way.

Mark

[kguarnotta]

I've been dealing with some shoe issues on my syncro - Alika T3 posted some good photos on how to put them together on my thread here - https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8882113&highlight=#8882113

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1822445.jpg
_________________
-Kevin
Lincoln, MA

'86 Triple Knob Syncro w/EJ22
'78 Westy
'69 Single Cab
'65 Kombi - EZ-Camper

[ALIKA T3]

Alright,
I went to the bottom of this as it`s been bugging me forever.

I have seen incorrect pictures published by VW themselves early on too.

My time capsule van also had the chamfer out, so I took it as gospel.
My interpretation of this chamfer was just to identify the side and maybe to help
the vertical spring lever for the toothed wheel to not get caught on the edge. There`s enough play to allow that IF the lever jumps out of the toothed wheel completely .

Anyway, I was wrong and I need to correct it.

The forks are indeed offset with the chamfer in, which I thought was wrong, but looking at the back of the shoes placed upside down, it reveals the offset is indeed need.


Forks U lined up, incorrect

Forks U offset, correct

The reason for this is simple, the big fork on the handbrake lever side is "floating" on the lever and doesn`t sit on the shoe itself, so there`s a difference in height the value of the thickness of the metal on which the shoe is glued on.

On a good note though, for people mislead by me, the play is so big on the big fork end ( brake lever side) that it doesn`t affect anything in the end, but still, I was wrong and that needed to be corrected. I`m gonna have to go correct my old post as well.
_________________
Silicone Steering Boots and 930 Cv boots for sale in the classifieds.
Syncro transmission upgrade parts in the Classifieds.
Subaru EJ22+UN1 5 speed transmission
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=416343
Syncro http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4...num+gadget