turning drums / oversized pads

Poor bug's been sitting unused for the past month until I got the time/energy to tend to the brakes (which badly need it), and I sat down this morning to start on the task.

Started the rear first, and got stuck on reassembly.

Everything seems in somewhat good condition, except obviously the pads. On one of the drums I was getting metal to metal contact though (bleh, newbie mistake). That's not my (current) concern though. The problem is that the new pads are apparently "oversized" and I am unable to get the drum back on with them installed.. stars all the way in, still just a little too far out to get the wheel back in one piece.

Which leaves me where I am now. Searching the ramva archives it appears that drum turning is a bit of a controversial subject. Assuming I can even find someone in my area that is equipped to turn old VW drums, should I go ahead and get this done so I can get my bug back on the road?

Or would it be better to secure some different pads?

Or, oddest of all ideas, could I sand down the new pads myself until they fit? :P

Or is there a chance I assembled the brakes incorrectly?

This is on a 66 beetle. Thanks for help.

Reply to
Seth Graham
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Make sure the E-brake lever is not keeping the shoes slightly expanded.

Double check the slots in the star adjusters; you can assemble them to the shoes 2 ways and only one way is right!

You might get away with sanding the shoes; do it outside and wear a dust mask!

If the drums have ridges inside, they need to be turned; probably any local auto parts store will do it. They'll be able to tell you how much can safely be removed. If the drums are smooth inside, I wouldn't turn them just to make the shoes fit.

Speedy Jim

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Reply to
Speedy Jim

soon as I read this I ran out, running through my head "please don't tell me I was that stupid", because the bentley manual even makes a point of this.

thankfully I wasn't, and it was assembled the "right" way. :p

I found a place that says they will "try" to do it, but I had to call four places before I got that far. They also only take orders on weekdays. :p

The previous calls pretty much gave me a fish out of water impression, generally following up with "we haven't seen one of those in here for 15 years".

Sadly I live in a locale where acvw's rusted into memory many many years ago. :/

along these lines, anyone know where to get a GOOD breaker bar? :P

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Reply to
Seth Graham

Yep!

You can not use a 1/2" swivel bar.

Get a short length of solid steel bar and have someone weld it to the socket. Put a 4 foot pipe over the bar to use it.

Speedy Jim

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Reply to
Speedy Jim

Seth, make sure the shoes are centered in relation to the axle stub....they can be slid up or down probably 1/4-3/8 of an inch each way...so if they are not centered then thedrum won't go on....

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"
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reply take your PANTS off
Reply to
Chris Perdue

Disk brake calipers use pads; these are called shoes.

Don't turn the drums to try to fix this. Either there's something wrong with these shoes (unlikely) or you don't have things back together quite right yet (likely.)

If these are rears, make sure the parking brake is fully released.

Make sure the shoes are centered, so that they don't need to be moved up or down to get the drum over them.

Check the slots in the adjuster screws. If the bottom of this slot is not perpendicular to the screw axis, then the screw should be turned so the bottom faces somewhat toward the shoe.

Make sure the pistons have retracted fully into the brake cylinders. If they don't want to go in try pushing them in while opening the bleed valve. If this works, you might need to adjust the pedal free play or replace the rubber flex hose.

-

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

Well the "someone" I found to help me with the welding said he'd help me out with his impact wrench. He's never owned an acvw though so I don't know if this is advisable.

Is this a good/bad thing to try? The concern that seems to be floating around is that banging on the rear axles will play hell on the bearings, and as much as I want this nut off the car I'd rather not destroy anything in the process.

What risks would I take by trying this out?

This last nut is really REALLY stuck. I damn near pushed the car over the chocks wrestling with it (well maybe not precisely but the front end was sure bouncing around a lot).

Reply to
Seth Graham

Impact wrench doesn't produce radial loads on the bearing, just plain ol' torque impulses. Go ahead and have him try it.

Jim

Reply to
Speedy Jim

Don't go for the power tools. I had this same problem, There is something out of place on the levers. The springs pull the shoes in, and .... Oh... OH yeah, it's the horizontal lever between the shoes, there are two steps on the one side of the lever, and one of the shoes are not fully seated on the correct step. It wants to pull out, and sit on the higher step with the parking brake lever. That's what it is, the shoes are not on the correct step of the horizontal lever.

Reply to
Michael Kelly

well it was just a cheap electric one, but it was rated at 240 lbs and that didn't budge the nut.

I crawled around Sears for a while, and found this little beauty:

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I don't know if that's what the thing was made for or what, but it had a 3/4" socket and that nice thick pipe and it just looked like it was MADE for stubborn nuts.

Don't know if the time spent with the impact wrench loosened it up or this baby did the trick (still took some heaving, guess eating all that turkey yesterday gave my 'bod the extra weight needed to break the thing loose) but it did come free. Can't really see it in the image but I *still* warped that bar a tiny bit. :p

Am sure a welded socket would have worked just as well, but no one I knew had a functioning welder at this point.

Thanks for the help, one slightly less dangerous to drive beetle is about to enter traffic again. :)

Reply to
Seth Graham

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