1969 Bus New Front Drums Fix Pulsing Problem

[hambone]

Well, it was time. After seeing Gypsie's brand new drums and rotors and everything else (German no less) I jealously slinked to Halsey Automotive the very next day, a touch of hangover not dissuading my ernest plan.

The front brakes have been wobbly since I got the bus. Out of round causing pulsing, that evolved into squealing sqawking almost like a coyote howling up there. Wanted to just get the drums turned, but something bothered me about that, too many 2000' drops out of the mountains...
As luck would have it, Halsey now carries '68-70 front drums, manufactured with pride in Brazil and packaged in the usual Brazilian flimsy cardboard. But the drums look nice. New bearings, shoes, and springs were on the list too.
"We've been getting a lot of complaints about these brake shoes," the counterman remarks.
"out of round or something. Bring them back if they're not right"
Great, thanks a lot. You mean I get to tear apart the brakes again because of faulty manufacturing? It haunted me.

Tearing into the brakes I see that one of the springs is broken, how the hell did it still stop? True it did pull to the right, but they still worked somehow. The bearings were littered with metal shavings of the disintegrated spring end...and I was ashamed I didn't look into this sooner.

The drums? Original German VW, possibly with the bus for it's life. They had been turned before, perhaps multiple times as they were noticeably thinner than the new ones. I'm still keeping them, you never know. The new drums seem pretty decent actually, but they are missing the raised bosses to pry off the hub cover with a claw handled hammer. I'm not looking forward to figuring out how to pry that sucker off in the future...

After tapping the races into the drums and greasing up the inner bearing, I am horrified to discover that the grease seal will not fit, as I mangle it trying to tap into an obviously undersized bore. Back to the shop again.
APPARENTLY replacement drums use a slightly different grease seal. But after getting sent across town at rush hour to a different shop, I find that German seals will not fit but Brazilian are fine. Same part number no less. Figure that one out. I am alarmed to hear from the other shop, Always VW (which stayed open late just for me, that was pretty nice) "did you turn these? Brazilian drums are often out of round". No of course not the bearings are already packed in....cross the fingers. Why should mechanicking be 1/2 voodoo prayer these days? It makes for stressful work. But we have no other option.

So equipped with the right parts, fortified with resolve to get this done, I carefully reassemble everything, adjust the brakes, and take it for a spin.
No more pulse! It stops straight! Except, after the shoes settle in there is too much pedal play. Of course they just need adjusting again (which I just did this morning, sitting in the wet driveway and of course all is well), but after all the countermen's warnings I naturally feared the worst. So always adjust your brakes again after that first test drive, they will likely need it. Also lubed the front end since it was already jacked up. It surprisingly took a lot of grease even though I just did the job in the springtime.

Next, the back axle. Adjusters are frozen, maybe I'll just take it into a shop to get them freed up.

[ruckman101]

Cha, my back adjusters seem locked up, too. Was going to pull the drum to address that issue, but haven't yet. Hopefully this week.


neal

[Vdubtech]

Couple of ways to get the adjusters freed up, and certainly not something you should be paying anyone to do.

1. Vice Grips. I grip the star with the vice grips and clamp them down tight and see if I can turn them by hand. A lot of time you can work it back and forth and get it out to clean it up. Unless they're mangled, no reason not to clean them up, lube them and put them back where they belong.

2. A bolt. This is the no fail way to get stuck adjusters out. For the life of me I can't remember the size of the bolt, but if you have a bin full of miscellaneous hardware like every good Bus mechanic has, keep trying bolts until you find one that not only threads into the center of the adjuster, but is long enough to press it out. Tighten the bolt down, keep turning the wrench, it'll pop the adjuster right out. Of course you have to remove the center of the adjuster first, use that as a reference for your bolt.

PB B'Laster is your friend, and heat willl always help also.

[Amskeptic]

To Help Prevent Out-Of-Round Drums Or Warped Disks:


Whenever you brake hard or extra-frequently, such as in fast stop-and-go traffic, do not allow the car to come to a complete stop. Instead, stop a few feet short and creep to prevent heat build-up in a concentrated spot.
If you must stop short and have no creep room and you know the brakes are hot, do not press on the pedal any more than needed to keep the car stationary. Several thousands of pounds of force on a hot drum or disk can affect true.

If you find that you have heated the brakes up, please do what you can to avoid big puddle splashes *while the brakes are still heated* ( you can warp disks and drums like a cast iron frying pan thrown from the stove into cold dishwater).

[hambone]

If you find that you have heated the brakes up, please do what you can to avoid big puddle splashes *while the brakes are still heated

Impossible in NW Oregon from Oct-June! Especially on forest service roads, they are more pot-hole than road a lot of the time. But that is good advice and I will do my best.
If it's worth anything, I inherited the bus with this condition. Took me 7 years to fix it!?!??!