Hey,

The rear brake drums on my air cooled 82 Vanagon were so tightly rusted
to the hub that I really had to beat the heck out of them with a 2.5lb
hammer to get them off.  After I reinstalled the drums I noticed a very
pronounced pulsing in the brake pedal.  I took the drums into a machine
shop and it turns out that I actually bent them!  This also explains why
they started scraping on the backing plate.  Moral of the story, don't
beat up your rusted drums too badly while trying to remove them.  I
guess I am also looking for a new set.

Live and learn,
Jake

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of Frank Condelli
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 5:59 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: drums scraping backing plate

In a message dated 21/02/2005 8:41:58 PM Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

I  recently serviced the rear wheel bearings on my 82 air cooled
vanagon.
I  replaced the wheel bearings on the drivers side and just repacked
the
bearings on the passengers side.  After reassembly the drums are
rubbing
against the brake backing plates.  The drums are only hitting  the
backing plates at one point (at the bottom) and only a small section  of
the drum is hitting the plate.  Any ideas on this?
The axle nut  is properly torqued to 258 ft-lbs and the lug nuts are
also
properly  torqued.

Jake, the backing plate is most likely bent.   Backing plate is just
flimsy
metal and gets bent often causing the  rubbing.  Just find the spot and
unbend
until it has enough  clearance.  The axle nut torque is 360 lbs not 258.
See
Bentley page  42.4

Cheers,

Frank  Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm)  a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 09 ~ 12, 2005
'87 Westy, '90 Carat &  Lionel Trains
Member: _Vanagon List_ (http://www.vanagon.com/) , _LiMBO_
(http://www.bcn.net/~limbo/) , _IWCCC_ (http://www.westfalia.qc.ca/)  &
_CCVWC_
(http://www.ccvwc.ca/)
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in  the Ottawa Valley
_STEBRO/Vanagon Stainless Steel  Mufflers_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_Frank Condelli &  Associates_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
or  http://frankcondelli.com