Brake shoes, drums, levers and spreaders, adjustment and issues with new parts

Hi all, was all set up to change shoes (and possibly cylinders if needed) today and have hit a couple of queries rather than a problem.

Q 1 , I have uneven wear on my shoes, both top to bottom and front to rear on both sides. i.e. the shoes are wearing the most at the top towards the cylinders and the back shoe only has about half of the shoe wearing and the front show 80% of the shoe. Is there an adjustment I can make to do something about this or is it best to leave alone and make sure all is even with new shoes?

Q2 the pictures show a metal lever attached to the push bar and spring, not what I was expecting. I'll need to buy a new handbrake lever bar as this is riveted and my new shoes use the horseshoe clip, which I don't have. So my question is, is the metal lever a normal part for a 78 camper as I can't see pictures showing this anywhere?

Thanks as ever.

 

Looks like you may have a t25 self adjusting setup , the shoes wearing at the cylinder is not unusual I would say they need better adjustment

 

Cheers David..but I'm hazarding a guess that it is not self adjusting without the T25 cog? I've manually adjusted the stars at the bottom as usual and ready for test drive, will need to buy some more bits before I reach min wear on current shoes.

 

could just be T25 shoes

 

I've just been checking parts and it looks like the bracket (12) that should be linked to the adjustment cog (11) also came with t2b late models, I seem to have part of the system only.

 

After buying my new shoes, cylinders, handbrake lever and putting them all together, the brakes (foot) have been adjusted and work, but, and there had to be a but, I can't get the handbrake to set up evenly. One wheel will brake with the handbrake, whilst the other won't fully engage. Ive loosened the cables and tightened together...no.luck. but one thing that struck me is how loose the handbrake lever is. My old style pre riveted lever to shoe) moves freely back and forth but doesn't have much sideways movement. The new shoes with the lever that is held in with a pin, circlip and spring washer, has a lot of side movement. I was wondering if this is normal?

Finally, I used the old pushrod, which is a standard pushrod, not as shown in the diagram above and was wondering if this could be a cause of my issue and if there are more than one size?

Thanks as ever.

 

Adjust the cables separately

 

Cheers, but I'm finding that as I adjust one, the other is also affected.

 

it will be but not equally

 

I'll try again tomorrow. Thanks

 

Hi Chris..I’m going to preface this by saying I’ve not had to refurb the rear drums on the crewcab so not speaking from personal experience. I have done the job on my old Karmann Ghia though.

Two things that may assist are;

1. Shouldn’t there be some kind of retaining pin in the centre of each brake shoe so they stay flat in relation to the drum as they are applied ? In the 3 and 9 o’clock position in your photo.

2. Before the fine adjustment you are doing, I understood it was good practice to drive a short distance and really stamp on the brake pedal a few times to settle everything in place - then adjust at the stars and then the bias bar.

Please feel free to treat the above as complete baloney but hope it helps.

Stirlingmoz

 

Advice is all good and non of what you say falls into the Baloney category. I understand the central retaining pin and spring was removed by VW in later years. My backplates don't have the holes neaded. However, the brakes shoes don't wobble, if that is what you meant, it is the handbrake lever which has a lot of lateral play that I'm not sure about. It may be fine, it just feels too much.

I've not driven the van, but I am stamping on the brakes between adjustments to make sure. If I can't fix the the handbrake, I'll try driving up and down a quiet road and do as you suggest.

Ta.

 

The handbrake should have 3 or less clicks for full operation.

 

Thanks Soggz, I'm not quite at that fine tuning stage yet. I have to admit, I thought it was about 6, but not to worry.

 

3 clicks guarantees parking on hills.

 

I prefer more than 3 , easier to apply with a bit of momentum in the handle , number of clicks however is not necessarily an indication of braking efficiency

 

No. I meant providing everything else is as it should be.

 

It's hard to tell from your photos, but IIRC the main part of the levers should dog-leg out so that the rivet part is nearest the shoes and the main part of the lever further away. On your pics it looks like you may have fitted the right lever to the left wheel and left to right. Probably just the photos!
Are both cables new?

 

By a process of elimination, I'd come to the same conclusion about the cables last night and I checked this morning and, yes one of them is really stiff and won't return. I'll have to check my spares to see if I've got a cable later today and the see how to remove the old cable, clean the tube and grease.

As for the levers, I think they are the right way round, but the new levers don't have the same degree of dog leg, as you call it @Zed, than my old ones. But I will check again later.

 

If this helps at all…