Hi everybody, I've got an '84 Rabbit L that I believe has a problem with the parking brake/rear drum on the right rear wheel. I purchased the car about two months ago and have noticed what sounds like a scratching sound (that I thought was coming from the front wheel). This led me to think I had a wheel bearing issue because the noise would vanish on a right turn. However, I replaced the front right wheel bearings this past weekend and this scratching sound has continued. After doing some more research last night with the rear wheels jacked up off the ground, the right rear wheel doesn't spin freely. With the parking brake off, the wheel will rotate, but only with me gripping it forcefully and rotating it by hand. The left rear wheel, to the contrary, spins freely. I only need to pull up the parking brake one click to prevent the right rear from moving at all. So, I loosened the right side parking brake cable (almost to the point where the 10mm nuts were about to come off the end) but this hasn't fixed my problem. Furthermore, I noticed on my drive into work today that if I gently tug on that right parking brake cable with my fingers while driving down the road, the scratching noise I hear changes in pitch. I'm feeling pretty confident that the problem is my parking brake. Is the parking brake mechanism completely independent of the regular rear drum braking system? Or is pushing in my brake pedal doing the same thing mechanically as pulling up on the parking brake.? Given that I have loosened the parking brake cable as much as I can, I don't think the problem is the cable being to tight, right? I'm guessing that something isn't adjusted correctly on the wheel.
I had a similar problem on my '84 GTI and it turned out to be the left side parking brake cable was stuck in the housing (had the same issue but on the left side.) Pull the RR drum and manually pull the e-brake cable full loose, then see if the problem goes away. (obviously don't use the e-brake until you've verified that the noise went away) You will probably want to repack the bearings as VW rear wheel bearings are marginal anyway and all that heat isn't good for the grease.
Please forgive me if this is a stupid question. But based upon your first answer, I assume that there are then two sets of brake pads on each rear wheel? And therefore, you are suggesting I check the brake pad set specifically operated by the parking brake?
Nope. Cars with drum brakes usually use the same set of brake pads for rear brakes and e-brakes. Some modern cars use drum brakes as e-brakes in addition to the rear disk brakes. The 1983 Rabbit is not amongst the latter ;)
Well, I'd say either somebody didn't put the assembly back together properly, or possibly the rotor's warped, or one of the cables is stuck somewhere.
I decided to replace the parking brake cables in conjunction with some other work on my 1995 VR6 built June 95. The car has Lucas disk rear brakes. Since I did not find a writeup on doing this, I thought I would make one. Did I miss one? Much of what applies to my car would probably apply to other models. Parking brake cable seals tend to break and admit water. This will freeze in cold weather, holding the rear brakes engaged. There is not AFAIK a replacement seal that can be applied later. There may be a way to inject antifreeze. As I unhooked rear of one of my cables, water ran out. However I then saw that the plastic covering on that cable was torn up at one area. Not sure how that happened. I had given up on using the parking brake in winter; I parked in gear. If you are doing the rear brakes anyway. I would recommend replacing the cables, and perhaps the guide tubes. Guide tubes are about $9 each from VW. Cables are about $22 from VW, but Adirondack is cheaper if you can wait for shipping.
In replacing these, a 10 mm socket, a 10 mm open-end, and a long-nose plier is useful to start. Remove the two plastic disks on the side of the console from behind the front seats. Remove the two screws under those disks. Lift the console up and forward. I wish I knew how to separate the boot from the parking brake lever.
Under the handle are the 10 mm nuts. Put the open wrench on the bigger nut and turn the outer nut with the socket. Remove the little nut. Then unscrew the big nut. Repeat for the other side.
Put the rear of the car on jack stands. Removing the back wheels is a good idea for access and visibility. You can attempt to pull the cable out of the guide tubes from beneath. If you live in an area that does not salt roads, you may be able to just replace the cables. The cables and guide tubes were inseparable in my case. So I just pulled and twisted the tubes and cables out from below. Order those parts if you have not already done so.
The hanger bracket that holds the cable to the chassis via a dual tinnerman stainless steel bracket was difficult for me to remove. I ended up doing a lot of prying. Note the position with the brake cables to the outer side of the mount. Note the cable routing to the brake. Remove the cable.
Detach the bracket from the brake cable for reuse. Straighten the bending you did as you were removing the bracket.
Insert the new guide tubes. Note left and right differ. Check from inside to see if they are inserted correctly. There is a little flat on the forward end to position the tube on its axis.
Push/pull the new cable metal center to the rear. I lubed the rubber boot with liquid soap, but it may not be necessary. Carefully hook the brake cable to the brake assembly. Pull the cable forward in the tube once the rear end is in its position. I then used a clamp to hold the end of the cable and the little arm in the forward position to make putting the nut on easier. Shove the free end of the cable into the guide tube. Check that the screw comes thru the plate that the brake handle actuates. Screw the big screw on so that its thread are engaged, putting the rounded end of the big nut to the rear. Do the same to the other side.
Push the stainless steel bracket onto its two screws from beneath.
Adjust the brakes per the Bentley book.
Pull the brake handle up as far as you can. Confirm the plate that connects the two cables with the handle is fairly square. Tighten the jam nuts with a pair of appropriate 10 mm wrenches.
While the console is loose, its a good time to vacuum.
Thank you to everybody that replied to my question. I've unfortunately had to postpone looking into my brake issues on the right rear wheel -- waiting for the recently arrived snow and ice to melt away. Then I'll dive in.
Hi everybody, Here is my followup. I'm sure this will make me seem pretty ridiculous to most of you. But I want to tell everybody what I found out in case anybody ever has a similar situation. When I actually started taking the right rear wheel apart yesterday morning, here is what I found. The guy that I bought the car from last December had all new brakes put in (or perhaps did it himself -- don't know for sure). But, whomever did it likes to over tighten things. My first clue was I needed a cheater pipe to loosen the lug nuts! Then after getting the rear drum opened up, every thing looked great. The brakes looked fine and weren't stuck. The hand brake cable wasn't sticking at all. As it turns out the nut that holds the outer wheel bearings in was WAY TOO TIGHT! We repacked them with grease and put everything back together, following the directions in the Muir manual, and the wheel now spun freely, and still not rocking back and forth at the various clock positions. I put the tire back on and the grinding noise is gone. I wish I had thought of this originally when I noticed that the wheel wasn't spinning freely. So, moral of the story when doing car repairs: FOLLOW RECOMMENDED TORQUE SPECS!!! :-)
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