1970 Standard Beetle - Brake Shoe type

[wheelhorse]

Good morning,

I've been slowly working on my 70 Standard beetle, and started replacing the brake shoes. VW friends have told me that the fronts should be slightly larger diameter than the rears, but on mine I'm finding that the front and the rear have the same diameter drum and backing plate. Further, it appears the shoes on this are ALL the same, meaning the shoes that have been installed on the front have the little cut out for the e brake bar just like the rears. The local auto part store also lists two different shoes for this vehicle.

I searched the forum and couldn't find the answer to this specific question, but did they use two different sets of brakes on the 1970 model?

It appears that these brakes were used and working in the current configuration. I've attached a picture

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1970 Beetle

[volksworld]

front and rear are the same size on your bug....super beetles used larger front shoes...originally the front shoes didnt come with the slot for the brake balance bar, and rear shoes were lacking the holes to hook up the larger front brake return spring...so they had different part numbers...for many years universal replacement shoes have been available that have both the slot and the extra hole and can be used front or rear....but occaisionally when dealing with relined shoes you may come across sets that are on original cores and arent universal...and sometimes you may find a shoe with a square end used for the older style adjusters mixed in...quality control at its finest...oh by the way you have those shoes in the pic installed backwards....the balance bar slot should be under the wheel cylinder like on the rears with the larger diameter spring under the cylinder(you have spring position right)...the way you have it now the angled end of the shoe is on the cylinder and the square end is on the angled adjuster...the slot in the adjuster is cut on an angle, allowing the shoe to slide into the correct position...the deeper part of the slot should be on the top(towards the cylinder)

[wheelhorse]

Great, thats exactly the answer I was looking for! I thought that was the case, but wanted to be sure before I go shopping later today. Thank you!
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1970 Beetle

[Zundfolge1432]

Also look at flex hose it should not be stretched tight. Maybe just angle of photo

[wayne1230cars]

I too had to double check that when I did some brake work on my 1970. Same shoes front and rear.

https://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC%2D113%2D609%2D537%2DC
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1960 beetle
1970 beetle convertible

[wheelhorse]

[wayne1230cars]

Front hose should be 380 mm or 14.96 inches. CIP1 sells a 350 mm hose for a front disk brake setup. Maybe the old hose was not the correct one.
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1960 beetle
1970 beetle convertible